Whenever the temperatures are overbearing outdoors, you may notice an increase in creepy guests trying to sneak indoors.
During hot or dry spells in the spring or summer, your home could fall victim to a centipede infestation. While relatively harmless, centipedes may frighten you and signal a more significant issue.
Keep reading to learn more about indoor centipede problems and ways to curtail an infestation before it gets out of control.
Do you have pest issues in your home or commercial property? Give us a call here at Zunex Pest Control!
So, what brings all of these pests inside your home? There are a couple of reasons centipedes sneak indoors, but we have the answers to keep your home pest-free!
Easy Access to Food
Have you ever wondered why you have so many pests? Most of the time, bugs, arachnids, and rodents creep inside to find food in pantries, kitchens, or countertops.
Ants, cockroaches, mice, and rats are typical yet unwanted visitors. No matter the season, pests flock indoors to find their fill of goodies and sate their hunger.
Spiders, beetles, and wasps eat many of the annoying bugs you try so hard to eliminate. But what about other pests that eat insects? If your home has many bugs, you could have other pests sneaking in too!
Centipedes will consume plant matter, but they primarily feast on other insects to meet their nutritional needs. Here’s a list of pests you could find centipedes snacking on in your home:
Unsatisfactory Outdoor Conditions
If the weather outside is too hot or cold, insects, spiders, and rodents tend to come indoors for shelter. When winter temperatures dip too low, many homeowners report increased numbers of mice, ladybugs, and stinkbugs!
Winter weather could entice these pests to find a similar indoor reprieve. A centipede infestation may blossom as the insects migrate into your home to escape the frigid winter chill. If you already have other overwintering pests, they’re unlikely to leave!
Outdoors, centipedes prefer to look for damps and warm spaces like rocks, building crevices, or brush piles. Inside, you’ll typically find centipedes congregating in any wet and warm spot, like in bathrooms, kitchens, or basements. However, they won’t head anywhere too warm!
Centipedes still require temperature-regulated conditions and won’t stick around long outdoors in the overbearing heat or for days without rain. Because many homes and residential buildings are well equipped to withstand the heat outside, centipedes and other pests could retreat to the air-conditioned structures.
Plus, centipedes can’t live long without sufficient moisture. Centipedes will slowly dry out and die without regular access to a damp area or soil. You’ll typically find these pests living it up in kitchens, bathrooms, basements, and garages.
We all know how centipedes sneak inside, but how can you get rid of the problem? Here are our top tips to combat centipedes indoors!
Remove their Access to Your Home
If pests are coming inside, you’ll need to discover the areas where they’re entering your home. I mean, all bugs have to come from somewhere, right?
Most pests exploit crevices on the exterior of your home to head indoors. Often, you can find these cracks on your exterior walls or foundation. You may have damages because of natural wear and tear, water damage, or weather deterioration.
Small spots are relatively easy to fix, and you shouldn’t have much trouble repairing the cracks with plaster, caulk, or stucco. However, always consult a professional before attempting any DIY home repair projects.
After you’ve found the areas where these pests are entering your home and repaired the damages, you should notice a decrease in overall pest activity, from centipedes and spiders to roaches and ants!
Cut Out Their Food Sources
Whenever you have a tough pest infestation, consider eliminating what they eat! Often the easiest pest control methods involve exclusion strategies that focus on removing all pests in your home.
You can quickly remedy an ant or cockroach infestation by cleaning your kitchen, pantry, and dining areas. These pests tend to clear out promptly without regular access to their favorite treats.
Plus, there are many DIY and professional pest control options you can rely on to keep annoying insects and arachnids at bay. Diatomaceous earth, borax, boric acid, and vinegar are popular picks for at-home methods.
Need a reliable pest control company to combat stubborn pests in your home? Contact us here at Zunex Pest Control for top-notch service!
Clean Damp Spaces
Don’t forget centipedes love wet spaces!
Never leave standing water in your tubs or sinks. While centipedes won’t enter areas flooded with water, they’ll stick around whenever the water drains down and leaves damp residue behind.
If you have leaks in your sinks, cabinets, garages, or basements, quickly repair these places to prevent a centipede infestation or another pest problem. Other insects and pests enjoy damp spaces too!
Use Other DIY Elimination Methods
If you are having trouble capturing the centipedes terrorizing your property, consider using sticky or glue traps to keep the centipedes in place. However, remember that these traps can catch other animals or insects in your home, so be careful when deciding where to place them.
Centipedes often stray away from certain smells, so you could use a specific scent to keep the pests at bay. Add a few drops of a fragrant essential oil like peppermint or lavender to a spray bottle filled with water and spray along your baseboards and the exterior of your home.
Similarly, centipedes may also avoid certain plant species like spicy peppers or garlic. If you’re interested in preventing a centipede infestation on your property, consider planting either near your home or in an existing garden.
Contact Zunex!
Here at Zunex, we can eliminate many common nuisance pests like centipedes. If you have an infestation in your home, contact us for help!
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