Not only do centipedes look disgusting, but they can also cause you a lot of pain and inconvenience. Even though centipedes generally do not inflict life-threatening bites, they can eventually send you to the hospital if they bite you on or around the lymph.
With this in mind, you may want to know how you can get rid of centipedes in Hawaii. If you live in Hawaii, then the easiest way to eliminate your house of centipedes and not get bitten is via preventive control of pests. If you already have centipedes in your home, you’ll want to locate and disinfect any moist areas where these pests are likely to take shelter. Once this area is disinfected, seal the point of entry.
How to Get Rid of Centipedes in Hawaii
Hawaiians certainly have their preferred ways of getting rid of centipedes. Homeowners in Hawaii have no scarcity of locally inspired pest control methods whether it is slicing the centipedes into with knives/sharp items or pouring brake oil over them. And of course, there is that good old’ method of killing these annoying pests with your slipper.
While these methods do work, they are not very good at preventing a centipede infestation in your Hawaiian house. Generally, centipedes prefer living in damp areas where it is not easy for the sun’s rays to reach. This means that you can find them beneath fallen leaves or downed trees or under things that are not regularly moved like yard machinery or toys.
It will help prevent the rotting plant life from piling up in the yard, but often you can’t eradicate certain harbor areas fully. Composting holes and sites like that are ideal places for centipedes to flourish, and thus they would usually remain outdoors.
However, we’ve often seen them creep into other places and on certain occasions, crawl up the side of the homes and even reach top floor openings. Therefore, the best way to prevent a centipede infestation in your Hawaii home would be to seal and disinfect all the entry point into your home from where the centipedes can potentially enter.
Are Centipedes in Hawaii Dangerous?
This is perhaps one of the most important questions to answer. This way you’ll know the level of urgency you need to show in getting rid of the centipedes in your Hawaiian home. The bite of a centipede can last for a second or longer depending on when you decide to fight off the threat of the pest. This is because centipedes won’t normally let go until they’re pressured to do so.
The bite starts at the site of the bite, with a delayed burning pain. The feeling of burning may increase to a few inches in diameter. In certain situations, the pain can be traumatizing if you, the centipede, bit you at a place where you have several pain receptors, such as your fingers or your toes.
While most centipede variants generate nothing more than an uncomfortable, localized reaction, there are some poisonous centipedes with bites that can be fatal to both humans and animals.
Using the final prehensorial arm, the centipede strikes its target. It then bends its head rapidly behind the target to strongly and securely embed its poisonous claws into them. The centipede holds onto the target with its other legs until the rapidly acting venom kills them.
Two bite marks are visible when humans are attacked, and the response to the ingested venom can vary from minor inflammation of the immediate area to severe infection of the bitten leg, both followed by extreme pain. Medical attention is needed for the latter.
What Attracts Centipedes in the House?
There are typically three reasons for the centipede infestation in your home. The first is that, when the weather is dry, centipedes will go out seeking moisture. Centipedes have a hydration problem which causes them to dehydrate very easily. Therefore, they are always in search of water, especially during the dry season.
On the other hand, heavy downpours and the threat of flooding can drive them into your Hawaiian home. Additionally, centipedes need moist conditions to reproduce and they are likely to find these favorable conditions in your home, propelling them inside. They may also enter your house in search of food. This is another incentive for you to keep your home free of all kinds of pests, especially spiders, cockroaches, and bed bugs, which centipedes feed on.
How Do You Keep Centipedes Away in Hawaii?
Centipedes will get in through the holes and cracks offering a secret way into your home. Every home is uniquely designed. This is especially true for homes in Hawaii that are subjected to a whole host of modifications. Therefore, some homes in Hawaii may have more secret passages than others for centipedes to make their way in.
Having said that, all homes will shift slightly over time and this can cause cracks and holes in them. There are also dual partitions that are not visible to the naked eye. Additionally, wood siding does not always match perfectly up against the wall.
Therefore, sealing any holes or cracking offering a secret passage into your home is critical to keeping the annoying and often dangerous centipedes away from your home. While you can perform this activity yourself, it is recommended that you get professional help to seal your house effectively.
Diatomaceous earth is another solution you can try to keep centipedes away from your Hawaiian home. What is this solution? It is a fine powder produced from decomposed marine organisms remains. When they come in contact with it, the powder dries out the pests, which eventually kills them. You can easily purchase the product from a gardening store. Moreover, for the best results, use diatomaceous earth in conditions that are relatively dry. This will help you achieve the desire outcomes i.e. get rid of the centipedes in your Hawaiian home.
Summary
In this article, we discussed the ways you can get rid of centipedes in Hawaii. We also discussed some other important points that allow you to know the centipede better and eventually get rid of it if you already have a centipede infestation in your home. The major points we discussed included the level of danger posed to humans by centipedes, what attracts centipedes into your homes, and what are ways recommended to keep them away.
Using the information provided above, you can understand centipedes better and then use this to your advantage i.e. find out the best ways to get rid of them. Additionally, the information provided above will serve as a good starting point to eliminate the centipede infestation in your home or keep them away from entering it. In short, following this guide to get rid of centipedes in Hawaii will serve you well.
Related Questions
How Do I Get Rid of Centipedes?
It is not just the people in Hawaii who want to know how to get rid of centipedes. Those in other parts of the country also have a centipede infestation problem and want to get over it as soon as possible. For all these people as well as our Hawaiian friends, we have some practical solutions for getting rid of centipedes in their homes. These solutions are as follows:
- Discourage centipedes from entering your house by caulking all holes and cracks that you discover in the structure of your home.
- Since centipedes feed on the pests already living inside your home, one of the first things you need to do to get rid of them is eliminating the other pests that they eat for survival. This means eliminating all spiders, cockroaches, bed bugs, moths, etc. inside your home.
- Physically eliminate the centipedes inside your home if there are only a few of them. You can use anything that would kill or effectively eliminate the centipedes for this purpose. We will not recommend anything specific here. In fact, you can use the age-old method of killing the centipedes with your slipper if it suits you. Brooming them out or sucking them in with a vacuum cleaner are some other techniques that will work as well.
- Place traps created from a sticky tape at the sides of the locations in your home where centipedes usually hunt and feed on other pests. You won’t need to kill the centipede this way and still be able to get rid of them. Additionally, you will be able to find out what other insects live inside your home.
- You can use insecticides, such as dusts or sprays with active ingredients like permethrin or cyfluthrin, if things start to get out of hand. However, make sure to read the instructions on the product as some insecticides are not meant to be used indoors.
- Finally, call in professional pest control services if things go beyond your control, and you believe you cannot get rid of the centipede infestation inside your home on your own.