What to do if centipedes appeared in the apartment

A centipede in an apartment rarely makes anyone happy with its appearance. Nature did not stint on the number of paws for this creature, which is why it looks very intimidating and moves quickly. Interestingly, such a species as a centipede does not exist in taxonomy. This is the popular name for millipedes, numbering about 12,000 species.

What centipedes live next door to humans

In flats and houses, the common flycatchers or scolopendras live mainly, under favorable conditions, they can not leave their homes and spend their whole lives in them, which is neither more nor less than 6-7 years.

Flytrap

The centipede, contrary to its name, does not have 40 legs at all. In an adult, the body is divided into 15 segments, each of which is attached to a pair of long striped legs. At the ends they are so thin that it just seems amazing how they can withstand the weight of a millipede. The last pair of legs is longer than the size of the flycatcher itself, which is why it is not immediately possible to recognize where its antennae and legs are.

A flattened body of light brown or yellow color with longitudinal dark stripes, length reaches 6 cm. Facet eyes are located on the lateral parts of the head. A sharp vision and fast movement speed provide the centipede with excellent hunting abilities. By nature, an arthropod is a predator. Small insects become its prey. In apartments, it can be cockroaches, bugs, fleas, flies. The flycatcher captures prey with its jaws, injects poison into it and absorbs the immobilized trophy.

Interesting! Millipedes do not belong to the class of insects, but are included in the class of leg-footed. But given that all small-sized crawling and flying representatives of the fauna are commonly called insects, in everyday life they include centipedes.

Scolopendra home

Scolopendras are one of the most interesting creatures among millipedes. In southern Europe, in the Crimea, a ringed scolopendra lives, and survives well in colder latitudes. Unlike tropical "relatives", these centipedes in the house do not pose a threat to human life or health and eat synanthropic insects. Only occasionally can they accidentally bite a sleeping person. Their bite has much in common with a bee. Burning, pain, redness and swelling appear on the affected area.

On a note! A 45 ° C water heater will help reduce pain after a scolopendra bite. According to scientists, thermal exposure destroys arthropod venom.

The reasons for the appearance of centipedes in apartments and houses

Centipedes love high humidity and dim light. The peak of vigorous activity falls on the night hours, so often a person for a long time may not even be aware of the neighborhood with millipedes. Favorite habitats in the apartment:

• under bathtubs, near communications of a shower cabin;
• in the toilet;
• in the cracks under the tile;
• near the gutters.

In private homes, centipedes can choose cellars and attics, where living conditions are almost ideal for them.

Having discovered a many-legged creature, a frightened resident of city apartments wonders where the centipedes come from. The natural habitat of arthropods is a litter of fallen leaves, moss, rotten stumps, stone tunnels. With the onset of cold, centipedes begin to look for comfortable living conditions and through cracks penetrate the human home. Millipedes choose a new habitat according to the following criteria:

• the presence of food, water;
• dampness, humidity;
• warmly;
• darkness.

Most often, they are invaded by apartments on the lower floors. And although flycatchers and scolopendras do not show aggressiveness to humans, but destroy domestic insect pests, practically no one wants to share their living space with many-legged uninvited “guests”.

How to deal with millipedes

The most humane way to get rid of centipedes in an apartment is to lie in wait for them at night, catch them and carefully return them to their native element. However, in practice, the method is difficult to implement. Flytraps run fast and it is difficult to catch them, moreover, not everyone will decide to take a living "monster" in their hands. You can also slam the troublemaker with a slipper - if the settlement is solitary, such a measure will be quite effective.

On a note! The use of sticky traps is a useless remedy for centipedes in the house. An arthropod will sacrifice a pair of paws and go home.

When too many furry creatures have divorced and the psychological calm of the household is at stake, it is time to move on to radical measures:

1. To deprive centipedes of the food base: to destroy all insects in the house with the help of insecticides or calling for pest control.
2. Normalize the humidity level and microclimate in the apartment.
3. Eliminate all leaking water pipes, flaws in the sewer system, remove condensate in the bathroom in a timely manner.
4. Eliminate all cracks in the walls, near the baseboards.

If there is a problem how to get rid of centipedes in a private house, the list of planned events is supplemented by checking the condition of the basement, attic, cleaning the garden plot of fallen leaves, mowed grass, building materials located near the house. In the autumn period, when the mass migration of centipedes begins, a chemical barrier can be made that will prevent their entry into the house. To do this, the surrounding area is treated with insecticidal drugs.

Sometimes you have to sacrifice plants that climb the walls. In them, millipedes find reliable shelters and subsequently penetrate the house through open windows and windows.

Effective folk remedies

One of the easiest ways to get rid of centipedes in an apartment or house is boric acid. You can buy it at the pharmacy, it is sold in bags. It is not necessary to tire yourself with the preparation of baits with boric acid. The powder is scattered in the bathrooms, in the places of direct accumulation of centipedes (if any have been identified), on the routes of their movement.

After contact with the substance, particles of powder remain on the paws, causing itching and burning. When trying to clear the millipedes of foreign components, part of the product invariably enters the body, which leads to poisoning and subsequent death. Diatom powder is used in the same way.

On a note! Boric acid scattered on the floor will help get rid of not only centipedes, but also ants, cockroaches.

Centipede Insecticides

It is possible to completely destroy centipedes only with the help of insecticides. Not the most humane method, but the most effective and fast. Gel preparations intended for bullying cockroaches can be ineffective against millipedes.Prusakov in gels attracts the aroma of the product and only after the insect tastes the poison and brings it on its paws to the nest, a chain reaction begins. Many-legged arthropods are predators and food lures can remain without their attention for a long time.

The best poison from centipedes is insecticides in the form of aerosols, sprays, concentrates. Funds are applied to potential millipede habitats: in bathrooms, toilets, along baseboards. Pest control is carried out in a respirator, rubber gloves in the absence of households. At the end of the procedure, the room must be left for several hours.

How to poison centipedes:

• “Clean House” - an aerosol agent has an instant destructive effect, a flexible nozzle is attached to the bottle;
• "Raptor" - the composition of the aerosol includes 2 insecticides and a synergist, enhancing their action, so that all crawling insects that fall into the drug’s coverage area have no chance of survival;
• “Combat” - Aerosols Multispray and Superspray are equipped with a long convenient nozzle that allows you to process hard-to-reach places, their properties are maintained for 2-3 days;
• "Raid" - an effective aerosol for the destruction of insects with the smell of lavender, has a prolonged action;
• emulsions Medilis are inexpensive concentrates of Supersil and Ziper, which are diluted with water in accordance with the instructions before use, the action of the active components lasts for 30 days, it is advisable to use for rooms with numerous populations of insects, millipedes.

If there are too many centipedes in the apartment, then they do not lack a food base, which indicates the appearance of colonies of cockroaches and ants in the apartment. In this case, you can use the Raptor aquafumigator. It is a metal container containing potent insecticides and a steam generating agent. After assembling the structure, which takes 2-3 minutes, the aquafumigator is installed in the center of the room. Steam leaves it and penetrates into all corners of the room, instantly destroying all insects, and centipedes will not be an exception.