Centipede Control?

[Dustoff]

It seems to be the season. We have only seen a couple of 'pedes in our yard in the last three years but now we have killed three young ones in our house in the last 24 hours. Aarrgghh! Not only is my wife a bit freaked by them, I get my share of chicken-skin as well.

Centipedes drink insecticides like Hawaiian cocktails and seem the stronger for it. On Maui we used to get Ortho Slug and Snail Bait that contained Baygon, seemingly the only chemical that effectively killed pedes, but I have seen nothing like that in Thailand. They do sell a cheap snail bait here (that I suspect is mostly salt) which works well but pedes are exoskeletal (is that a word?) so would be unaffected.

Do any of you know of anything that will kill/discourage centipedes? Something with Baygon preferably and not the brand name "Baygon" - they have Baygon Orange spray which contains a bit of the chemical but I am more interested in keeping them out of our yard/house than dealing with them personally in our bathrooms - or bed...

[Nienke]

Just two days ago had a nest of them in my bath room. Not sure if it was one nest or several as there were at least 60 babies of them.

We cleaned the bath room with toiletcleaner. They died in seconds.

Not exactly environmental fiendly, I know.

Nienke

[Jefferson]

Centipedes are really environment unfriendly too.

[jaideeguy]

Yea, creapy bast#rds.....we get the occasional wonderer in the house sometimes and i get the task of whacking them.

Once in Hawaii, [yes, Dustof....i'm another bro] I got stung on the arm and it was the most painful sting I've ever received. could feel both punctures like electric redhot needles.

Didn't know about baygon working....but, if ithey are exoskeletal, then maybe boric acid would work...it does on many insects and cheap to buy.

Aloha.......

[Dustoff]

Just two days ago had a nest of them in my bath room. Not sure if it was one nest or several as there were at least 60 babies of them.

We cleaned the bath room with toiletcleaner. They died in seconds.

Not exactly environmental fiendly, I know.

Nienke

Umm, okay. I guess I could ask that you be more specific about the "toiletcleaner" but my main interest was in keeping them out of the yard/house in the first place.

Thanks tho...

[Dustoff]

Yea, creapy bast#rds.....we get the occasional wonderer in the house sometimes and i get the task of whacking them.

Once in Hawaii, [yes, Dustof....i'm another bro] I got stung on the arm and it was the most painful sting I've ever received. could feel both punctures like electric redhot needles.

Didn't know about baygon working....but, if ithey are exoskeletal, then maybe boric acid would work...it does on many insects and cheap to buy.

Aloha.......

An excellent response, creapy bast#rd! I am an occasional wonderer myself..

Aloha, Brah! Chiang Mai no ka oi, yah?

I forgot about boric acid powder and used it years ago for roaches, ants (and all the other little beasties that live in our carpets, beds and eyelashes) with very good results. Totally non-toxic (it is used as an eyewash) to humans and pets, it dehydrates and clogs the breathing apparatus of mites and such things, sending them to Hades where they belong.

The problem with boric acid powder is that it is water-soluble which means that it will not get most centipedes since they tend to congregate in moist areas where boric acid powder would simply wash away with the next drizzle of rain or bathroom shower.

I have read that diatomaceous earth scattered around a yard will keep them away but cannot even pronounce this in English, never mind ask a Thai garden shop. I will have to explore this further on the internet as I also have no idea how this may affect other, perhaps beneficial, insects like my beloved butterflies.

[FolkGuitar]

Yea, creapy bast#rds.....we get the occasional wonderer in the house sometimes and i get the task of whacking them.

Once in Hawaii, [yes, Dustof....i'm another bro] I got stung on the arm and it was the most painful sting I've ever received. could feel both punctures like electric redhot needles.

Didn't know about baygon working....but, if ithey are exoskeletal, then maybe boric acid would work...it does on many insects and cheap to buy.

Aloha.......

An excellent response, creapy bast#rd! I am an occasional wonderer myself..

Aloha, Brah! Chiang Mai no ka oi, yah?

I forgot about boric acid powder and used it years ago for roaches, ants (and all the other little beasties that live in our carpets, beds and eyelashes) with very good results. Totally non-toxic (it is used as an eyewash) to humans and pets, it dehydrates and clogs the breathing apparatus of mites and such things, sending them to Hades where they belong.

The problem with boric acid powder is that it is water-soluble which means that it will not get most centipedes since they tend to congregate in moist areas where boric acid powder would simply wash away with the next drizzle of rain or bathroom shower.

I have read that diatomaceous earth scattered around a yard will keep them away but cannot even pronounce this in English, never mind ask a Thai garden shop. I will have to explore this further on the internet as I also have no idea how this may affect other, perhaps beneficial, insects like my beloved butterflies.

