House Centipede

Natural Habitat

Typically found indoors in cool, damp locations such as basements, bathrooms, and laundry rooms. Outdoors, they live under rocks, logs, and leaf litter.

Diet & Feeding

Carnivorous predators that feed on other household pests such as silverfish, spiders, bed bugs, cockroaches, ants, and termites. They actively hunt prey rather than using webs.

Behavior Patterns

They are nocturnal and extremely fast runners, capable of moving around 1.3 feet per second. They use their long legs to lasso prey and venomous forcing to subdue them. When threatened, they often freeze but will scurry away quickly if approached.

Risks & Benefits

Generally considered beneficial because they eat other pests. They pose very little risk to humans; while they possess venom, their jaws (forcipules) are usually too weak to penetrate human skin, and bites are rare and comparable to a minor bee sting. They do not damage structures or food.

Identified on: 3/3/2026