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If you are bitten by Scutigera coleoptrata, you aren't likely to suffer much pain. Do take care to clean the wound to prevent a secondary infection. You wake up one morning and see broken skin and maybe some swelling on your arm. These common household pests love arms (and legs), and they are nocturnal. If you think a centipede snacked on your skin, read on to learn the steps you can take to care for the bite at home. Although house centipedes are “good” bugs, they may still make your skin crawl.
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So, if you can learn to not be terrified of them, you should let them do their thing. Known for killing other pests, house centipedes will enter your home because they are on the hunt for other home-invading bugs to feast on. Generally, they will mind their own business and will help to banish roaches, moths, flies, silverfish, and termites around your home. If you do notice house centipedes inside your home, start by finding out what their food source is. They’re looking for other insects to eat, so if the house centipede is in your home it is a sign there are other insects. Eliminate the other insects in your home and the house centipede will leave to find a new food source.
Are Centipedes Dangerous to Dogs?
If a centipede is found indoors, you can get rid of it with a vacuum. However, you should contact a licensed pest professional if you suspect an infestation. You can find one near you with the helpful zip code search below. People working in their yards or down in dank cellars are particularly susceptible to surprise encounters. In North America, you most often will find centipedes outside in moist locations, hiding under protective areas such as stones, leaves, and logs.
Are House Centipedes Dangerous?
The toxins are responsible for the inflammation and mild burning sensation we discussed earlier. Once again, those who are more sensitive to insect allergens might experience more irritation than most. So, it’s a good idea to seek medical attention if you experience an infection or serious reaction. Now, just because the house centipede isn’t dangerous to humans, that doesn’t mean that you should pick them up or try to interact with them!
How to kill centipedes
The reason house centipedes are in your home is that they’re looking for food, which happens to be other insects you don’t want inside your home. While a centipede running across the floor at night can be shocking to see, they are actually beneficial to have in your home if you have other pests. They’re working on killing the other pests in your home, even if you hadn’t realized they were there. Once you do this, the house centipedes will move out and will go somewhere else to find their food. House centipedes feed on silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae, cockroaches, spiders, and other small arthropods.
Millipede bites
However, some people may be allergic to the venom that the centipede injects into the skin. Female house centipedes can live as long as 3 years and produce between 35 and 150 eggs during their lifetimes. Larvae progress through 6 instars, gaining legs with each molt. Although it has its full complement of 15 pairs of legs, the immature house centipede will then molt 4 more times to reach adulthood.
House centipedes are smaller centipedes that are commonly found on the inside of homes. They tend to live in warmer, more humid climates and prefer to hunt during the night. These insects do not have nests or webs, and they stay on the move to hunt for other insects they can eat. They do have many legs, which enables them to hunt other insects that could be dangerous to them. They will bite their prey, then move away quickly and wait for their venom to kill the prey before they eat it.
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House centipedes do possess venomous bites, but they usually reserve these for their prey. They are predatory arthropods and use their venomous bites to subdue or kill other small insects like silverfish, firebrats, and cockroaches. Generally, the body of a centipede is usually yellow to dark brown in colour, sometimes with dark stripes or markings. You will of course notice their many legs, but may also spot a pair of long and sensitive antennae covered with dense hairs on their heads. If you think you may have been bitten by a centipede, you will notice a red or swollen blotch of skin around the bite mark.
Females can survive several years and produce up to 150 offspring. They tend to hide during daylight and come out at night to forage for prey. Our favorite way to remove potentially stinging or biting insects from the home is printed in Daniel’s book, The Curious World of Bugs. Trap the creature in an inverted martini glass and then slip a postcard between the opening of the glass and the home surface. For years we have been claiming that House Centipedes are perfectly harmless, but we concede that they might bite if handled. More detrimental to the House Centipede would be losing some legs due to careless handling.
House centipedes can bite, but their tiny jaws make it extremely difficult for them to bite through clothing. The thickness and material of the fabric also play a part in their capacity to pierce it. Lora Novak meticulously proofreads and edits all commercial content for Today’s Homeowner to guarantee that it contains the most up-to-date information.
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If a House Centipede bites you, you might feel a sharp, pinching pain similar to a bee sting and could experience redness or swelling at the bite site. Though a House Centipede bite can be uncomfortable, it's not typically dangerous to humans unless there's an allergic reaction. Despite this, such incidents are rare and usually happen when the centipede is threatened. The pain is often compared to a bee sting, accompanied by redness and swelling. Its body is yellowish-grey and has three dark dorsal stripes running down its length; the legs also have dark stripes.
If you do see house centipedes inside your home, do not kill them. Instead, work with a pest control professional to learn more about what the centipedes are feeding on inside your home and to get help eliminating other pests in your home. The centipede is going to help with insect control in your home and, when there is no more food for them in your home, they’ll simply move on to somewhere else to find the food they need. If you’ve seen one in your home, contact a pest control professional now to get help.
Centipedes inject venom into their prey to protect and defend themselves. However, these incidents are extremely rare because these creatures are generally timid and prefer to run away from humans rather than engage. Outdoors, house centipedes prefer to live in cool, damp places.
They are equipped with venomous claws to catch their prey which can potentially harm humans if bitten. Even if the centipede doesn’t sink into your skin, you may still see blistering that is left from the claws scratching you. You may hardly notice it, or you might feel a lot of pain from the scratch, depending on your body’s reaction. Centipedes bites, while painful, rarely cause severe health complications in people.
The most common is the Scutigera coleoptrata, otherwise known as the house centipede. This yellowish-grey centipede will typically be a few inches long with more than 15 pairs of legs, making it among the fastest in the centipede family. House centipedes, while generally harmless, can appear unsettling. By following the indentification and preventive tips outlined in this guide, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of a house centipede infestation.
If you’re like most people, you’ll be able to care for a centipede bite at home, and you won’t have to get a medical professional involved. But if you have a health condition that calls for you to be cautious, an infected bite, or an allergic reaction, you should continue to closely monitor the bite. You may also want to have small children with centipede bites looked at by a doctor. In most cases, the symptoms of your centipede bite will go away within 48 hours.
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