There are many species in the animal kingdom whose name fits their physical profile to a T, such as the Green Iguana or the Daddy Longlegs, and then some whose names ended up being false. Centipedes, called "hundred-leggers," as their name suggests, don't have exactly 100 legs. The individual species may have as few as 15 pairs of legs, like the house centipede, or many more than 100 pairs like the European.
There are over 3,000 species known worldwide, although scientists believe there may be as many as 5,000 undiscovered. However, the United States is home to four: the house, the cryptopid, the scolopendrid, and the bark centipedes. They can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and locales with warm, tropical climates tend to have the most concentrated diversity in shape and body configuration.
One thing that is common among them is that they are expert hiders. Most species have adapted to live in soil or piles of dead leaves, tree bark, or beneath rocks and stumps. They tend to move and hunt either at night or in dark and prefer damp places when possible. Once inside someone's home, they seek a quiet place to hide. They stealthily crawl under doors or through vents, or cracked windows and can be found in crawl spaces, basements, under sinks, and even inside drains. Some species have an easier time hiding than others, as this critter comes in vastly differing sizes. Without including antennae, house centipedes average approximately one to two inches in length, while the giant Sonoran centipede, an example of the scolopendrid, grows to an average of 6.5 inches, but some have been found in the wild as long as 8 inches.
Most centipedes are carnivorous predators, and their prey is worms, spiders, soft-bodied insects, and other arthropods, including other centipedes. These speedy crawlers can move approximately 1.3 feet per second. This allows them to charge their victim, before stinging it with their forelegs, and injecting a paralyzing venom. Their venom is usually not harmful to people, although their bites can cause a localized pain and swelling around the bite. Like other venomous creatures, their toxins are much more dangerous to people who have allergic reactions to them, it can cause chills, fever, weakness, and much more severe swelling. House centipedes, the most common, aren't aggressive towards people and normally run away, but can deliver a sharp jolt of pain when picked up, stepped on with bare feet, or threatened in some other way.
Centipedes look creepy when they're mobile with those individually moving legs, and their segmented bodies allow them to bend in seemingly unnatural ways, making them even more off-putting. No one wants pests in their home, especially not these little nightmares. If you're having problems with centipedes or other pests in your northeast Indiana home or business, it's time you fortified your property. Fortified Pest Control is the area’s first choice for getting rid of your bug and arthropod problems.
Contact us today for an estimate or for more information.