House centipedes are scary-looking pests that you may see scurrying around your home or garden. These pests are common throughout North America; they're found in every American state, including Alaska. No matter where you live, house centipedes could move into your home! Here are three things you need to know about house centipedes.

What do house centipedes look like?

House centipedes can be easily identified by their size and number of legs. These pests' bodies can reach lengths of up to 1.38 inches, and they have many pairs of legs. These legs, in addition to their antennae, make the centipedes look much larger, so you may be frightened when you see them. When house centipedes are at rest, they lie against the floor, but when they run, they hold their bodies high above the floor.

What attracts house centipedes?

House centipedes are vulnerable to dehydration and cold temperatures, so they need to live in areas that are moist and warm. Outdoors, house centipedes take shelter underneath wood piles or within the warmth of compost piles. When the weather gets cooler in the fall and winter months, house centipedes need to live inside people's homes to survive.

House centipedes can be found in any part of your home, but since they dry out easily, you're more likely to see them in humid parts of your home, like your bathrooms. Their eyes are very sensitive to the light, so you may find them hiding in dark corners of humid rooms, beneath counters and in other sheltered areas.

How can they be controlled?

To control house centipedes, try to make your house less appealing to them. Control humidity levels in your bathrooms, basement and other trouble areas with humidifiers. Get rid of clutter so that there are fewer dark, sheltered spots for house centipedes to hide.

Before the weather gets colder, seal the exterior of your home to make it harder for house centipedes to move in. Gaps can be found beneath exterior doors, around windows, around utility pipes and other areas. House centipedes can climb easily, so don't just seal up gaps around the ground level of your home; seal higher areas as well.

House centipedes are large, frightening pests, but you can keep them from moving into your home by sealing up the exterior and getting rid of excess humidity. If your home is infested and you can't deal with it on your own, hire a pest control company like Hadley Termite & Pest Control Inc to evict your unwanted house guests. T