3 tips to get rid of millipedes from your home

 Millipedes are not the most desired house guest. Millipedes don't share your love for cleanliness and will ruin the decoration of nearly any space in your home. They're creepy, and they usually come in groups. What's worse is that they're not going to go away on their own. 
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Staying hidden in the soil during hot, dry weather, autumn rains will see the millipedes emerge in huge numbers, to feast on their favourite diet — leaf litter, fungi and decaying wood. While harmless, millipedes are unsightly and release a rather disgusting smell if squashed. Here are three tips to get rid of millipedes from your home.

1.Don't invite millipedes into your home

Millipedes are attracted to damp, humid areas, like bathrooms and laundries. To get rid of the millipedes, you need to get rid of the moisture. If you have signs of millipedes in your basement, you really need to check the foundation and crawlspace for leaks or moisture. Make sure the gutters are clean and free of debris. Make sure the ground is not saturated with water. Check pumps and make sure they're working properly. 

​2. Millipedes eat decomposing plant material

Millipedes are the champions at eating decomposing plant material. They are found in leaf litter and in soil. They are also found in rotting logs and in the bark of trees. They are also found in compost piles and in the leaves of plants.


Millipedes are mainly nocturnal in their habits. They feed and move around at night. During the daytime millipedes rest close to the soil surface within leaf litter. 
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Keep their favourite food free of your home by cleaning up leaf litter from your garden, especially near doors, windows, wall vents, and other places millipedes can enter your home. 

​3. Prevent them from coming into the house

You would be surprised how small a hole a millipede needs to get into your home. Sealing up the gaps is a straightforward way to keep them (and other pests) out of your home. 


The most common places you will find gaps is around doors. These are best sealed with weather stripping. These strips will not only keep millipedes away but will also reduce drafts and energy bills. 


The next place they can find away inside is via any gaps around pipes, electrical conduit, or other cables coming into the home. Make sure that these spaces are protected either with a flange or gaps are filled with a suitable sealant. 


Whilst you’re making you way around the home, make sure to check and repair any holes or tears in flyscreens and prevent stop spiders in their tracks.


Brick homes will often have wall vents and these are a favourite way for millipedes, and other pests, to gain access to your home. Cover the vents with a fine mesh to keep pests out but fresh air flowing in. 


Finally, don't carry millipedes inside unknowingly. Millipedes will often hide in letterboxes and get caught up when you collect the mail, can be carried in on furniture, or come in on wood for wood-burning stoves/fires. 


There is one additional way that you can prevent millipedes coming into your home, call MD Pest Control or book your general pest spray online. Having a regular pest spray will stop millipedes in their tracks before they set foot in your home.