House centipede
Scutigera coleoptrata
- Identification
- Fast, with 15 pairs of long legs and a flattened gray-yellow body. Startling but harmless.
- Lifecycle & behavior
- Long-lived predators of other insects; thrive in damp basements, crawlspaces, and bathrooms.
- When it's active in Central NY
- Found year-round in damp CNY basements; more visible when other insect prey is present.
- Risk & damage
- Harmless — actually beneficial predators — but unsettling. Their presence signals excess moisture and other insects.
- Why DIY falls short
- Killing individuals ignores the moisture and prey that sustain them.
- How we treat it
- Reducing moisture and the insect prey base, plus perimeter treatment and sealing.
House centipede or something to worry about?
House centipedes are unmistakable and alarming to look at: a flattened grayish-yellow body with dark stripes and fifteen pairs of very long legs, moving in fast bursts. Nothing else in a Central New York home looks like this.
They are predators, not pests in the usual sense — they hunt other insects and spiders, which means a house centipede population indicates a food supply of other arthropods worth paying attention to.
House centipedes in Central New York
They favor damp environments, which is why they are so common in the region's older stone and fieldstone basements, crawlspaces, and ground-floor bathrooms. Northside Ithaca and other low-lying areas with high water tables see them consistently.
The useful way to think about a centipede problem is as a moisture indicator with a side of information: they are there because it is damp and because there are other insects to eat. Reducing moisture through drainage, ventilation, and dehumidification addresses both at once, and does more than treating the centipedes themselves.
Dealing with house centipede?
Our general pest preventative service handles it — guaranteed, family-owned, and local.
House centipede — common questions
Are house centipedes dangerous?
Not meaningfully. They can bite if handled but rarely do and it is comparable to a bee sting at worst. They are predators of other household insects. Their presence usually signals dampness and a supply of other insects, both of which are more useful to address than the centipedes.