How to Completely Eliminate Millipedes? A Detailed Guide to Practical Control Methods
Millipedes, also known as thousand-leggers, hundred-leggers, scale-stick bugs, and so on, live on the surface layer of lawn soil, under clods of earth, under blocks, or in soil cracks. They hide during the day and are active at night. When threatened or touched, they curl their bodies into a circular ring in a "death-feigning state," then recover and resume activity after a period of time. Let us take a look below at how to completely eliminate millipedes!
How to Eliminate Millipedes?
The spread and migration of millipedes can be controlled and killed off. Treating the problem at its source is the best approach. Effective eradication can be achieved by scattering quicklime over millipede habitats, using fire, scalding with boiling water, and spraying pyrethroid pesticides. The best times for eradication are from 5 AM to 10 AM and from 5 PM until dark. Based on actual conditions, you can work from indoors outward in all directions to outdoors, farmland, and forests in an encircling manner, establishing good isolation belts to strictly prevent millipedes from spreading. If you accidentally touch a millipede and it causes skin allergies, absolutely never wipe the area with alcohol; instead, wash with soapy water.
Are Millipedes Poisonous?
Although millipedes have no venomous jaws, they have stink glands on their body segments that can secrete a toxic, foul-smelling liquid. The odor is so unpleasant that poultry and birds dare not peck at them. Moreover, accidentally eating a millipede can cause allergic edema of the lips and other symptoms in humans. At the same time, although millipedes do not bite people, handling or playing with them can cause them to secrete toxins that trigger local irritation, and in severe cases can cause obvious erythema, blisters, and necrosis. Wash with plenty of soap and water, but absolutely do not use alcohol. If the skin reacts, topical corticosteroids can be applied locally. If the eyes are affected, they must be rinsed immediately, and corticosteroid eye drops or ointment should be applied.
Differences Between Millipedes and Centipedes
Millipedes and centipedes are two branches of arthropods. Centipedes have flat bodies, divided into a cephalic region and a trunk. The head has one pair of antennae, one pair of large mandibles, and two pairs of small maxillae. The trunk has 15 to 180 segments, each with one pair of appendages (legs), and the first pair of appendages forms the forcipules. Millipedes, however, have long cylindrical bodies. Except for the front and rear ends, each body segment is formed by two fused somites, so it appears that each segment has two pairs of legs. The mouthparts are relatively simple, with one pair of large mandibles and one pair of plate-like gnathochilaria; the lower lip has degenerated. Newly hatched larvae have only six pairs of legs, and with each molt the number of legs increases.