rss What kind of bug is this?
I have been seeing alot of bugs of this kind in my house. They come out at night time and crawl on walls around the same time at night. I want to get rid of them. Can you give me some info about them and also how to get rid of these critters? Thank you.
Phil
Hi PHil,
We do not recommend ridding your home of House Centipedes. They are harmless predators that will eat more destructive and harmful arthropods in your home.
cannibal centipede found this centipede feast a few nights ago here on mt. washington. i didn’t know they ate each other, but their food supply may be low (from the lack of rain this year, i’m supposing). this spring i haven’t been seeing many arthropods other than centipedes and a few types of spiders. yours,
phil
Hi Phil,
Are we neighbors in Mt Washington, Los Angeles??? We have been wanting to change the image of the House Centipede on our homepage, but have been waiting for an awesome image. Thanks so much for providing one. House Centipedes will obviously eat one another as well as including spiders insects in their diets.
"Welcome to Hawaii "guest
Aloha!
Two years ago, my family moved to Oahu. Shortly after arriving in our new home, we were surprised by a LARGE centipede. My daughters had never seen one before. I was upstairs when my 6 year old screamed that there was a "big bug" crawling on the floor. I told her it was probably a roach–since they are in OVER abundance here. She said, "NO! It has a LOT of LEGS!!" My first thought was a millipede. I came to investigate and was shocked! I have never seen one so big. I know they can be bigger, but this was big enough. We all climbed on the couch and I screamed for my husband to come catch it. He caught it after some effort. It seems they are very fast too. After taking some pictures, we kept it overnight and fed it 2 crickets and a roach. It was a voracious eater! It caught ALL THREE insects in its legs and just "conveyor belted" them to its jaws so it could chew off their heads. The next morning, all that was left was a wing and a leg. We then released it into a storm drain. Despite its size, I would rather have a 7 inch centipede outside eating roaches instead of a gooey memory on the bottom of my shoe. The centipede is in a fish bowl and that is my hand holding it. It was the only way we could get size perspective without getting bitten or it running off.
Dawn
Hi Dawn,
Thank you so much for writing in with your thrilling account of an encounter with a Tropical Centipede.
house centipede
I just sat to study in my recliner. I was studying anatomy and physiology-for vet tech training-and this thing came out of the book. I took pictures of it on the arm of the recliner and then in the trash can I used to take it outside in. I can’t and won’t kill bugs or spiders, so I take them outside to be free. Anyway I sent a few pictures to my sister and she helped me find out what it was. Thank you for your site..very, very helpful. Hope you’ll show my little 2" critter to rest. I was scared and had to find out what it was, so I’m glad there are sites like yours!!!!!
Valerie Boyum,
Marshall, MN
Hi Valerie,
It was just about time to post a new House Centipede image and we liked your letter.
Many legged Beastie
Hello,
We saw this bug in the south of France (in the Gorges du Tarn region) last October. There were two of them living together in a crack behind the front door. They weren’t at all scared when the door moved. We’d love to have any information about it.
Thanks,
Emily
Hi Emily,
We have countless images on House Centipedes on our website. We receive so many requests for their identification that we always have an image posted on our homepage to facilitate our readership. House Centipedes are harmless nocturnal predators.
my bug
Thank goodness, I finally know what those creepy crawly things are. A house Centipede. Needless to say they scared the heck out of me. We have lived in our house for 5 yrs , and I have been running from these bugs for almost three yrs.. Finally I got this pic of one and found him on your site. Im am truely relieved to find they are not harmful, just really creepy..Any way heres my pic, and thanks for the GREAT site.
Pamela
Hi Pamela,
We are thrilled to find out we have helped to squelch one of your phobias.
multi-colored centipede?
Below is a centipede found yesterday in my livingroom in upstate South Carolina. (Our home is surrounded by woods, if that helps ID.) It is about 2.5 inches long and speedy. Sorry about the lighting changes in the photos. He was moving so fast, I had a hard time just getting a picture in which his/her legs weren’t blurred. After browsing through your awesome site, I’m guessing it is some sort of multi-colored centipede. Would you agree? I’m unsure and emailing primarily because I keep reading elsewhere that they live in the western U.S. I have two very enthusiastic little nature "collectors" (photos only) that I don’t care to see bitten. Thanks,
Robbin Dawson
I’m too impatient. I just found him on bugguide.net. He’s a Florida Blue Centipede (Hemiscolopendra Marginata). Thanks anyway. Your site is invaluable to our bug ID efforts.
Robbin Dawson
Hi Robbin,
We are happy you have correctly identified your Florida Blue Centipede, Hemiscolopendra marginata. We do not stay tethered to the computer, and only post new letters once a day.
Scolopendra h. arizonensis?
Hi Bugman,
My roommate found this beauty digging a garden in the neighbors yard in Gisela, AZ. It is aprox. 9-10 inches long. None of us want to get close enough to measure it accurately. We decided to house it in a 20 gallon aquarium for a little while and observe it, take pictures, video etc… and then release it on the opposite side of the Tonto Creek from our house, just to be safe. We can find a few crickets about to feed it, but we do have lots of scorpions, a nest of them actual, on the property, will it eat scorpions? or will the scorpion kill it. My roommate is a vegetarian/Buddhist so he won’t let me fed it any mammals such as mice or lizards, or amphibians, which we also have running about. But he is O.K. with feeding it scorpions and other insects I can find. I tried stink beetles but the centipede didn’t seem to like those. Also, did we identify it correctly? Luv your website, really cool! Thanks,
Ardra
Hi Ardra,
We are certain this is Scolopendra heros, but we are not sure how the subspecies are identified. One color variant of this species is called the Giant Redheaded Centipede, but your specimen is one of the black headed ones. The primary food of these Desert Centipedes consists of small arthropods, so crickets should work nicely. We are not sure who would eat whom in a centipede/scorpion match.
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