Is the house centipede poisonous? Here's how to get rid of house centipedes fast

The house centipede and the centipede are close relatives. The tawny house centipede is smaller than the ordinary centipede, with very thin and very long antennae and legs and very large venomous jaws, and it often lives in damp, shady spots inside and around houses. So is the house centipede poisonous? How do you get rid of it fast?

1. Is the house centipede poisonous?

The house centipede is poisonous. It has a pair of hooked jaw-feet, the tips of which are claw-shaped, and at the tip of each claw is an opening for a venom gland that can secrete venom. Within a few hours of a sting, cord-like red patches and blisters appear on the skin; the blisters are first semi-transparent, then turn into cloudy pus or blood, with an obvious red halo around them, and the blister walls are often scratched or rubbed open to form eroded surfaces.

2. How do you get rid of house centipedes fast?

1. Spray sanitary aerosol insecticides such as trichlorfon powder or Miehai Ling in dark, damp places, but this method is not recommended because toxic chemical residues remain. If you do use it, it is advisable to wear a mask while applying it and to keep the room sealed for several hours to ensure the maximum effect of the insecticide. Then open the doors and windows wide and wait before entering, so that the chemical residues disperse.

2. You can apply insecticidal paint to wall surfaces, but this is not recommended, because chemical residues remain, and after painting you should wait before moving back in, ensuring adequate ventilation, and only move back in once there is no smell of the chemical in the room.

3. Eliminating house centipedes at the source is the most effective method. Promptly clear away rubble, garbage and so on inside and outside the home, smooth over dark corner gaps with cement slurry or lime slurry, scatter some quicklime, and sweep regularly and scatter it again, because quicklime can absorb moisture and thereby keep the interior dry, so that the house centipede loses its living environment.

3. Living habits of the house centipede

The house centipede moves quickly and has concentrated tracheae; thousands of simple eyes gathered together form a pseudocompound eye, and it often appears even in courtyards and living rooms. The centipede, a member of the Chilopoda, has only 4 pairs of simple eyes; although its eyesight is very poor, it moves very quickly, and whether crawling, hunting or seeking a place to rest, it relies mainly on 1 pair of antennae.

By day the house centipede rests in rotting leaves and decayed wood, and only comes out at night to forage; it moves quickly and feeds mainly on insects and spiders.

The house centipede is a species with a relatively low metabolism, slow growth, poor reproductive capacity and a very long lifespan. There are quite a number of species; the large house centipede common in China, also called the flower house centipede, is distributed across the southern provinces. House centipedes are mostly active in summer and autumn, crawl fairly fast, often live in dark, damp places inside and around houses, crawl on walls, mosquito nets, furniture and under beds, and feed by catching small insects.