How to Get Rid of Millipedes in Your House

When you’re tired of being disgusted by seeing millipedes wander around your home, you’ll need to figure out how to get rid of millipedes in your house for good.

The good news is that millipedes are relatively easy to dismiss even if they look incredibly intimidating. In this article, we’ll explain how to get rid of millipedes in your house so that you can stop worrying about your children and pets being terrified by the thousand-legged invaders.

Identifying A Millipede Infestation

The first step for how to get rid of millipedes in your home is to recognize that you have a problem. Aside from seeing millipedes wandering around your home, there are a few telltale signs that they are lurking.

The first sign of a millipede infestation is that there are paper products, fruits, and vegetables with oval-shaped bite marks with sizes between one and five millimeters.

While you shouldn’t be leaving fruits and vegetables out in places where they can be easily consumed by pests, millipedes will sometimes snack on firm fruits like apples when they can’t find paper products or insulation to gnaw on instead.

The next sign of a millipede infestation is that you find their larvae in small crannies where temperatures are relatively cold, and there is more moisture than elsewhere in your home.

Millipedes love moisture, so they tend to make their habitats in dark corners where they know they won’t get desiccated when temperatures warm.

The final sign of a millipede infestation is spotting dead pest insects around your home. Millipedes can sometimes prey on cockroaches and other pest insects because they are omnivores.

Millipede Control

Now that you know what a millipede infestation looks like, it’s time to learn how to take action to make your home inhospitable to them.

Control Moisture

Moisture is something that millipedes love. If you can dry out the areas in your home which are dark and wet, you can make these areas less desirable for millipedes. While it isn’t a guarantee that the existing millipedes will die, it will encourage them to move elsewhere.

Deny Food Sources

If you have crumbs or paper products that millipedes have been snacking on, you should cover them or box them so that millipedes can’t access them anymore.

This is also true of foods that other pests have munched on in the past, as millipedes frequently predate these insects as well.

How To Kill Millipedes

Now that you know how to get rid of millipedes by denying them the food sources and shelter that they crave, it’s time to learn how to kill millipedes for good.

Mechanical Force

Mechanical force isn’t the most reliable method for how to get rid of millipedes, but it can work if you only have a few millipedes in your home. Use a boot or a heavy book and smash the millipedes that you catch in the open.

Be aware that millipedes can dash. Similarly, they can detect motion and light very acutely, so try to avoid casting a shadow on the ground when you are hunting the millipedes with the aim of smashing them.

Millipedes may shed some of their legs when they are stressed or being pursued.

Pesticides

A pesticide is the most effective way to get rid of millipedes in your home. Lay a pesticide trap which will attract millipedes with baited food, and the millipedes will soon die from consuming the toxic nutrients.

Spraying pesticides in liquid or foam format are slightly less effective than providing the millipedes with baited food, but it can be an effective way to harm millipedes as they transit around your home.

Most millipedes will require a very high concentration of poison before dying, meaning that they will need to transit across sprayed areas numerous times. Thus, spraying pesticides will be more effective if you have multiple millipedes haunting your home than if you only have a couple.

Predators

Introducing natural predators to millipedes in your home or your yard can be an effective way to control their numbers, but it may not be enough on its own.

Millipedes are consumed voraciously by birds like sparrows and finches, so if the millipedes are entering your home via your yard, the birds will eat them as frequently as they can.

You may also get your cat to kill millipedes from time to time accidentally. However, you should not encourage your pets to kill millipedes, as the millipede toxin may make them feel sick.

On the other hand, if you have a lizard or amphibian pet, they are unlikely to be harmed by the millipede poison. They probably will not be as effective at hunting millipedes as your cat, but they might be a useful supplementary method for how to get rid of millipedes in your home.