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  • Centipedes and Millipedes Miscellaneous

    Centipedes and Millipedes
  • Centipedes and Millipedes
  • Centipedes and Millipedes
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Elimination

First, it is important to identify all potential sources of food and shelter available to these parasites around the home (items placed on the ground, for example). Then, all breaches and cracks in the structure have to be sealed. A problem with these pests indoors is a sign that relative humidity is too high and that the area needs to be ventilated and dried out. This will create unfavorable conditions for an infestation.

Indoors, we only recommend an insecticide if it is impossible to eliminate the source of excess humidity. In such a case, Maheu&Maheu Crawling Insect Killer should be sprayed along baseboards, and even in cracks.

Outside, a strip around the house must be treated with a liquid insecticide. The base of walls must also be treated.

Actions

  • Put out glue traps inside the house
  • Locate & fix water leaks or seepage
  • Spot treat with insecticide indoors
  • Spray or treat the outside perimeter of the house with an insecticide as well as the outsides of windows and doors if a lot of pests are getting in

Prevention

  • Avoid storing materials alongside the foundations or on the ground
  • Seal the outsides of windows, doors, eaves, chimneys, etc. as completely as possible
  • Keep humidity as low as possible

Description and development

Centipedes and millipedes are not insects. They belong to the myriapoda group, meaning many (myria) legs (poda), more specifically, the centipede belongs to the chilopoda class and the millipede belongs to the diplopoda class. Unlike insects whose bodies are divided into three sections (head, thorax, and abdomen), the body of a myriapode has two distinct parts: the head and the trunk. The head comprises the same elements as an insect’s: a pair of antennae, two eyes, mandibles, etc. The trunk is composed of a variable number of segments. Centipedes are reddish-brown and flattened vertically (dorso-ventrally) and have one pair of legs per segment, which allows them to move quickly in a weaving motion. Millipedes (thousand leggers) are dark brown and rather cylindrical, and have two pairs of legs per segment. These legs are shorter than a centipede’s meaning that millipedes walk more slowly.
Millipedes and centipedes are both oviparous, meaning they produce eggs. Their larvae resemble adults except that, in the case of millipedes, they only have one pair of legs per segment. Females take care of their offspring.

Habits

Centipedes and millipedes live in damp, dark places under logs, stones, rocks, and bark. Millipedes are omnivorous (they eat both animal and vegetable matter) but are predominantly herbivore. Centipedes are more predatory, chasing other small arthropods (insects, for example), which they paralyze by injecting with venom before devouring. Certain species of centipedes can inflict a bite if you aren’t careful.

In the fall, millipedes migrate by the hundreds in search of a place to spend the winter. They can also be seen after a heavy rain, when raised water levels in the ground force them to leave their natural shelters. It is at these times that they can infiltrate dwellings and be seen on exterior walls.

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