Try making the boric acid 'cookies' we use in Japan. Mix up some milk powder, grated onion, and flour, then add plenty of boric acid. Add enough water to make a stiff cookie dough, form into little cakes and bake slowly just to dry them out. Stick them where other larger animals can't get at them, (behind cabinets, under the sink, under rocks in the garden around the house, etc., ) and most of your creepy crawlers will soon vanish. If you make them right, even a damp environment won't cause them to melt down. It would take real water to do it, and even then all that happens is the mix gets into the ground. The bugs still eat it. One good way to use in the garden is to place a flat rock as a base, put a 'cookie' on it, then build up a small cairn of heavy rocks on top. The crawlers can get in, but the dogs and cats won't.

Diatomaceous earth can be found in many water treatment/water filtration units. Places that sell these sorts of things will have bags of the stuff. It can also be found in many pool filtration units, so pool supply companies would sell it too.

Edited April 1, 2008 by FolkGuitar

[Dustoff]

Try making the boric acid 'cookies' we use in Japan. Mix up some milk powder, grated onion, and flour, then add plenty of boric acid. Add enough water to make a stiff cookie dough, form into little cakes and bake slowly just to dry them out. Stick them where other larger animals can't get at them, (behind cabinets, under the sink, under rocks in the garden around the house, etc., ) and most of your creepy crawlers will soon vanish. If you make them right, even a damp environment won't cause them to melt down. It would take real water to do it, and even then all that happens is the mix gets into the ground. The bugs still eat it. One good way to use in the garden is to place a flat rock as a base, put a 'cookie' on it, then build up a small cairn of heavy rocks on top. The crawlers can get in, but the dogs and cats won't.

Diatomaceous earth can be found in many water treatment/water filtration units. Places that sell these sorts of things will have bags of the stuff. It can also be found in many pool filtration units, so pool supply companies would sell it too.

Mmmm, cookies - NOW we're talkin' !

Grated onion? Isn't onion usually an insect repellent? Not that I would know since I am not an insect, in spite of what my wife says..

Okay then, boric acid powder is next and I have heard that there is a hospital/pharmacy supply shop across the street from the University Hospital and they may have it..

[FolkGuitar]

Try making the boric acid 'cookies' we use in Japan. Mix up some milk powder, grated onion, and flour, then add plenty of boric acid. Add enough water to make a stiff cookie dough, form into little cakes and bake slowly just to dry them out. Stick them where other larger animals can't get at them, (behind cabinets, under the sink, under rocks in the garden around the house, etc., ) and most of your creepy crawlers will soon vanish. If you make them right, even a damp environment won't cause them to melt down. It would take real water to do it, and even then all that happens is the mix gets into the ground. The bugs still eat it. One good way to use in the garden is to place a flat rock as a base, put a 'cookie' on it, then build up a small cairn of heavy rocks on top. The crawlers can get in, but the dogs and cats won't.

Diatomaceous earth can be found in many water treatment/water filtration units. Places that sell these sorts of things will have bags of the stuff. It can also be found in many pool filtration units, so pool supply companies would sell it too.

Mmmm, cookies - NOW we're talkin' !

Grated onion? Isn't onion usually an insect repellent? Not that I would know since I am not an insect, in spite of what my wife says..

Okay then, boric acid powder is next and I have heard that there is a hospital/pharmacy supply shop across the street from the University Hospital and they may have it..

There are two supply shops across from the hospital; a large one a block east of the Neimanheiman juction, and another small one about half a block west of the car wash.

Let me get the exact recipe for you. When you buy a bag of boric acid powder in the pharmacies, they give you a recipe sheet along with it, but I haven't made them since we moved to Thailand. But I'm pretty sure about the grated onion. I remember being surprised at that myself. Maybe it was to keep away small children? I'll check tomorrow and get back to you.

[jaideeguy]

If you have a hard time finding the boric acid and/or the Diatomaceous earth in pharmacies....which I think I did years ago, then a known source of both is 'World Chemicals' on mihidol road [airport superhiway]. I think it's just past the chiang mai land turn off [same side, left going away from airport]. they sell everything by the kilo or 50k bag. I do have some diatomaceous earth left over from a pool filter, if you can't find that. PM me if you need.

