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kudzukween

My Centipede Invasion

kudzukween
13 years ago

I'm ready to move out of the country. I don't know how much more nature I can take! This time it's centipedes. At first I thought it was hundreds, but now I think it's bajillions. Makes my skin crawl, and I have goosebumps with this photos.

How to kill them without hurting my puppies......

cherry kudzu

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Comments (11)

  • sunnyca_gw
    13 years ago

    Wow!! No thanks, I'd freak out!! Don't want any critters in my house. Mice really do me in. Had just 1 when 1st moved in of course the yard had been an open field until they put in the houses. I saw it come in, door was standing open as DH was coming with a ladder by the time he got to kitchen I was on a chair & not leaving it until the critter was dead & gone. Hadn't moved much in yet so was easy for him to find. Growing up it was black beetles in June, other bugs in your mouth riding on your bike, mosquitoes, grasshoppers & various other critters. Ca. isn't too buggy yet!Do they get inside your house Cherry??Do they bite? Jan

  • kudzukween
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    oh yes, they are all over! and they do bite! when i was very little, i'd wake up with my lips or eyes swollen where i'd gotten bit and my family would laugh at me. one more reason to really really hate these. for me, they feel like bee stings.i'm catching them coming in under the french doors off the deck, maybe i need a new seal? so far, none of the poison sprays i have seem to have any effect other than to just cool the little buggers off. oh and i'm finding them in my bathtub. this wet weather we've had isn't helping, it's been soggy for months! oh...and last evening when i swept my bedroom i found about a dozen dead curled up ones in front of the bookcase in there! i think i got bit last night, i have a sting in the center of my chest, and one in the bend of my elbow. both nice big lumps on soft skin...ow!
    kudzu/cherry

  • sunnyca_gw
    13 years ago

    Wonder if Boric acid sometimes used for ants might work, since they are so low to ground they might breathe it in & die, (years ago used as eye wash) so not toxic, sprinkle it under French doors so puppies couldn't get it tho. I think they have a Borax for the wash but probably not the same. Jan

  • nonacook
    13 years ago

    The yellow 'lady bugs' do that in Indiana. They sting too.
    The cabin is dark but all the white houses have 'wall to wall' ladybugs on them in the fall. Haven't seen any centipedes here or in Indiana tho. Hope I don't! Had a flea infestation in the vacant house where the cats spent the winter nights. Am currently fighting that. If It's not one thing it's 2 others. I use pinesol and water as a spray for some things...Maybe that would work...

  • Marlene Kindred
    13 years ago

    Oh wow Kudzu....I am so sorry that you're having such a problem with the centipedes...they really do make my skin crawl as well...especially if I had that many and IN my house. Wish I knew of a solution. I've actually never heard of such a problem.

  • toomuchglass
    13 years ago

    City girl here --- I didn't know centipedes bite ! Holy cow ! I see a few here & there - nothing to mention. I didn't know about Lady bugs biting either . It's times like this - I like being isolated in the city.

    We do have hatches of box elder beetles now & then -- Not many pesticides work on them - so DH mixes up soap water & sprays them. Drops them dead in their tracks. Soap water is safe & works for just about any bug .

    Go ZAP them ugly critters, Kudzu ..... and tell 'em "Kathy sent you" ..............

  • kudzukween
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    well, nothing i did worked except knocking them down with the rake and smooshing them and stepping on them. they're mostly gone now,. maybe they smelled death. however, i'm still finding piles of curled up dead ones. i've even found them behind things on my bookshelf in the bedroom and on the shelf on the bottom of my sewing table. you should see them in the spiderwebs outside the house, i guess spiders like them? or they just got tangled up and dried out. stuff like this makes me plain old tired.
    kudzu/cherry

  • rbeagan
    11 years ago

    Oh my goodness! I have the exact same problem and I live in Indiana. We live on a small 17 acre wooded, cattle farm, surrounded by fields. It has been so dry here, and I just assumed they were trying to get in to find water because I found 2 of them drinking from a single drop of water on the kitchen floor. Mine are mainly on my kitchen floor and bathtubs. And I also found one in one of the spare beds!! NOT a good thing! My mother-in-law, my daughter and 2 grand babies are on their way here to visit for a few weeks. One of the babies is a crawler so I am also trying to find out what to do to get rid of these things as well. My mother-in-law is also deathly allergic to insect bites and usually sends her to the hospital. I have GOT to find a way to get rid of these, or I'm afraid my company won't be staying long.

  • sunnyca_gw
    11 years ago

    rbeagan, I don't have answers, but you would be wise to have some Benadryl on hand. I am allergic to ants,little ones!! & spiders, the tiny cream colored ones we are now getting, wasps, yellow jackets & honey bees. Benadryl has worked for all these things but bigger critters require careful watching for reactions even days later if I don't keep up with the Benadryl. Been in hospital about 5 times, had desensitizing shots but still needed shot at hospital after that. I always have reaction right away- fireman said watch yourself for several days because you may be wrong- I've seen it, he was right. I should have taken 2 Benadryl from the beginning as it's a toxin & keeps building up in your system unless you knock it completely out. According to my "Ortho Home Gardener's Problem Solver book, yard centipedes in garden are good thing, eat lots of bugs; indoor ones are not so good can spray with allethrin or tetramethrin especially along baseboard cracks. Try to remove damp places close to house, piles of compost & moist areas are their favorites, guess that would include any leaks in basement or from toilet or behind washer etc. Hope this helps a little. If you used chemicals then you would need to scrub it off after it killed centipedes so safe for kids & pets. I have some boric acid powder(Roach powder) & it kills silverfish along with ants & roaches, might try that)(my dad used boric acid mixed with water for an eye wash yrs ago. Not too toxic if you can put it in your eye!Might try Borax washing powder if you have any! Jan

  • toomuchglass
    11 years ago

    Soap water kills everything. We have regular hatchings of bugs & it stops them in their tracks. The soap suffocates them. It never failed yet ! Water in a spray bottle with a couple spoons full of dish soap will be your friend :)

  • sunnyca_gw
    11 years ago

    Kathy, Doesn't the soap make area slippery? Does it kill ants? I had so many ants on my hands tonight as I was cleaning out along the bushes. Might try it where no one walks. Do you have to leave puddles? Seems like a light spray wouldn't help or maybe that would be enough. Jan