How do house centipedes get into a home? Why do they get out of control? Most importantly, what damage can centipedes do? In order to rid your home of these creepy pests, you’ll need to know what’s attracting them in the first place. Because they’re often found in crawlspaces and other little used areas of homes, homeowners may need to seek the help of professionals.

Here are just a few ways centipedes get indoors and what you can do to stop them:

House centipedes are attracted to moist interiors.

There are several species of centipede in Georgia. While any variety will take shelter indoors once temperatures drop, there is only one type that lives in homes all of the time. House centipedes are drawn to damp basements, crawlspaces, mudrooms and to other areas likely to have high humidity and a certain amount of debris.

The easiest way to prevent centipedes from coming to your home, and the easiest way to get them to go away, is by maintaining a humidity level under 60 percent and clearing up any garbage, food scraps or similar material around your home. They also feast upon other indoor insects; so they may come to your home in search of termites, cockroaches, carpenter ants and other pests. While they do eat them, they unfortunately don’t do enough to stop one of these infestations from growing; so, it generally isn’t worth it to keep them around.

Centipedes love concrete.

These arthropods consist of long, flat segmented bodies. They have 15 legs on each side, and the females have back legs twice the length of the others. Their front legs can be used as pinschers for both grasping prey and delivering venom. As well as subduing other pests this way, they also fend off attackers. The bite they deliver is notably painful though the venom doesn’t last long or lead to further problems. However, because of their body shape, they’re able to enter many structures through very thin cracks on cement casings.

Centipedes get in your home through gaps in cement slabs, in damaged block walls and through pipes. They regularly enter through drains and sump pumps. Surprisingly, they may also enter through boxes that have been stored in warehouses with cement slab for floors.

Centipedes live quite a while.

The average centipede will live three years if not killed before then. In that time, one of them can lay roughly 35 eggs a year. It’s easy to see how your home can become overwhelmed by them allowing accidental bites to occur. They’re also freakish in appearance -and in their movements, darting from place to place in the dark. It can be difficult to kill them, even if you’re able to find them first. Often, the best course of action is calling in a professional to help you identify how they’re getting into your home and how best to get rid of them.

Call 770-475-7419 to contact North Fulton Pest Solutions to answer the question, “How do house centipedes get in?” and get control of them. Schedule your inspection today.