[FolkGuitar]

Try making the boric acid 'cookies' we use in Japan. Mix up some milk powder, grated onion, and flour, then add plenty of boric acid. Add enough water to make a stiff cookie dough, form into little cakes and bake slowly just to dry them out. Stick them where other larger animals can't get at them, (behind cabinets, under the sink, under rocks in the garden around the house, etc., ) and most of your creepy crawlers will soon vanish. If you make them right, even a damp environment won't cause them to melt down. It would take real water to do it, and even then all that happens is the mix gets into the ground. The bugs still eat it. One good way to use in the garden is to place a flat rock as a base, put a 'cookie' on it, then build up a small cairn of heavy rocks on top. The crawlers can get in, but the dogs and cats won't.

Diatomaceous earth can be found in many water treatment/water filtration units. Places that sell these sorts of things will have bags of the stuff. It can also be found in many pool filtration units, so pool supply companies would sell it too.

Mmmm, cookies - NOW we're talkin' !

Grated onion? Isn't onion usually an insect repellent? Not that I would know since I am not an insect, in spite of what my wife says..

Okay then, boric acid powder is next and I have heard that there is a hospital/pharmacy supply shop across the street from the University Hospital and they may have it..

There are two supply shops across from the hospital; a large one a block east of the Neimanheiman juction, and another small one about half a block west of the car wash.

Let me get the exact recipe for you. When you buy a bag of boric acid powder in the pharmacies, they give you a recipe sheet along with it, but I haven't made them since we moved to Thailand. But I'm pretty sure about the grated onion. I remember being surprised at that myself. Maybe it was to keep away small children? I'll check tomorrow and get back to you.

OK.... I contacted the In-Laws for the Japanese recipes. It seems there are several different ones, but all include boric acid and flour. The other ingredients seem to be attractants rather than killers. So to cover all bets, (and perhaps other pests as well) use the following;

Boric Acid (largest amount of the mix)

Flour (second largest amount)

powdered sugar (Icing sugar)

cocoa powder

powdered milk

grated onion (Yep! That was in most of the recipes! )

shortening (we all want nice flakey roach cookies, right?)

and wet it all down with condensed milk.

Shape into small balls or logs the size of your finger, and either dry naturally or put in the oven to dry completely. Some recipes say to dust the outsides of the cookies with more boric acid, and then hide around the house and yard as mentioned before. A bit of research on the Web tells me that this both IS and IS NOT harmful to pets. Nothing quite as refreshing as completely conflicting information about poisons...

So...... pick up some 1"-2" PVC pipe and cut to 6" lengths. Put the cookies inside the pipe so the cat, dog, or kids can't get at them. Alternately you could spread some of this mix with a butter knife while wet deep inside the pipe and let air dry there if you are really worried about toxicity. Place these pieces of pipe in all the places where the centepieds travel, ant trails, inside cupboards, closets, under the sink and toilets, around the garden, etc. Expect effects to be noticeable after about a week. If all this fails, a H&K MP5 works well, but you have to get the suckers right between the eyes, cuz they charge when they are wounded...

[sylviex]

Here's a pretty good link : beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidefactsheets/leasttoxic/boricacid_borates_borax.htm

Edited April 2, 2008 by sylviex

[sylviex]

Note :

“Ecological Effects

Boric acid is practically nontoxic to birds, fish, aquatic invertebrates, and relatively nontoxic to beneficial insects. It’s noncrop herbicidal use may harm endangered or threatened plants, and therefore EPA is requiring three phytotoxicity studies to assess these risks (U.S. EPA 1993). “

(from above link)

I am wondering how the mix can be kept dry in pipes, through Wet season etc. Would it not eventually leach into the system ?

All in all, seems a good solution, though. Nice work, FolkGuitar !

So, how much for a bag of cookie mix ?

[FolkGuitar]

Note :

“Ecological Effects

Boric acid is practically nontoxic to birds, fish, aquatic invertebrates, and relatively nontoxic to beneficial insects. It’s noncrop herbicidal use may harm endangered or threatened plants, and therefore EPA is requiring three phytotoxicity studies to assess these risks (U.S. EPA 1993). “

(from above link)

Doing a bit more homework, I believe that the consensus is that Boric Acid is about as toxic as table salt to mammals, requiring more than 5 grams per kilo to be toxic. This came as a surprise to me as I thought it was more dangerous than that, and always made sure to keep it away from pets. However, I checked at least a dozen different medical sources, and the results says that it's pretty darn safe to use around children and pets. I still think that if my son were still at the 'ankle biter' stage I'd be a bit careful with it, just to play safe. Actually, he's 33 now but you never know with kids....

I am wondering how the mix can be kept dry in pipes, through Wet season etc. Would it not eventually leach into the system ?

