Keep centipedes out of your house by sealing entry points, lowering humidity with dehumidifiers, cleaning drains, and reducing clutter. Eliminate insects they feed on and maintain your yard.
Centipedes may be harmless, but they’re fast, unsettling, and usually a sign that your home has the moisture or insect activity they thrive on. Preventing them requires tackling the underlying conditions that invite them inside.
In this guide, we’ll cover the exact steps you can take to stop centipedes from entering your Florida home, from moisture control and sealing hidden gaps to smart yard care and indoor protection.
Hoffer Pest Solutions has been helping Florida homeowners protect their homes for nearly 50 years. If you’d prefer good support instead of DIY trial-and-error, our family-owned team offers proven solutions designed for our unique climate.
If you want the complete step-by-step plan for centipede prevention, plus answers to the most common homeowner questions, keep reading.
Step-by-Step Guide to Keeping Centipedes Out of Your House
Now that you know why centipedes slip indoors, it’s time to take action. The following steps break down exactly how to make your home less inviting, from reducing humidity and sealing gaps to outdoor prevention and professional solutions. Follow each step to keep your home centipede-free year-round.
Step 1: Reduce Moisture
The fastest way to make your home less appealing to centipedes is to dry it out. Even small leaks under sinks or a damp crawlspace can turn into breeding grounds for the insects centipedes feed on. Fix plumbing leaks promptly, and pay attention to condensation around pipes.
Dehumidifiers are a game-changer in basements and bathrooms. Many homeowners ask if they actually help and whether the cost is worth it. The answer is yes, but only if you choose the right size for your space. A unit that’s too small will run endlessly and barely make a dent, leading to higher electric bills without results. A properly sized dehumidifier, paired with energy-smart settings or timers, cuts humidity effectively without draining your wallet.
Don’t forget exhaust fans. Running them during and after showers or cooking helps keep humidity levels down where centipedes thrive most. Outdoors, make sure gutters direct water away from the foundation and that drainage around the home isn’t pooling near walls.
Step 2: Seal the Ways They Sneak Inside
Centipedes are quick, but they only get in if there’s a way in. Caulking cracks along baseboards, tightening window frames, and repairing weather-stripping around doors makes a noticeable difference. Adding door sweeps to thresholds is one of the simplest upgrades a homeowner can make.
Don’t overlook the oddball gaps, openings around cable or wire ports, floorboard cracks, or vents. These small penetrations often get ignored, but they can be major highways for pests. Steel wool and expanding foam work well for these awkward spots, while caulk is best for trim and joints.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed trying to track down every possible gap. The key is persistence: even tiny openings can be enough for a centipede to slip through. Start with doors and windows, then move to utility lines and floorboards. The tighter your home is sealed, the fewer surprises you’ll find skittering across your floors.
Step 3: Remove Their Food Source
Centipedes don’t come indoors for your crumbs, they come for the bugs that eat them. Roaches, ants, flies, and silverfish are all part of their menu. By reducing these pests, you automatically reduce centipedes.
Inside, that means keeping trash sealed, cleaning up food spills promptly, and not leaving pet food out overnight. Even a bowl of dog kibble can attract insects, which in turn draws centipedes. Vacuuming baseboards and under furniture weekly also removes insects, eggs, and debris.
Outdoors, trimming back vegetation, reducing heavy mulch, and storing firewood away from the home cuts down on prey harborage. Contact Hoffer Pest Solutions and go a step further with our Webbing Sweep service. By clearing away spider webs and egg sacs around eaves and doorways, we eliminate one of the centipede’s favorite food sources before it ever becomes a problem.
Step 4: Use Practical Traps and Repellents
Sometimes you need short-term measures while the long-term fixes take hold. Sticky traps placed in damp corners or along baseboards can capture wandering centipedes. That said, larger specimens have been known to shed a leg and escape, which is why traps should be combined with sealing and moisture control.
For added protection, diatomaceous earth provides a natural barrier when lightly dusted in travel lanes. It dehydrates pests on contact but should be applied carefully to avoid dust plumes. Essential oils, such as peppermint, cedarwood, or eucalyptus, can also act as mild repellents when applied around entry points or diffused in problem rooms.
Drain maintenance is another overlooked tactic. Keeping water seals intact in seldom-used drains or installing drain traps helps block one of the more surprising ways centipedes can surface in kitchens and bathrooms. And for the occasional lone wanderer, the simplest tool is still a cup and a card, trap it and release it outdoors, far from the house.
Step 5: Bed & Living Space Protection
Few things unsettle homeowners more than the thought of centipedes crawling into bed. Fortunately, there are proven ways to make sleeping spaces less appealing. Start by pulling beds a few inches away from walls and keeping blankets from dragging on the floor. This removes easy climbing routes.
Flat glue boards placed near or under bed legs act as intercept stations. While not perfect, larger centipedes may wriggle free, they catch enough intruders to give peace of mind. Running a dehumidifier in damp bedrooms adds another layer of protection, reducing the humidity that centipedes and their prey thrive on.
These small changes can dramatically cut down on nighttime encounters, helping homeowners rest easier knowing their most personal space is secure.
Step 6: Seasonal and Outdoor Prevention
Florida’s weather patterns play a big role in centipede activity. Many homeowners notice surges right after heavy rains or sudden temperature drops, when centipedes seek refuge indoors. Preparing ahead of storms by tightening seals and managing drainage keeps them outside where they belong.
Outdoor lighting is another overlooked factor. Bright porch lights attract flying insects, which in turn lure centipedes. Switching to softer bulbs or relocating lights away from entry points reduces this draw.
