Centipedes are useful to have on your property because they're predators that eat bugs you don't want in your house. However, you probably don't want centipedes inside your home since they might bite when disturbed. Plus, you may find their appearance unsettling and just want to get rid of them. Under the right circumstances, centipedes can multiply indoors, but here are some steps you can take to control them.

Dry Out Your House

Centipedes need moist conditions to stay alive. In their normal habitat outdoors, the creatures live under wet clumps of leaves and in other moist areas. Inside your house, the centipedes head for a damp basement or a cabinet under a sink with a slow drip. The first step in controlling centipedes is to dry out all the damp and wet areas of your home since the centipedes can't live in a dry environment.

Remove Hiding Places Indoors and Outside

Clutter, especially clutter in a damp area, is a paradise for centipedes. Clutter provides a place for all kinds of insects to live and hide in, and the bugs provide an easy source of food for the centipedes. You may need to clean the yard closest to your house to get rid of firewood piles, brush piles from trimming trees, and piles of decaying leaves. You might need to get rid of damp cardboard storage boxes in the basement and clear out the clutter in your lower kitchen cabinets. Clearing up clutter is worth the effort since you'll remove a tempting habitat for centipedes, spiders, mice, and other pests.

Have Pest Control Treatments

Since centipedes eat bugs, if you eliminate bugs in your home, you'll also eliminate the food supply for centipedes. The best way to get rid of household bugs is to have pest control treatments. The exterminator may spray indoors and outside to kill off roaches and other bugs that live in your home or outside near your house. When the centipedes can't find food, your home won't be able to support an infestation and the centipedes will die or move elsewhere. By having regular pest control treatments on a schedule advised by your exterminator, you may keep centipedes away and not be frightened by one scurrying across your kitchen floor again.

Use Glue Traps

Pest control services might put down glue traps to see how many centipedes get caught in them. The glue traps capture the creatures so you can kill them, and the traps also let you know the severity of your infestation. Glue traps are a good way to monitor the pests in your home since roaches, spiders, and other bugs get caught in them too.