What is the creepy crawler in my presence?

Wenatchee Home Inspections

What is this little bugger that is covered in legs, with a black to greyish-white colored body (they can also be yellow)? Their legs with a flurry of movement surround their body and propel these little creatures in quick, darting motions. Though Centi means a hundred these guys only have 30 legs consisting of 15 pairs of banded legs.

So what is it? The answer is the House Centipede. I run into these guys fairly frequently when and performing the crawlspace part of my home inspection. Typically I get the “what the heck” jolt from them as they make their darting movement to try to get out of my way and hide. I am always messing with their habitat it seems

As creepy as these guys are they are actually beneficial. The House Centipede will feed on cockroaches, spiders, silverfish, carpet beetle larvae, firebrats and other small arthropods. Like many predatory house insects they are there because their food is there. So one way to control them is to reduce their food sources.  You can use sticky traps as a way to monitor what other insects are present that they are feeding on. Additional measures is to clean and dry up those areas in the living spaces to reduce their presence. If they are a concern to you, you can use insecticides designed for indoor use.

Technically, the house centipede could bite, all centipedes have poison glands and the means to inject their venom, but they are considered harmless to people.

So if you see one of these creepy little guys scurrying around think of them as bug wolves cleaning up some other more unsavory insects.

“Creepy is better than just plain scary because you can't look away from creepy - you want to know the truth!”

Ransom Riggs

NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…  

Your Wenatchee and Chelan Professional Real Estate, Home and Structural Pest Inspection Service

Instructor- Fundamentals of Home Inspection-  Bellingham Technical College

WA Home Inspector Advisory Licensing Board

www.ncwhomeinspections.com                                                   509-670-9572

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