Millipedes in the house
The Millipedes live in moist areas outside under mulch, leaves and compost piles. They also love to be surrounded by boards, stones, flowerspots and flowerpots. They may also wander into your home by accident or seek water during droughts.
A heavy infestation of millipedes in your home could indicate that there is an infestation.
Millipede control is best if you can prevent them from getting into your home.
These are some other methods to rid yourself of millipedes:
- Dry out moisture from crawl space.
- To keep water from damaging your foundation wall, use properly functioning gutters, downspouts, and splash blocks. You may need tiles, drains, or to slope your ground if your house is not well-draining.
- Leakage of water pipes, faucets and air conditioner units can be fixed.
- To reduce water pooling in your lawn, adjust your sprinkler system.
- You can reduce humidity in crawl spaces and basements by installing sump pumps, adequate ventilation, and/or polyethylene soil cover.
The moist thatch layer in poorly maintained lawns is also a good place for millipedes. To make your lawn less attractive to millipedes, de-thatch it and cut the grass short. To keep millipedes away, don’t overwater or water your yard at night.
Seal any cracks or openings in your exterior foundation. These are some suggestions to help you do this best:
- All exterior doors should have thresholds or tightly fitting door sweeps at their base.
- Caulk the edges and bottom of door thresholds.
- Seal expansion joints near patios, sunrooms, and sidewalks.
- Seal the basement walls and expansion joints in your home.
Use insecticides: Only a trained pest management professional can apply insecticides to kill millipedes. Apply insecticides outdoors to kill millipedes
- At the bottom of exterior doors
- Crawl space entrances
- Near foundation vents and utility openings
- Up underneath siding
- Mulch and plant beds should be placed along the foundation. To expose the millipedes’ hidden places, rake the leaf litter and mulch back.
- A few feet above the foundation wall’s base
Millipede control may be made easier by applying insecticide to the foundation walls of damp crawl spaces or basements. This can be easily handled by a Terminix(r). professional.
Give it time: Millipedes will only survive for a few days in dry conditions, so you should not panic.
- Take out potential food sources and habitats around your home.
- Millipedes will curl up when disturbed or dead. They can be easily picked up using a vacuum cleaner or a broom.
