Sticky glue traps are the most effective and widely available option for catching house centipedes. These traps use a non-toxic adhesive surface that holds centipedes in place once they walk across it, and they work without any chemical insecticides. But trapping alone rarely solves a centipede problem. The best results come from combining well-placed traps with environmental changes that make your home less hospitable to centipedes and the prey they hunt.
How Glue Traps Catch Centipedes
House centipedes are fast. They can sprint across floors and walls at surprising speeds, which makes them hard to catch by hand and even harder to manage with sprays. Glue traps work passively: you set them along a centipede’s likely path, and the adhesive does the rest. The glue is formulated to hold long-legged arthropods securely once any part of the body makes contact, preventing escape even from insects built for speed.
Most commercial options, like those from Catchmaster and Safer Home, use non-toxic glue with no chemical insecticides. This makes them safe to place in kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, and other living areas. Many traps can be folded into a tunnel shape, which serves two purposes: it keeps the glue surface away from curious pets and children, and it protects the adhesive from dust and debris that would reduce its stickiness over time. If you’re placing traps in dusty basements or crawl spaces, folding them into tunnels is worth doing from the start.
Where to Place Traps
Centipedes are nocturnal. During the day, they hide in dark, damp spots and come out at night to hunt. Trap placement should target the transition zones between their hiding spots and their hunting grounds.
The most productive locations include:
- Along basement walls and near floor drains, especially drains without water traps or those connected to dry sumps
- Around sump pump openings and expansion cracks in concrete slabs
- Inside closets and under cardboard boxes stored directly on concrete floors
- In bathrooms, particularly along baseboards and behind toilets where moisture collects
- Near crawl space access points and any unexcavated areas beneath the house
- Along cement block walls where mortar is missing or blocks are uncapped, since centipedes travel through these gaps
Place traps flush against walls rather than out in the open. Centipedes tend to follow edges and corners as they move through a room. Check traps every week or two and replace them once they’re full of debris or catches. Beyond catching centipedes, the traps double as monitors: if you notice a lot of other insects on the glue (silverfish, ants, roaches), that tells you the centipedes have a food source nearby that also needs addressing.
Why Traps Alone Aren’t Enough
House centipedes are predators. They eat spiders, silverfish, cockroaches, ants, and other small insects. If your home has a centipede problem, it almost certainly has a prey insect problem too. Penn State Extension recommends using sticky traps as diagnostic tools: spread them around the house and see what else you’re catching. The mix of insects on the traps reveals what’s feeding the centipede population and where to focus your efforts.
Killing individual centipedes with traps doesn’t address the reason they moved in. If the food supply stays, new centipedes will follow.
Reducing Humidity to Drive Centipedes Out
Centipedes need moisture to survive. Their bodies lose water quickly in dry air, which is why they gravitate toward basements, crawl spaces, and bathrooms. Lowering the humidity in your home is one of the most effective long-term strategies for reducing centipede populations.
The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally between 30% and 50%. For centipede and silverfish control specifically, the sweet spot is around 45% to 50%. At that range, moisture-dependent pests lose the conditions they need, and problems like mold and condensation also decline. A standalone dehumidifier in your basement or crawl space can make a significant difference, especially in humid climates or during summer months. Bathroom exhaust fans, fixing leaky pipes, and improving ventilation in enclosed areas all contribute.
This works on two levels. Lower humidity makes your home uncomfortable for centipedes directly, and it also reduces the populations of moisture-loving prey insects they feed on. Remove the food and the habitat, and centipedes have no reason to stay.
Sealing Entry Points
Centipedes enter homes through surprisingly small gaps. Common entry routes include expansion cracks in concrete slabs, gaps around pipes where they pass through walls, uncapped cement blocks, and floor drains connected to dry sumps. Sealing these openings with caulk or expandable foam cuts off access from outdoor populations. Pay particular attention to where utilities enter the house and to any cracks at the base of foundation walls.
For floor drains that aren’t used regularly, pouring water into them periodically maintains the water trap seal and prevents centipedes (and sewer gases) from coming up through the drain. If a drain is permanently unused, a rubber drain cover is a simple fix.
Choosing the Right Trap
You don’t need a centipede-specific product. Any flat sticky trap marketed for crawling insects will work. The key features to look for are a strong adhesive surface, a foldable design for dusty or pet-accessible areas, and no added chemical attractants (centipedes aren’t drawn to bait the way roaches are, so the trap’s location matters more than any lure).
Flat traps offer more surface area and catch more insects overall. Folded tunnel-style traps last longer in dirty environments and are safer around pets and small children. In most homes, a mix of both makes sense: flat traps in protected areas like behind appliances and inside cabinets, folded traps in open basement floors or near pet areas. If a pet or child does get stuck on a glue trap, vegetable oil or mineral oil dissolves the adhesive safely and without irritation.
Expect to use at least a dozen traps spread throughout your home to get a meaningful read on centipede activity and start reducing their numbers. Replace them monthly or whenever they’re no longer sticky. Over time, if you’re also managing humidity and sealing entry points, you should see fewer catches on each round of traps.