HOW TO TREAT FOR CENTIPEDES IN THE HOME & YARD | BUGSPRAY




CENTIPEDE OVERVIEW

Centipedes can become a perimeter pest to any structure. If given the chance, their numbers can reach high enough levels around the home which will lead to seasonal migrations inside living areas. This article will provide detailed information about this insect, why they can be a problem and how to treat local problems in and around the home.

 

Related articles:         EARWIGS        MILLIPEDES        PILL BUGS        SCORPIONS

 

Centipedes like to live in the same environment as millipedes, sowbugs, pillbugs and scoprions. There are two common species of centipede in the United States. The common house centipede which has long antennae and 15 pair of long legs.

 

The other species is more “snake like” and commonly mistaken for a millipede. They gyrate when they crawl which seem to bother most people. Both species are aggressive hunters and will bite if handled. And though they’re bite is not lethal, it can hurt and cause adverse reactions. For this reason one should avoid handling centipedes.

 

And this video gives you a good idea of how they move.

Both species can move rapidly and will commonly stop and go for long periods of time when on the prowl. The second species of centipede is both larger and longer. More common in the south, this centipede can grow to over 5 inches long.

Since centipedes tend to forage in “nasty” locations, they can carry a wide range of germs and bacteria. They bite is well documented but its more likely the amount of disease they spread has more of a direct impact on people.




CENTIPEDE TRAPS

Like millipedes, centipedes are slow to develop. They like moist areas to nest and roost. These areas include mulch, pine straw, thatch, leaves and under rocks or logs. The big difference between centipedes and millipedes is that centipedes like to eat other insects. For this reason, CENTIPEDE TRAPS can be helpful. Please these where you either see or suspect centipedes may be active.

Traps should be spaced 10-15 feet apart and set along baseboards or routes of entry like on either side of a garage or patio door. These traps use a range of insects for bait which will attract hungry centipedes. Once they enter, they’ll get stuck on the tacky glue inside and caught.

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Centipedes are one of the few predators which feed on spiders. They prefer to move at night, but like millipedes will migrate any time of day during certain conditions. Its not uncommon to have them migrate when water levels rise. This commonly happens during the winter and spring rains so the fall through winter into the spring is the time when they can be very active.

Centipede nests may host several hundred and when they migrate, all will move in the same direction. This will lead to infestations in the home if allowed to live comfortably outside so for most situations, treating the outside of the home is where you need to start.




BEST CENTIPEDE SPRAY FOR THE HOME SIDING

To start, you’ll want to treat the ground around your homes foundation immediately adjacent to the foundation. This will both kill any present and keep them from using the area. Do this first before treating the yard around the home. This way you’ll have a barrier in place so none will migrate from the lawn into the home.

The best spray for long lasting fast results is MAXXTHOR EC. This actives work well because the liquid is irritating to centipedes and penetrates all cracks and crevices where they like to nest.

Maxxthor should be mixed 1 oz to a gallon of water and for the average home, 1-2 gallons should be applied onto the homes siding and foundation.

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To put out the protective barrier, you’ll need to focus the spray on a band 3-6 feet wide. Basically covering a 2 foot area of ground and a 3-4 area up the side of the home. This way you have in place a protective barrier that will both repel centipedes and kill them if they choose to cross the treatment.

To get the most of your treatment, add SPREAD-X BOOST to your tank mix along with the Maxxthor. Boost is an adjuvant, also known as a wetter spreader or spreader sticker. It basically makes water and the mixture more “slippery” so you get better coverage. Treatments will spread 2-3 times wider and penetrate deeper.

The following short video summarizes why Boost can help deliver your treatment to where it matters the most. And this is extra helpful when treating homes with siding like vinyl, aluminum and stucco where centipedes might be hiding. It can also be helpful if they’re nesting down deep in mulch enabling the Maxxthor to reach their nests.

Add no more than the rate you’re applying the Maxxthor so in this case, if you’re adding 2.5 oz of Maxxthor to the hose end sprayer, add 2.5 oz of Boost too before adding water. If you’re adding Maxxthor to a pump sprayer at the rate of 1 oz per gallon, use 1 oz of Boost.

And don’t spray in the middle of the day; treat late in the day close to sunset so the treatment can dry without direct sunlight. UV light on the Boost can stress plants if the temperature is 85 degrees or higher so treat 2 hours or less before sunset to reduce sunlight stress.

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In general, one thorough treatment will kill off the ones living there. Plan on treating quarterly (every 3 months) to ensure they don’t come back.

For most treatments, a good PUMP SPRAYER will be needed. Make sure it can produce a wide “swath” to insure proper coverage. Pin stream sprays are not recommended.

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Next, consider treating the ground around the home with MAXXTHOR GRANULES. This will be needed if you have a lot of mulch like pine straw or wood chips.

Plan on treating at least a 10 foot wide section adjacent to the foundation. This would be the minimum area to treat; the more the better. So if the side of your home is 50 feet and you treat the whole side, 10 feet out, you will be covering 500 sq/ft. This will require .5 to 1 lb of the granules and like the spray, you should apply them every 3 months.

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CENTIPEDE SPRAY FOR INSIDE THE HOME

If you have centipedes in the home, there will be a few areas to focus on treating.

The first will be points of entry around doors, windows and under cabinets. A decent spray to try at first will be FS MP AEROSOL. This ready to spray aerosol is fast acting, comes with a crack and crevice injecting straw for reaching their nests and once in place, will can control a moderate problem. FS MP is highly repellent so they won’t want to come in through the cracks you treat. Plan on using 1/2 can every time you treat and spot treat as needed. If you notice activity just 1 week after you sprayed, it means you didn’t get their nests so treat again.

