Author: Bob Villa | Updated 2:55 PM, August 9, 2021

Photo: flickr.com via prkos

The centipede has no shortage of legs and amazing speed, and seems to be designed to make the squeamish homeowner scream. However, despite the scary appearance of centipedes, in most cases they are harmless and even helpful. They will not damage your foundation, siding or furniture; they are not interested in the food in your storage room; they come out at night to eat terrible bugs that you don't want to wander around, such as termites, moths, cockroaches, and even bed bugs.

If you are not squeamish, you can consider letting centipedes do what they do best-kill destructive pests with venom, and then gobble them carefully so that you have nothing to clean up.

However, if you find that creepy reptiles are too disturbing to bear, there are some steps you can take to eliminate centipedes.

If centipedes are already comfortable in your humble home, here are some ways to eliminate them:

The best way to reduce the number of centipedes in your home is to prevent pests from entering in the first place. Here is how to create a desolate home:

Finally, if you can find out which bugs the centipede feeds on and eliminate them, the centipede will move to a place with a more reliable food supply—perhaps your neighbor’s house! Then you can let others understand the combination of prevention and control, so that you can avoid the terrible confrontation with the "millipede".

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