How can I get rid of centipedes down my cellar?

I run the dehumidifier all summer long. Thanks

Hi Patricia,

As scary as the centipedes might be, they are good for your basement as they eat a variety of smaller insects you don't want in your house. They don't make nests, don't carry diseases, and don't eat your food, clothing, wood, etc. You would have a very hard time getting rid of all of them without going through some extreme measures.

The bugs are entering through small crevices. Look carefully, and seal any minute cracks or crevices. Placing a sprinkling of diatomaceous earth on the floor, around the perimeter should help. As bugs walk over the surface, the diatomaceous earth cuts them open and they die. If this fails, you'll need to spray Ortho Home Defense or similar, inside and out, but avoid the area for 8 hours.

Keep your house/basement dry . Centipedes dry out and die if they don’t stay in a moist environment,.

Get a dehumidifier and use bleach to kill mold and mildew.

Close off any entry points into your house. Keep centipedes from entering your house in the first place by sealing cracks in the foundation and concrete walls, eliminating spaces around doors and windows, and covering basement floor drains with window screen.

Try putting a powdered residual insecticide such as Drione in the places where centipedes usually hide in your basement, like in wall cracks, dark corners of the basement, crawl spaces, and under furniture.

You can discourage centipedes from even going near your home by coating the bottom few feet of the side of your house, and soaking at least a five-foot band of soil around the house, with an outdoor residual spray insecticide such as Talstar or Demon WP.