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Now if the problem is deep rooted, especially if you have a slab or crawl space which will be prime locations for them to nest, you may need our POWER INJECTOR.

So just how can the Power Injector help? There are many reasons.

New for 2025, the POWER INJECTOR is a tool we’ve all needed for a long time. It was first created to effectively replace aerosol products to help reduce on cost and waste (of throw away cans) but its turned out to be a lot more.

So first, the Power Injector lets you get to control what you’re spraying. That means now you can use the best chemicals (like our Maxxthor) up under the home siding instead of lesser actives found in aerosols (like the FS MP listed above). Currently there are no “ready to spray” aerosols which use these top of the line actives and when you combine the best active with the penetrating power of the Injector, you can reach deep nesting pests like centipedes.

So how do you control the penetrating power?

Simple. Standard aerosols run on 15-20 psi. But with the Power Injector, you can power it up to 90 psi. This will get you 3-5 times deeper penetration which can be all the difference when it comes to solving tough pest problems nesting in wall voids or behind home siding.

Third, you can use BASE OIL in the Power Injector. Unlike other oil based aerosols that have odors (like FS MP), Base Oil is odorless and since its more refined, it penetrates deeper compared to any other option. Add to that the power of Maxxthor and well, you’ll have the strongest mixture at your fingertips for hidden spaces that will last indefinitely.

The following video highlights these features in less than 1 minute:

Now if you plan on getting Bithor (listed below), the Power Injector can be used with Bithor and water too. This means with one of the Aerosol nozzles, you can apply Bithor to any walls Centipedes are found using. The light mist aerosol tip won’t over apply the mixture preventing messy over spray.

But for deep nesting centipedes, you will really benefit is by using the Maxxthor/Base Oil.

The following short video explains why Base Oil is so good at enhancing the Power Injectors range:

As the video above explains, Base Oil can really help get deliver your treatments where it needs to reach. So if you’ve had issues under certain cabinets or wall voids where centipedes keep coming, the Power Injector is probably going to be needed. And since you can use it to apply Bithor and Maxxthor, you won’t need any of the aerosols mentioned above.

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BEST INSIDE SPRAY FOR CENTIPEDES

For baseboard treatments, BITHOR SC is well suited for inside the home. Odorless and safe enough for use on carpeting, Bithor uses two actives.

This is covered in our short video here:

 

The first active will flush out centipedes and work as a contact kill when first applied. Then within 1-2 days, this active will disappear and then the second one will kick on and keep working for weeks. This second active is very stealthy so centipedes won’t know it’s even there. This insures they’ll walk over treated surfaces and within a day or two of being exposed, die too.

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WHAT IF YOU HAVE CENTIPEDES IN THE SINK

Since centipedes like organic matter, they commonly nest in sewer pipes and septic tanks. From there, they will migrate up into homes since they can travel great distances. Entry points will include sinks, showers and tubs along with french drains or ejection pump systems.

If you are finding them in your sink, the best drain line treatment is LEMON AIR. Labeled for use down this sensitive area, Lemon Air smells just like lemons as well as control odors.

 

This short video (less than 60 seconds) shows how easy it is to use the Lemon Air

For crawling pests like centipedes, add 4 oz per gallon of water and pour 1/2 gallon down any sink drain suspected of having activity. Use Lemon Air twice a week when centipedes are active and after 2 weeks of steady treatments, once a month should keep them under control.

Lemon Air will keep any sink fresh smelling too so great for tubs, bathrooms and even commercial kitchen drain lines.

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CENTIPEDES IN THE WALL OR CRAWL SPACE

Centipedes are notorious for nesting in dark secluded areas like wall voids behind sinks and cabinets and down in crawl spaces. Treating these areas with liquids or aerosol is not suggested as the treatment will not last long.

But what works well and lasts long is XEMPT DUST.

Xempt D features two qualities that make it more efficient compared to ordinary insecticide dusts.

First, like insecticide dusts, it will agitate insects and force them to leave the dusted area or else they will die. And once they start moving, if they have dust on them they will die by dehydration.

Directly treated pests will succumb to the dust within a day BUT even as the active ingredient wears off in 1-2 months, the remaining base ingredient will keep working by making pests uncomfortable. So where ordinary dusts break down after 1-2 months and have no way of impacting pests, Xempt’s base lasts and keeps active by retaining its dehydrating feature.

The second most important part of this feature is that Xempt D CAN GET WET BUT WILL STILL WORK! This makes it quite unique and why its so well suited for both dry AND moist environments like spaces around sinks and tubs as well as crawl spaces. Applications can last over a year too so when done properly, you won’t need to keep reapplying.

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Use a HAND DUSTER when making treatments to wall voids under the sink or false cabinet bottoms. PEST X-JECTORS may help with these treatments too.

X-Jectors are designed to be “tapped” into sheetrock, paneling or any thin (less than 1″ thick) material so you can treat the empty space behind the covering using products like XEMPT DUST. They’re very strong, similar to “ribbed plastic wall anchors”, and allow you to safely apply pesticides to hidden voids and then “cap” the hole to keep the pesticide inside.

They measure 1.5″ long, have two “barbs” that hold them in place so once in the wall, they won’t come out and can be sealed air tight. They require a 3/8″  pilot hole so you can “press” them in (or lightly tap with a hammer) to keep them anchored and secure.

Jectors will also accept the Crusader duster so you can dust empty voids and seal the treatment hole when finished.

For centipedes, be sure to dust in between all the studs so plan on making your holes every 14-16″ (the standard spacing of wall studs).

The crusader is also well suited for treating under electric outlet covers and light switch covers. Xempt Dust won’t hurt the contacts or electric parts in these areas but once applied, it will keep out centipedes (and any other insect) which might target these locations.

 

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