I can 'envision' a truncated "C" shape to the pipe with the open side facing down. Sort of a 'park bench' shape using 45° or 90° angle pieces on the ends of the 6" pipe. Place this on a rock or something just large enough to keep the ends a bit free from being blocked off so the critters can crawl inside. Even if some does get into the ground in the garden, there shouldn't be enough of it to do any damage to the soil or the water table. We are talking little cookies the size of a large marbles, not "COOKIES FROM SPACE."

I used to ring the base of my house in the US with mothballs to keep the mice, rats, skunks, squirrels, etc, from nesting under it. Worked fine and didn't seem to affect the quality of the lawn around it.

So, how much for a bag of cookie mix ?

Assuming that you purchase the smallest bag available of each ingredient, I'd guess the total cost to be about 200-300 baht for enough cookies to feed all the bugs in SE Asia. That, or one REALLY, REALLY big one.....

[Dustoff]

Wow, this has become a really fun thread with imaginations running wild..

Excellent responses FolkGuitar and others - much appreciated.

Don't know if I will worry about the effect of sprinkling my yard lightly with the contents of Dustoff's little sack of nuggets on the local population of water buffalo or creepy neighbors, since boric acid solutions are sold in every pharmacy as an eyewash, but thanks for the warnings.

If I had Nienke's invasion of 60+ critters I may be interested in horseshoe-shaped pipe-bomb cookies but perhaps an occasional dribble along the edges of the house under the eaves and under the hedge will suffice, to be repeated after a serious rain.

And, FolkGuitar, just a guess but I think that "So, how much for a bag of cookie mix?" may have expressed an interest, that I share, in when you will be opening your own "cookie shop". As fellow vets (not animal related), perhaps we could get together and whup up a batch, eh?

Aloha

[sylviex]

And, FolkGuitar, just a guess but I think that "So, how much for a bag of cookie mix?" may have expressed an interest, that I share, in when you will be opening your own "cookie shop".

Correct . The Folkloric Boric Funky Acid Cookie Shop, delivering to all areas.

Can anyone write Boric Acid in Thai for us ?

Wiki says

It has the chemical formula H₃BO₃, sometimes written B(OH)₃

, which may help the pharmacist.

[bunta71]

Fed Little Laura some of the cookie mix and it appears to be non-lethal.

[sylviex]

Helpful folk in the Thai language section have offered some translations which may be useful :

"Boric acid" (chemical formula H₃BO₃, sometimes written B(OH)_{3 ) :}

กรดบอริก

or

ดินเบา (Din Bao)

also

BORIC AER-SID บอริคแอซิด which seems to be a direct transcription of the English word 'boric acid'.

BORIC GROT โบริกกรด (GROT is the Thai word for 'acid').

GROT BORIC กรดบอรริค, กรดบอริก etc

_and

_{"diatomaceous earth"}

ไดอะตอมมาเชียส เอิร์ท(diatomaceous earth) or ไดอะตอมไมท์ (diatomite)

Edited April 4, 2008 by sylviex

[Blinky Bill]

Just two days ago had a nest of them in my bath room. Not sure if it was one nest or several as there were at least 60 babies of them.

Nienke

Just as well they don't wear shoes. Imagine the cost of having to provide shoes for 60 centipedes.

[rrose070]

Ewww.www.www. I wanted to write sooner but the allover-shudders made a mess of my typing. We had one a couple years ago, easily five inches long and as thick as your thumb. And that sucker MOVED like you wouldn't believe! Climed walls etc at the speed of light. My shrieks brought the neighbor's cleaning people, who eventually caught it with a couple of sticks. I don't know what they did with it - maybe stuck it with pins, put it in a frame and sold it at the night market

Hi Dustoff!

[bunta71]

Hadn't seen one all year til the very day Dustoff Huey Dude mentions them .What's up with that voodoo? A spell of some kind? One more question...should my wife wash my stinkin' tennis shoes or will it help to keep the centipedes as far away as it does my far away friends?

[Niloc]

I tried to buy some borax here in Pai a couple of years ago, to discourage ants. I went to a couple of very helpful pharmacies but I never found any.

If anyone discovers a supplier in CM, please let me know, my Mum swore by it in Australia but last time I was there I could not find anywhere...

[Dustoff]

~

This seems to be the season again, if there is a season for centipedes, as I have seen a few small ones in our bathrooms recently and another out in the carport that is the biggest I have seen in Thailand. I would guess him to be about 16-18cm long.

I did get some Boric Acid long ago, sprinkled it around a few times and even made some clumsy cookies which seemed to work because I have not seen them around again until very recently.

Anyway, I thought I would rejuvinate this thread in case others are also noticing a renewed infestation.

I don't mind the little ones but when they get to 16cm, it is time to go to war again...