When you see a fast-moving bug-like insect with many legs moving around the floor of your bathroom, you might ask yourself this question: Are house centipedes dangerous? The straightforward answer is the fact that the house centipedes pose very little danger to humanity, yet once seen, they provoke the use of panic in the house owners.
What Are House Centipedes?
House Centipedes are domestic arthropods of strange shape and color which contributes to easy identification.They are creatures with bodies of grayish-yellow color that have three dark stripes running along the back. A grown-up house centipede is about 1-1.5 inches long, but due to their legs, they look bigger than that, with an overall length 3-4 inches.
Moreover, these creatures are experts at having 15 pairs of very long and thin legs, and the last pair of legs is almost twice the length of their bodies. Their legs are strip with light and dark colors, and they have long antennae, which are often longer than their body. The largest implication of the house centipede insects is that they are extremely fast. They can run extremely quick on their floors, walls and even the roof in case they are irritat.
Are House Centipedes Dangerous to Humans?
The issue of are house centipedes dangerous or not is answer by the question of are house centipedes dangerous? Most people have an addresser. The centipedes of the house are not found in the list of dangerous animals to humans and pets. These are venomous animals although what they have is used against their prey not tough enough to harm larger animals like people.
Scutigera coleoptrata are technically venomous, however, they should not be feared at all by human beings since they tend to flee on sight of the human being and they never bite.In case a centipede bites a person, it is mostly as a result that the centipede felt that it was in danger or was handled by mistake. The bite is more comparable to a quick pinch, provided by their modified front legs, called forcipules.
The main threat that house centipedes can cause is that they have the potential to scare someone so much that the person may lose balance and fall if the encounter is not expected. The creatures’ quick dashes and their strange looking might make people get frightened, however, this is only a reaction of the mind and not of the body.
House Centipedes Bite: What to Expect
House centipedes bite are usually the mildest cases that can be easily taken care of by a person. The bite of a house centipede is, accordingly to the dual forcipules of their nature, so two small punctures made. The bite may cause:
- At once stinging or burning sensation in the place of the bite
- Redness and swelling at the bite site
- Mild itchiness or burning feeling
- Loss of sensation or pins and needles in the affected area
- Small bleeding from puncture marks
Most of the symptoms, which are the consequences of a house centipede bite, do not require medication and fade throughout between several hours to 48 hours. It is said that the pain of getting this sting is comparable to the one received with a bee sting, and also the pain is not severe enough that it needs a doctor to administer medication.
Being allergic to the poison, which is the outcome of a centipede bite, is possible only to some people, and this may result in the existence of an allergy. The symptoms of severe allergic reactions, such as Epidermal Lung, include some parts that include difficulty in breathing, tachycardia, and swelling of the throat. In case the above symptoms come up after the house centipede bite, get emergency help immediately.
Signs of House Centipedes and How to Treat Bites
Identifying House Centipede Presence
What will make you sure that the house centipedes have invaded your house is if you see them. They are nocturnal insects that hide during the day and are most active at night. They are spot in the following places:
- Basements
- Bathroom and kitchen
- Closets
- Behind baseboards and in wall cracks
Other signs include an increase in their prey populations; therefore, house centipedes are the ones that consume insects like silverfish, cockroaches, spiders, and moths. The presence of these creatures is the result of the pest problem that exists at the place and is the reason for their being.
Treating House Centipede Bites
In case of a centipede bite, carry out the following steps to treat that:
Immediate Care:
- Wash the bitten place copiously with soap and water
- Wrap ice in cloth and use it for 10 minutes in intervals
- Do not apply alcohol on the wound
Pain Management:
- Use painkillers and antihistamines recommended by your doctor
- Honey is an anti-inflammatory agent, therefore, its application is recommend
- Put aloe vera gel on the itch area so it will be less swollen and get cool relief
- Mix water with baking soda and create alkaline relief paste
Natural Remedies:
- Apply the mix of turmeric and rose water for 10 minutes
- Tea tree oil or lavender oil are good for healing
- Paste of fresh tulsi leaf can used for natural anti-inflammatory
When to Seek Medical Attention:
If you feel unendurably severe pain that medications do not relieve, local infection symptoms (pus, increased redness, warmth), or any symptoms of allergic reaction appear, immediately get in touch with your doctor.
Prevention and Management
Nonetheless, centipedes are the good guys as they eat other pests that can be harmful to your home and hence are a natural pest control option. Numerous homeowners are, however, of the opinion that it is better to have fewer. Particularly:
- Use dehumidifiers to reduce moisture
- Get rid of cracks and entry points by sealing them up around windows and doors
- Place sticky traps in dark corners and along baseboards
- Remove moisture sources and fix leaks
- Frequent vacuuming to get rid of centipedes as well as the insects they feed on
Safe repellents such as peppermint oil, tea tree oil and diatomaceous earth will give a hand in keeping house centipedes off without the use of toxic substances.
Conclusion
The knowledge of what the reality is about house centipedes can make your worries less serious. Although the question of whether or not a house centipede is dangerous may come to mind when you have to deal with these eight-legged visitors, the facts remain that they are not that harmful to human health. The bite of a house centipede is uncommon, and it is usually characterize by insignificant effects that can managed easily and quite easily at home.
Instead of thinking house centipedes are dangerous pests, think of them as small animals that are good controllers of pests introduce by Mother Nature in your house that cause you greater problems. But in cases where their presence is not comfortable to you, there are easy warm prevention measures that would bring down the number of their presence without the use of dangerous chemicals.
If you want to say goodbye to your house centipedes or are trying to deal with the root pest problems that are drawing them, then you can contact professional pest control services. Say No Pest realizes the need to have a comfortable house that is free of pests without compromising the ecological role that these creatures perform in nesting some other pests in the house.
Note that the best way to deal with pest-related anxiety is to be well informed. Knowing all about the house centipedes and the minimum danger they present, you get to act accordingly to seeing them and draw the necessary conclusions about further pest control back home.
