A house centipede crawls along a wall in a Louisiana home. Contact Ja-Roy Pest Control to get rid of centipedes in your home or business.

With their countless legs and lightning-fast movements, house centipedes (Scutigera coleoptrata) can be quite the surprise visitor. While they pose no danger to humans, their sudden appearances are enough to make anyone jump. If you’ve caught one dashing across the floor, you might be asking: why here, and why now?

The answer is simple, house centipedes are drawn to places that provide shelter, moisture, and reliable food sources. If your home offers all three, it’s instantly an attractive centipede oasis.

They Can Squeeze Through Small Spaces

These nimble creatures don’t need much room to sneak inside. Thanks to their slender, flexible bodies and quick reflexes, house centipedes can slip through the tiniest of gaps. Common entry points include foundation cracks, spaces around utility pipes, uncovered vents, loose siding, and worn window seals.

Once inside, they seek out cool, shadowy areas where they’re protected and close to a food source. Because they’re nocturnal, you’re unlikely to see them during daylight hours. If you do, it likely means they’ve been quietly hanging out in places like the basement, behind appliances, or under the sink.

They’re Following Their Prey

House centipedes generally prefer the outdoors, where they hunt for bugs beneath mulch, leaf litter, and other damp hiding spots. But, when prey becomes harder to find, or starts migrating closer to your house, centipedes aren’t far behind. While they do help out by eating other unwanted pests, frequent sightings inside your home could point to a larger infestation.

These agile hunters feed on a wide variety of indoor bugs, including:

Ants
Bed bugs
Cockroaches
Crickets
Earwigs
Moths
Silverfish
Spiders
Termites
And many more

Moisture Makes the Perfect Habitat

Like many arthropods, house centipedes require a moist environment to survive. Outdoors, they thrive in damp places like compost piles, decaying wood, or mulched flower beds. Indoors, they’re drawn to areas with high humidity, such as bathrooms, basements, and laundry rooms that lack ventilation. Reducing excess moisture is one of the most effective ways to make your home less inviting.

Try these tips to dry things out:

Repair outdoor leaks and dripping hoses
Clean out gutters and direct downspouts away from your home’s foundation
Prune overgrown shrubs to allow better airflow and drying
Use dehumidifiers in crawlspaces or basements
Improve airflow in bathrooms and laundry rooms with proper ventilation

Clutter is a Centipede’s Safe Haven

Dark, undisturbed areas provide the perfect cover for house centipedes. Outside, they hide beneath debris or in packed sheds. Indoors, cluttered rooms or storage areas offer secluded hiding spots where they can wait until nightfall to hunt.

You can reduce their hiding places with a few simple steps:

Stack firewood neatly and keep it elevated off the ground
Store gardening tools and flower pots in closed containers or sheds
Bring patio furniture inside when not in use
Regularly clean up fallen leaves and plant debris
Keep your lawn well-maintained and trimmed
Seal up cracks around doors, windows, and the base of your home
Repair window screens and replace any worn weather stripping

House Centipedes Begin Their Life Outdoors

You might catch a glimpse of one darting across your bathroom floor or vanishing into a drain, but house centipedes don’t originate inside your home. These speedy pests typically begin life outdoors in moist, shady spots that provide cover and an abundance of insect prey. Common hiding places include damp leaf piles, rotting wood, garden mulch, or tucked-away spaces beneath landscape stones and bricks.

Their favorite hangout spot is the damp soil near your home’s foundation. This area often stays cool and humid, creating an ideal habitat with a steady buffet of bugs. Once centipedes have made themselves comfortable there, it only takes a few days of dry weather or a sudden heatwave to drive them indoors in search of better conditions.

To help block their path inside, take note of these common outdoor trouble zones:

Garden beds and ornamental plants: These areas attract bugs like mites and aphids, which in turn draw centipedes.
Paved areas and decorative stonework: Cracks between bricks or under pavers offer insects a place to hide, and predators a place to hunt.
Improperly sealed trash bins: Decaying food attracts pests, which can bring centipedes right to your doorstep.

A soggy or unkempt yard doesn’t just boost bug activity, it invites in the predators that feed on them, too.

Are House Centipedes Something to Worry About?

Their sudden scurrying and many legs may look alarming, but house centipedes are usually shy and solitary. They don’t go out of their way to confront humans and will often scurry out of sight when discovered. In most cases, their only reason for being indoors is to hunt other pests, not to bother you.

That said, it’s best not to touch one. Although their venom is designed to subdue insects, a startled centipede may pinch with its front legs. This bite is typically mild, about as painful as a bee sting, but still unpleasant.

People with allergies to insect venom should be especially cautious. For them, a centipede bite could result in more severe reactions like swelling, dizziness, or difficulty breathing. If that happens, receive medical attention immediately.

Although they pose little risk to humans, it’s a smart idea to keep curious pets and young children away from these skittering hunters, as they’re often more vulnerable.

Have I Seen a House Centipede?

If you’ve encountered an unfamiliar bug and want to be sure it was a house centipede, these identifying traits can help:

Legs: Thin and spider-like, their long legs give them a delicate, fringed look.
Number of Legs: With 15 pairs, they’re built for speed, but aren’t the largest centipede species.
Speed: Incredibly fast, they can sprint over a foot in just seconds.
Color: Pale yellow-gray bodies marked with three dark stripes running down their back.
Antennae: Slender and lengthy, used for sensing surroundings, especially in darkness.
Behavior: Naturally timid and non-confrontational, they’ll choose flight over fight.
Venom: Potent enough to take down insects, but usually harmless to humans aside from minor discomfort.

Seeing Centipedes Could Mean More Bugs Are Hiding

Spotting just one house centipede doesn’t automatically mean you’re dealing with an infestation. However, their presence is often a clue that other insects are thriving in your home. Since centipedes are predators, they’ll only stick around if there’s enough prey to keep them fed.

Squashing one centipede might bring short-term relief, but it won’t solve the underlying issue. To keep them from coming back, you’ll need to deal with the source of the infestation.

Ja-Roy Pest Control is here to help. Our skilled technicians can conduct a thorough inspection, pinpoint pest activity, and create a customized plan to remove both house centipedes and the bugs they feed on.