Yard maintenance also matters. Store firewood well away from the house, keep it dry, and inspect pieces before carrying them inside. Swap out heavy mulch for pest-resistant options, and keep shrubs trimmed back from siding to remove the damp, shaded edges that harbor prey insects.
By combining these seasonal adjustments with indoor measures, you can stay ahead of the cycles that drive centipedes indoors.
Step 7: Maintain Clean Drains and Plumbing
Centipedes can surprise homeowners by surfacing from drains. Bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms provide the damp conditions they love, especially if drains go unused for long periods. Keeping drains clean and functional is a straightforward way to close off this pathway.
Flush drains regularly with hot water, and consider enzyme-based cleaners to break down buildup that attracts insects. Drain covers or traps add an extra layer of protection, preventing centipedes from emerging. Even something as simple as running water in rarely used sinks helps maintain a water seal that blocks entry from below. When combined with sealing gaps around plumbing lines, these small habits make a big difference in keeping pests contained.
Step 8: Practice Smart Lighting Indoors and Outdoors
Lighting plays a bigger role in pest prevention than most homeowners realize. Inside, centipedes are drawn to dark, undisturbed rooms where they can hide between hunts. Setting lights on timers in basements, storage rooms, or unused spaces reduces these hiding spots and keeps activity in check.
Outdoors, the issue is reversed. Bright porch or garage lights pull in flying insects at night, creating a buffet for centipedes to follow. Replacing bulbs with yellow-toned, bug-resistant versions or moving lights away from doorways reduces insect activity near entrances. Pairing smarter lighting choices with sealed entry points makes your home far less inviting to centipedes and the insects they pursue.
Step 9: Adjust Landscaping Around the Foundation
Your yard sets the stage for what ends up inside. Dense shrubs pressed against siding, thick mulch beds, and stacks of firewood all hold moisture and harbor insects. Centipedes follow these conditions right up to the foundation, making it easier for them to slip indoors.
A few landscaping adjustments create a buffer zone. Keep shrubs trimmed back several inches from exterior walls, thin heavy mulch layers, and switch to bug-resistant wood chips where possible. Store firewood at least 20 feet away from the home and keep it dry to discourage pests from nesting. By reducing harborage near the structure, you lower the pressure at the boundary of your home and prevent centipedes from even reaching your doors and vents.
Why Centipedes Come Indoors in Florida
South Florida’s humidity makes the perfect backdrop for house centipedes. They sneak inside because your home offers three things they love: water, shelter, and prey. If you’ve noticed them darting along baseboards or in a bathroom sink at night, it’s because dark, damp, undisturbed spaces give them cover while they hunt. Basements, closets, crawl spaces, and drains are frequent hiding spots.
Weather shifts matter too. After a heavy rain, homeowners often see more centipedes as storms drive them inside for refuge. That sudden surge can be unsettling, but it’s not unusual in Florida’s climate.
It’s also worth clarifying what you’re dealing with. Centipedes are predators with one pair of legs per body segment, while millipedes are slower, feed on decaying matter, and have two pairs per segment. Knowing the difference ensures you use the right prevention approach.
When DIY Isn’t Enough
Catching one centipede doesn’t mean you have an infestation. But if you’re seeing multiple in different rooms, it’s often a sign of a larger problem: excess moisture or a thriving insect population.
Centipede bites are rare and usually mild, but the issue is what they signal. Multiple sightings point to an environment that supports pests deeper in the structure. In those cases, professional help delivers results.
Hoffer Pest Solutions go beyond quick fixes. Our Home Shield Plans include quarterly treatments targeting more than 20 pests, including roaches, ants, spiders, and silverfish, the very prey that keeps centipedes coming back. We also use granular perimeter bands and liquid barriers to stop crawling pests before they reach your walls. And with same-day service when you call before noon, you don’t have to live with unwanted surprises for long.
Why Work With Hoffer Pest Solutions
For nearly 50 years, our family has been serving South Florida homes with one mission: delivering peace of mind through world-class service. Being locally owned and operated means we know firsthand the challenges Florida’s climate brings, and we live in the same communities we protect.
Our difference is in the details. From our Webbing Sweep service that proactively removes spider webs to our granular perimeter treatments that block crawling pests, every step is designed to prevent the problems centipedes feed on. With over 1,000 happy customers and a 4.9-star rating, we’ve built trust through consistency, reliability, and care.
We also stand by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If pests return, so do we, at no extra charge. And because pest pressure in Florida never takes a break, our quarterly approach ensures your home is protected year-round.
Protecting Your Home, Protecting What Matters Most
Centipede control is about peace of mind. Your home should feel safe and comfortable, and that’s what we’ve been protecting for generations in South Florida.
As a family-owned company, Hoffer Pest Solutions treats every home like our own. We know the challenges Florida’s climate brings, and we’ve built services that stop centipedes by tackling the moisture, access points, and prey insects that attract them.
If you’re ready for a pest-free home and lasting peace of mind, call Hoffer Pest Solutions and our family is here to protect yours.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do centipedes bite in Florida homes?
Rarely, and when they do, bites are usually no worse than a mild bee sting. The bigger concern is the conditions that attracted them.
How do I stop them from climbing into my bed?
Pull the bed away from walls, keep bedding off the floor, and use intercept traps near bed legs. Dry air and reduced prey populations also help.
Do drain covers actually keep them out?
Yes. Installing drain traps and keeping water seals in place blocks a common entry point, especially in bathrooms with infrequently used drains.
Will pest control kill centipedes directly?
Indirectly. Professional treatments reduce the insects centipedes eat, making your home less inviting over time.
What’s the cost vs benefit of professional service vs DIY?
While dehumidifiers and traps help, ongoing service provides lasting relief by addressing prey, moisture, and access all at once, without the constant trial-and-error of store-bought fixes.