Centipedes die from desiccation, insecticide contact, and physical removal, but the most effective long-term strategy combines killing methods with habitat changes that make your home inhospitable to them. Because centipedes need moisture to survive, drying out their environment is often more powerful than any spray.
Why Centipedes Are in Your Home
Centipedes enter homes for two reasons: moisture and food. They’re predators that eat silverfish, cockroaches, carpet beetle larvae, spiders, and other small arthropods. If you’re seeing centipedes frequently, that’s a signal that a prey population is thriving somewhere in your house. The centipedes are a symptom of a bigger pest issue, not just a standalone problem.
They gravitate toward damp, dark spaces like basements, bathrooms, crawl spaces, and laundry rooms. Without adequate humidity, they lose moisture through their exoskeletons faster than they can replace it. This vulnerability is the key to controlling them.
Reduce Humidity Below 50%
The single most effective thing you can do is dry out your home. Centipedes depend on damp conditions, and keeping indoor humidity at 45 to 50 percent makes it difficult for them to survive. At that level, they lose moisture faster than their bodies can handle, and the insects they feed on struggle too.
A dehumidifier in your basement or crawl space is the most direct tool. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent (ideally between 30 and 50 percent), which also helps prevent mold. Beyond a dehumidifier, fix leaky pipes, improve ventilation in bathrooms, and make sure your dryer vents to the outside. Fans in chronically damp areas help as well. Once you remove the moisture, you’ve eliminated the habitat centipedes need to survive and breed.
Diatomaceous Earth and Boric Acid
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is one of the most reliable non-toxic options for killing centipedes. It works mechanically, not chemically. The fine powder is made of fossilized algae with microscopically sharp edges that scratch the waxy coating on an arthropod’s exoskeleton. Once that coating is damaged, the centipede’s body oils and moisture leach out, and it dies from dehydration. DE doesn’t need to be eaten to work. It just needs contact.
Apply a light dusting along baseboards, in cracks and crevices, behind appliances, and around the perimeter of damp rooms. It stays effective indefinitely as long as it remains dry and undisturbed. If it gets wet, reapply. Use food-grade diatomaceous earth, and wear a dust mask during application to avoid inhaling the fine particles.
Boric acid works similarly as a contact and ingestion poison. Apply it in the same locations: baseboards, cracks, crevices, and anywhere you’ve spotted centipede activity. Both DE and boric acid are low-toxicity for humans and pets when used as directed, though you should keep applications in areas pets and children can’t easily access.
Chemical Insecticides
Spray insecticides containing pyrethrins or pyrethroids kill centipedes on contact and leave a residual barrier that continues working for days or weeks. Pyrethrins are derived from chrysanthemum flowers. Pyrethroids are synthetic versions that last longer in the environment and are more toxic to insects.
For indoor use, residual sprays applied along baseboards, door frames, and foundation edges create a lethal barrier centipedes must cross. Spray cracks and crevices directly for the best results, since centipedes travel through tight spaces rather than across open floors.
These products carry real safety considerations. Exposure to high concentrations can cause dizziness, headache, nausea, and muscle twitching in people. Pyrethroids are notably toxic to cats, whose livers can’t break down these compounds efficiently. If you have cats, choose a product specifically labeled as pet-safe or stick with diatomaceous earth. Always ventilate the area during and after application, keep children and pets away until surfaces dry, and store products out of reach.
Sticky Traps for Monitoring and Capture
Sticky traps (also called glue boards or insect monitors) won’t eliminate an infestation on their own, but they serve two purposes. They physically catch and kill centipedes that walk across them, and more importantly, they show you what else is living in your house. Penn State Extension recommends distributing sticky traps around your home to identify which prey arthropods are feeding the centipede population. If the traps fill up with silverfish, you know what to target. If you’re catching cockroaches, that’s your real problem.
Place traps along walls, in corners, near floor drains, and in closets. Check them weekly and note what you find.
Cut Off Their Food Supply
House centipedes eat silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae, cockroaches, spiders, and other small arthropods. Removing these prey species eliminates the centipede’s reason for staying. This is more than a supporting strategy; pest control experts consider it the first step in managing centipede populations.
Address whatever pest your sticky traps reveal. Vacuum regularly to remove carpet beetle larvae and their food sources (pet hair, lint, dead insects). Store dry goods in sealed containers if you’re dealing with pantry pests. Treat for cockroaches if they’re present. As the prey population declines, centipedes either leave, starve, or become far easier to manage with the other methods listed here.
Seal Entry Points
Centipedes enter through surprisingly small gaps. The most common entry points are cracks in foundation walls, gaps under exterior doors, and poorly sealed windowsills. According to the University of Kentucky’s entomology department, sealing these openings is one of the most effective prevention tools available.
Use silicone caulk to seal cracks in your foundation, around pipes where they enter the house, and along window frames. Install door sweeps on all exterior doors and replace worn weather stripping. Pay special attention to basement-level entry points, since centipedes tend to enter at ground level where soil moisture is highest. Check utility penetrations (where cables, pipes, and wires enter the house) and seal any gaps with expanding foam or caulk.
Direct Kill Methods
For the occasional centipede you spot on a wall or floor, the simplest approach works fine. Vacuum it up, step on it, or trap it under a glass and dispose of it outside. Centipedes are fast, so a vacuum with a hose attachment is often easier than trying to catch one by hand.
If you’re only seeing one or two centipedes a month, direct removal combined with humidity control and sealing entry points is usually enough. Frequent sightings, especially during daytime, suggest a larger population and a significant prey insect problem that warrants the full combination of habitat modification, food source elimination, and barrier treatments described above.