The instinct to squash a house centipede when it scurries across your floor can be overwhelming. But before you do, you might want to reconsider—killing a house centipede may not be the best idea.
House centipedes are often found in dark, damp areas like bathrooms or basements. Their many legs and fast, darting movements can make them seem alarming, causing most people to want to kill them on sight or flee.
However, the very traits that make centipedes unsettling also make them effective natural pest control agents. These speedy creatures prey on other insects, including spiders, roaches, and ants, helping to reduce the population of pests in your home.
While spotting a centipede in the middle of the night may be unsettling, you might feel less alarmed knowing that it's helping to keep your home free of other, perhaps more bothersome, bugs. Centipedes have a voracious appetite and are great at keeping insect populations in check.
If you're still uncomfortable with them in your home, there are ways to deal with centipedes without killing them. Reducing humidity levels in your home can make it less inviting for them, and you can trap centipedes in a glass jar to release them outside. Releasing them in a damp, natural environment allows them to continue playing their important role in the ecosystem.
Unlike some of their more dangerous relatives, house centipedes are not harmful to humans. They don’t have strong enough venom to bite through human skin, and the small amount of venom they do carry is only effective against their insect prey, making them more of a helpful ally than a threat.
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