subject: House Centipede Control Information, The 3 Big Myths About Controlling Centipedes [print this page] House Centipede Control is difficult and there are three major myths floating around about them. But knowing the truth about these myths is the key to finally ridding yourself of these scary, disgusting little guys! I'm here to bring those myths into light, so without any more delay. . .
Myth One
An exterminator will take care of the problem. This is not true, and exterminator can give you a temporary solution at best. Those chemicals that they are spraying are not permanent they will eventually get washed away and then the centipedes come right back. In fact they can make the problem worse by eliminating the bugs that the centipedes normally compete with for food, like spiders. Another downside to chemicals is that they soak into the soil and eventually into the water supply, yummy.
Myth two
Boric Acid will get rid of your centipedes. Again this in not true. It's a similar affect to the exterminator. And while, thankfully, boric acid isn't nearly as toxic as the chemical the exterminator is using, it still washes away with time and loses its affect. So the only answer with this is to keep adding more boric acid, which seems more like a job not a permanent solution.
Myth three
Killing all the ones you see will work. Unfortunately this is not true. Centipedes each lay on average about 60-120 eggs. And centipedes can complete their life cycle from within your home. This mean that even if you kill a mature centipede, in a little while those eggs will hatch and you are back to square one or worse, since for the one you killed you are getting 60-120 more, not a very good trade there.
So now that you know what doesn't work, let's go over what does work. In order to get rid of those centipedes you need to have a step by step plan to eliminate the reasons they are in your home to begin with.
