Why Are House Centipedes Sneaking Into Your Home?

Known for their twitchy legs and lightning speed, house centipedes (Scutigera coleoptrata) are often an unpleasant surprise. While they don’t pose a real threat to people, their sudden appearances can be unsettling. If you’ve recently seen one dart across the floor, you’re likely wondering how it got inside, and what attracted it in the first place.

The explanation is simple: house centipedes are in search of shelter, moisture, and something to eat. If your home offers all three, it’s a perfect place for them to settle.

How Centipedes Slip Through the Cracks

It doesn’t take much for house centipedes to gain entry to your home. Their slender bodies and speed allow them to move through tight spaces. Small gaps in the foundation, openings around pipes, vents without covers, loose siding, and aging window seals are all potential entryways. Once indoors, they head for dark, cool spaces that provide cover and access to prey.

Since these pests are active at night, they often remain hidden for a while. By the time you notice one, it’s probably been living undetected in a basement, bathroom, or behind appliances.

They’re Following Their Food Sources

Centipedes don’t typically choose to live inside. They’re usually found outdoors under garden mulch, damp leaves, or stones. But when their insect prey starts to move closer to your home, or disappears entirely, they follow the scent trail wherever it leads. It can be helpful that they feed on nuisance bugs, but frequent sightings point to a bigger pest issue.

House centipedes are predators that feed on a variety of insects, including:

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

Moisture Helps Them Thrive

Like many arthropods, centipedes require high humidity to survive. Outdoors, they cluster around moist mulch, decaying logs, or compost piles. Inside, they’re drawn to steamy bathrooms, musty laundry areas, and leaky basements. Lowering indoor humidity is one of the best ways to make your space less attractive to them.

To reduce dampness, try the following:

• Repair dripping outdoor faucets and hose connections
• Unclog gutters and ensure downspouts direct water away from the home
• Thin dense shrubs or plants to allow soil to dry
• Use dehumidifiers in crawl spaces and basements
• Improve airflow in bathrooms and laundry rooms through proper ventilation

Clutter Provides the Perfect Cover

House centipedes gravitate toward dark places where they won’t be disturbed. Piles of yard waste, disorganized sheds, or cluttered rooms offer excellent daytime hiding spots.

To stop providing them with places they can hide, consider these tidying tips:

• Keep firewood stacked neatly and elevated from the ground
• Store outdoor tools, pots, and equipment in closed containers or sheds
• Bring any outdoor items inside when they’re not being used
• Rake leaves and clear plant debris to avoid moisture buildup
• Regularly mow and trim back vegetation
• Seal cracks near doors, windows, and along the foundation
• Fix torn screens and replace deteriorated weather stripping

House Centipedes Move In From the Outdoors

You might spot one zipping across your bathroom floor or slipping down a drain, but house centipedes don’t originate inside your home. These fast-moving arthropods typically begin life outdoors in cool, moist places where they can stay out of sight and find plenty of insects to eat. Common hiding spots include damp mulch beds, rotting logs, wet leaf piles, or tucked beneath landscaping bricks and stones.

One of their go-to locations is the moist soil that hugs the foundation of your house. This area often stays shaded and humid, and it’s usually teeming with insect life, making it an ideal spot for centipedes to hunt. Once they’re settled nearby, all it takes is a period of dry weather or a sudden spike in heat to send them indoors.

To prevent them from crossing the line, check these typical outdoor hideouts:

• Garden beds and ornamental plantings: These tend to attract soft-bodied bugs like aphids and mites, which centipedes love to hunt.
• Hard surfaces like pavers and bricks: Insects and shelter are both easy to find underneath these features.
• Improperly sealed trash cans: Decomposing garbage lures in pests, which in turn bring hungry centipedes.

A cluttered or overly damp yard does more than invite bugs, it also draws in the creatures that feed on them.

Is It a Problem to See a House Centipede?

Their long legs and swift movements can be startling, but house centipedes aren’t typically harmful. They’re shy by nature and tend to scatter when discovered. Most of the time, they’re only inside to track down prey and don’t want anything to do with humans.

That said, you shouldn’t try to pick them up. Even though their venom is intended for insects, a frightened centipede might deliver a small pinch with its front legs. It’s usually brief, about as painful as a bee sting, but still unpleasant.

If someone in your household has an allergy to insect venom, that pinch could trigger more serious symptoms such as swelling, dizziness, or trouble breathing. If that happens, medical help should be sought immediately.

For most people, centipedes are harmless, but it’s still best to prevent kids and pets from interacting with them.

How to Identify a House Centipede

House centipedes stand out from other bugs, thanks to their unusual appearance. If you’re not sure what you saw, these traits can help confirm it:

• Legs: They have long, feather-light legs that extend out like a spider’s, giving them a wispy look.
• Leg count: With 15 pairs of legs, they’re not the largest centipede, but they’re still plenty fast.
• Speed: These critters are quick, able to travel over a foot in just a second or two.
• Color: Their bodies are usually a pale yellowish-gray with three dark stripes running the length of their backs.
• Antennae: Long and fine, used to pick up vibrations and navigate through the dark.
• Temperament: Nervous and non-confrontational, they’ll usually retreat rather than engage.
• Venom: Potent enough for insects, but in humans, it rarely causes anything worse than mild discomfort.

Seeing One Might Mean More Bugs Are Hiding

Just because you’ve found a house centipede doesn’t mean your home is full of them. However, it is a warning sign that there’s something else going on: a larger insect problem. These predators only stick around when there’s a steady food source to support them. If they’ve chosen to stay, it’s probably because they’re feeding on pests already living inside your home.

Getting rid of one centipede won’t fix the issue. To stop them from coming back, you’ll need to eliminate whatever is attracting them in the first place.

That’s where Suburban Exterminating comes in. Our trained professionals will assess your home and yard, locate hidden pest activity, and design a custom solution to clear out centipedes, along with the bugs they’re feeding on.

Reach out for an inspection today and start reclaiming your home from unwanted pests.