Anyone here know about bugs (insects)?

[Cougar]

Alright people, I've got no clue how I should go about searching for this so I figured I'd turn to you guys (and gals). We've got bugs in our house, but I don't know what they're called so I'm hoping that maybe by my description someone out there will know what I'm talking about. There's two different bugs that I've been seeing lately and both of them are somewhat similar. Bug A grows to be about 1 - 1 1/2 inches long (at least that's how long they are when I kill them ) and it has a skinny, shiny brown body with about 20 - 30 legs. Bug B grows to be about the same length as Bug A but the body is wider and the color is more of a dull brown and it too has about 20 - 30 legs. These things are nasty and quite frankly they gross me out. I'm running out of compressed air which I've been using to freeze the little pests so can anyone give me any idea as to what I've been killing and maybe a way to keep them out of my house?

 

[RaoulDuke]

i thought you said "Anyone know about drugs" and i entered here... too late now. wish it was about drugs

 

[SavageDubz]

i dunno...cockroach?

 

[snakesnfrogs]

try looking here---if that doesn't help, try posting a pic of one, preferably alive

 

[Cougar]

hmmm....sorry, but this thread is for bugs, not drugs. The only drugs I know are pain-killers. I know nothing about all that other stuff.

 

[Cougar]

snakesnfrogs...

Thanks for the site, I'm checking it out now.

I'll tell you right now that there's no way on God's green earth that I'm getting a picture of one of these things alive. I'll freeze one for ya and take a picture, but alive is definately out of the question.

 

[Hapless]

sounds like millipeeds (sp?) (the rounder ones) and centipeeds (sp?) (the flatter ones).

 

[etech]

Sounds like it could be a centipede. Mainly going by the number of legs.

lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/factsheets

centiped.

ces.uga.edu/
"The first and most important step in controlling millipedes and centipedes is removal or elimination of objects that provide harborage for the pest outside the home. Eliminate trash piles, rocks, boards, leaf piles, compost piles and similar materials from the immediate vicinity around the outside of the home. Secondly, physically exclude millipedes and centipedes from entering the home when possible. Make sure doors and windows fit tightly and caulk cracks and crevices that permit their entry to the inside. If millipedes or centipedes occur in great numbers or are creating problems, sprays or dusts containing diazinon, malathion, carbaryl (Sevin), propoxur (Baygon), or chlorpyrifos (Dursban) applied around the building foundation and around doors and windows will provide temporary control.

Liquid or granular insecticides such as carbaryl (Sevin), diazinon, or chlorpyrifos (Dursban) may also be applied to mulched flower beds and heavily thatched turf areas where millipedes may be living. Include these areas in a treatment program during periods when millipedes are found inside the home in large numbers. Repeated applications may be necessary to maintain control during periods of heavy millipede migration.

When treating for millipedes and centipedes inside the home, treat cracks and crevices along baseboards and other hiding areas where centipedes and millipedes may harbor with products containing resmethrin or carbaryl (Sevin). Contact sprays containing pyrethrins or propoxur (Baygon) may be applied directly to millipedes and centipedes for quick control when they are found inside the home.
"

 

[SpeedTrap]

some are crunchy when you bite them

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

From your description, I can tell you that you do not have earwigs or ants, which is good because I think earwigs are really horrifying. I think it's from that Twilight Zone or Night Gallery show, it left a bad impression.

 

[Cougar]

etech...

You nailed it right on the head. According to the two sites it appears Bug A is a centipede and Bug B is a house centipede. I always thought that a centipede had 100 legs and grew to be at least a few inches....guess I was wrong.

So now that these beasts have been identified does anyone know a safe way to get rid of them? Apparently these things like damp places and my room and the computer room are in the basement so they've sort of made themselves at home down here. I can't afford to get an exterminator so that's out of the question.

 

[RaoulDuke]

dehumidifier? tons of silica gel?

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

A little herd of centipede-eating mice should do the trick for you


But seriously - I think you can find some sprays or bombs that will help croak them off. Also run a dehumidifier, try not to leave things on the floor (like cardboard boxes, etc., they will hang out underneath).

 

[Pretender]

ugh, i saw one crawling up a wall about 2 weeks ago. It freaked the hell out of me, I looked kinda close and saw it was like spotted and had about 20 of those strange furry legs. I actually was scared of a bug for the first time in my life.

Went across the room, grabbed a book I don't plan on reading again, lobbed it at the wall. Direct hit. Neither the book nor the insect have been spotted since.

 

[Cougar]

RaoulDuke...

Silica-gel? what's that?

Yo_Ma-Ma...

I would seriously take mice over centipedes any day. At least they're kinda cute and not nasty like these things. Besides, we've got 2 cats that would take care of the mouse problem once the centipedes are all gone

I have thought about getting some sort of spray, but the problem is that I have a dog and she sticks her nose everywhere and I don't want her to accidentaly ingest some of the spray. What about those gadgets that you plug into the wall and "scare" the bugs away. It seems like an outright scam, but then again you never know.

[Edit]

It's funny that you mention cardboard boxes. I've got a small stack sitting behind me as I type this, and I've got another small stack in the closet. I'm scared to lift those things up now. Who knows how many bugs are under there.

 

[etech]

House centipede control

House centipede control consists of drying up and cleaning, as much as possible, the areas that serve as habitat and food source for centipedes. Residual insecticides can be applied to usual hiding places such as crawl spaces, dark corners in basements, baseboard cracks and crevices, openings in concrete slabs, under shelves, around stored boxes, and so forth. Residual insecticides available to homeowners include aerosols or hand pump products such as the "ant and roach killers" and "home pest control sprays" and dusts such as boric acid. Centipedes discovered outdoors should not be controlled.

CENTIPEDES

Just in case you meet a mean one.
Treatment of centipede bites

 

[Cougar]

<< House centipede control consists of drying up and cleaning, as much as possible, the areas that serve as habitat and food source for centipedes. Residual insecticides can be applied to usual hiding places such as crawl spaces, dark corners in basements, baseboard cracks and crevices, openings in concrete slabs, under shelves, around stored boxes, and so forth. Residual insecticides available to homeowners include aerosols or hand pump products such as the &quot;ant and roach killers&quot; and &quot;home pest control sprays&quot; and dusts such as boric acid. Centipedes discovered outdoors should not be controlled. >>



Geez, after reading that I'm basically screwed no matter what I do. In my room I have a walk in closet, and in that closet I have a little crawl space that goes underneath the stairs. In both the closet and the crawl space are tons of paper bags and cardboard boxes that are used to store things. In my computer room there's another fairly large closet in which there are blankets, pillows, bags, and cardboard boxes on the floor. In the hallway there are even more boxes. It's a centipedes dream come true down here, and I can't even do anything about it.

 

[etech]

Do some investigation into boric acid. I'm not sure of the toxcity to pets. It is fairly cheap and can be sprinkled behind items.

 

[Cougar]

I'll have to check that out. The last thing I would want to do is hurt my dog so if there's nothing out there that is safe for pets then I'll just have to live with these beasts. I'll just have to stock up on cans of compressed air

Next time I kill a centipede I think I'm going to cut it's head off, stick it on a toothpick and put it out in the open somewhere so that all the insects can see. It'll serve as a nice warning to all those other centipedes that are in my house.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

I wonder if using diatomaceous earth would be useful? I know it is supposed to be effective against fleas yet not harmful to pets.

 

[Cougar]

I did a quick search for diatomaceous earth and a site I found says that it kills cockroaches, ants, earwigs, siverfish, beetles, slugs and other crawling insects. I'll have to do some more searching and see if it can kill my unwanted guests.