House Centipedes: Your Best Friend for Household Pest Control

Poor, misunderstood common house centipedes; they just want to hang out in dark places and eat all the bugs they can hunt down. They have no interest in attacking that Empire State Building-sized creature that is making all that racket, even when that creature is trying its best to squish them with a gigantic smelly shoe for no good reason.

Now there's an interesting thought...let's see things from a bug's eye view for a moment. Suppose you're going along to the local Winn-Dixie or A&P to pick up some dinner. All of a sudden, one of the 90-story office buildings you weren't even noticing as you scurried along lets out an earsplitting screech and falls on you. Tends to ruin your day, doesn't it?

Some North Americans assume that the fear of insects is a deep, primal urge that all humans are born with. Nope. Fear of insects is learned. If you doubt my veracity, just watch The Learning Channel or Discovery on television for awhile. Sooner or later you'll catch a glimpse of native people in Asia, South America, or Africa letting their toddlers play with insects the size of Buicks. Or eating said Buick-sized insects for lunch. Or wearing them as jewelry. Or using their jaws as a suture for a deep wound. Those folks played it a lot smarter than we did; instead of trying to kill every insect that crossed their path ( a fool's game, anyway) they took the time to learn about and benefit from them.

Being the child of a science teacher (Mum) and an entomologist (Dad) I was not taught to fear bugs like a lot of my peers were. I was taught to have a healthy RESPECT for them, as well as all other living creatures--which draws a big line of difference between me and the "extreme!" idiots who try to grab passing nurse sharks while scuba diving, or pick up a wild grizzly cub for a photo op. (No, I'm not making that up--see references) As is the case with all living creatures, educating yourself about them is the first step toward understanding their ways and getting over your fear of them.

The common house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) can be seen pretty much all over the U.S. Their appearance, as seen in the photo, can be somewhat otherworldly ( or creepy, as some have put it). They're fast-moving too, another reason why they tend to scare the bejeezus out of those unfamiliar with their habits. These critters are a perfect example of swift and deadly efficiency when it comes to hunting down their prey: your big toe. Kidding, I'm kidding!! Come down off of that chair.

Actually, their prey of choice covers quite a few bugs we'd like to see less of: roaches, houseflies, clothes moths, silverfish, termites..pretty much every bug in the house. Centipedes, like spiders, are voracious predators of insects . Their life's goal is to catch and eat as many of them as they can. Centipedes have a long lifespan; they can live up to six years. They're also increasing in popularity as pets. Don't believe me? Go to Arachnopet.com.

House centipedes do not eat or otherwise harm plants. They do not carry disease. They do not chew on or burrow into house structure, get into your food, or harm your possessions. They just hunt the bugs that do, making them beneficial to humans who don't kill them. House centipedes have been called "hundred-" or "thousand-leggers", but in reality they have only 15 pairs of legs. The last pair of legs are extra long, so they can lasso their prey and bring it up to their jaws to inject it with poison before they eat it.

Are house centipedes dangerous? No. Again, like most creatures they have no desire to try and kill something that is hundreds of times their size. If one feels threatened (i.e. picked up and handled roughly by a giant) the FIRST thing it will try to do is get the hell away from the threat. If that doesn't work, it will defend itself just like any human would. The bite of a house centipede has been likened to the sting of a bee. There is not enough venom in any centipede in the world, including the foot-long ones in Central America, to kill a healthy human adult or child. Some of the big tropical ones (see photo2) can inflict a very painful bite, but not a lethal one. Here's a thought: Don't pick 'em up!!

House centipedes grow to an average of 1-2 inches long and generally hang out in damp, dark places like your cellar. They are quite shy, so you don't see much of them during the day. Night time is when they emerge to lay waste to any bugs they can find. Once in awhile they can be found in the bathtub or sink. Contrary to popular myth, they do NOT crawl up the drainpipes. They need moisture. If your tub is where the moisture is, that's where they go to get a drink. If you gently sweep them into a plastic cup and set them free in your cellar or outside, they will go on their merry way killing lots and lots of REAL household pests that carry disease, transport bacteria, or have babies that like to eat your winter clothes. So they're scary looking; so's my uncle Bert. That's not a good enough reason to squash them! Just look upon centipedes as benign, chemical and pesticide-free super-exterminators who charge nothing for their services and keep to themselves... other than an occasional windsprint across your bathroom floor.

*Reference for idiots with grizzly cubs story: "Mark of the Grizzly" by Scott McMillion, Falcon press 1998
-Reference for idiots grabbing nurse sharks: Saw it happen as I was guiding a dive in Tavernier, FL.