Meet Utah’s House Centipede, A Surprising Pest Controller

👽 The Day I Met an Alien in the Bathtub

Earlier this year, I met an extraterrestrial. Not in the desert, not at Area 51— in the bathtub of our southern Utah rental. This creature had legs so long ZZ Top would’ve stopped mid‑song realizing that their hit was grossly underqualified. It didn’t crawl. It didn’t skitter. It seemed to hover, drifting from one side of the tub to the other like it was like it was inspecting the utah property before deciding whether to lease it.
Naturally, I did what any rational human would do: froze, questioned my life choices, and wondered if I should call NASA, our national leader, or pest control.

Turns out the correct answer was to celebrate.

🕷️ Meet the House Centipede: Your Free Pest Control

Why celebrate? Because this “alien” was actually a house centipede, a spindly indoor Utah  creature that looks terrifying but is basically a Boy Scout of the bug world—helpful, polite, and earning their merit badge in *Keeping Your House Free of Actual Problems*. While I was contemplating intergalactic diplomacy, it was contemplating how to eat Utah pests I should have been worried about.

💛 Harmless to Humans, Brutal to Bad Bugs

Despite their horror‑movie legs, house centipedes are harmless to humans. No one has ever been known to be bitten by one. They save their venom for the truly awful stuff: cockroaches, bed bugs, silverfish, termites, spiders, and other creepy crawlies you definitely don’t want paying rent.

They’re basically tiny, fast, alien‑looking exterminators who work for free. Great for a Utah household

🐾 Could You Keep One as a Pet?

Could you keep them as Utah pets? Technically yes. Emotionally… maybe not. Even knowing they’re good, they’re still creepy, and the idea of a midnight skitter‑visit is enough to keep me from starting a centipede colony.

What about you—could you handle extra pest control in your Southern Utah home? One shaped like a hairy, hovering, 30‑legged Roomba?