There’s nothing more terrifying than watching a house centipede shoot across your floor and under your couch. It’s safe to say that most people are positively terrified from those creepy crawling house guests. House centipedes typically have 15 legs and can travel 1.3 feet-per-second, which explains why catching one of these centipedes in house is nearly impossible. The typical response to a house centipede probably involves a shoe to squash the bugger before it crawls under another piece of furniture, but like almost every other bug out there, a centipede does have a purpose. House centipedes are known for killing pests in your house that are completely unwelcome. They kill roaches, moths, flies, silverfish, and termites. Centipedes use the two legs right near their head, which has been modified to carry venom, and their other legs to scoop up the bug. This is called a “lassoing” technique where centipedes jump on their prey and wrap them up with the rest of their legs. Not only are house centipedes killing the bugs you really don’t want in your house, but they also don’t create any type of nests or webs as well. They are considered active hunters and are constantly looking for their next prey. Centipedes aren’t eating your wood and they aren’t carrying a fatal disease. House centipedes just want to go after the bugs.
