Millipedes all over the porch after a storm, a lipan under the pail in the wash area? Here is why rain drives them indoors, how to handle a bite, and the repairs that keep them out.
Millipedes and centipedes come indoors after rain because they need damp shelter, and flooded leaf litter, mulch and soil push them towards the house; the lasting fix is to clear that shelter from beside the walls, keep rainwater draining away, and seal the gaps under doors and at floor level. Millipedes do not bite and die within days indoors. Centipedes can give a very painful bite: wash it, apply a wrapped cold pack and get medical help if it gets worse. Pest treatment, if needed, is a job for a pest control company; door seals, sealing and drainage repairs are building work.
A heavy afternoon storm, and the next morning there are millipedes curled up on the porch tiles, along the kitchen floor and under the back door. Every few weeks, a long reddish centipede runs out from under a pail in the wash area. For many landed homes in Malaysia, this is simply what the wet season looks like.
There is a reason. Both millipedes and centipedes lose water easily, because they lack the waxy outer layer that insects have, so they must stay in moist places. Millipedes normally live in cool, damp spots under stones, leaf litter, mulch, compost heaps and piles of grass clippings, and they are known for migrations that are often associated with cooler weather or heavy rain. When the ground floods and their shelter turns to mud, they move — and a house wall, a porch and a gap under a door are right in their path.
The good news is that both are outdoor animals. The fix is to make the ground next to the house less inviting, keep water moving away from the walls, and close the gaps at floor level. This guide explains each step, and what to do about the one that can bite.
| Millipede (ulat gonggok) | Centipede (lipan) | |
|---|---|---|
| Legs | Two pairs of legs on most body segments; common species have between 34 and 400 legs | One pair of legs per body segment; the last pair can be much longer than the first |
| Movement | Slow-moving; curls into a tight coil to defend itself | Moves rapidly |
| Food | Decaying leaves and other dead plant matter | Hunts small animals: insects, worms, spiders |
| Danger to people | Does not bite; defensive fluid can irritate the eyes | Venomous bite; very painful, rarely serious |
| What it tells you | Damp ground, leaf litter or mulch close to the house | Damp hiding places and other small pests to eat |
Millipedes do not bite, and their defensive secretions are mostly harmless to people. They eat decaying leaves and other dead plant matter, so they do no damage inside a house. Some species, however, move in large numbers, which can result in home invasions — which is exactly what it feels like after a storm.
They also do not last indoors. Millipedes cannot survive the dry air inside most buildings for long, and do not live for more than a few days indoors, so treatment inside the home is not necessary. Sweep or vacuum them up and put them back outside, or dispose of them. Two cautions:
Centipedes are different. All centipedes are venomous: they bite with a pair of pincer-like modified legs just behind the head. In Southeast Asia that includes a very large centipede, Scolopendra subspinipes, whose venom normally causes extreme pain. A bite to an adult is usually very painful and may cause severe swelling, chills, fever and weakness, but it is unlikely to be fatal.
Centipedes need a moist hiding place and avoid sunlight by staying under cover or coming out at night. Indoors they choose dark, damp corners: under pails and mats in the wash area, behind stored items on the floor, in cardboard boxes left on the ground floor. They hunt other small animals, so a home that has plenty of cockroaches, spiders and insects will also keep its centipedes well fed. The small, long-legged house centipede that races across bathroom walls is fast and frightening but harmless; the large lipan is the one to respect.
This is general first aid for bites and stings, not medical advice for a particular case:
Most millipedes that end up in the kitchen started their life in the garden bed beside the wall. The aim is not a bare compound; it is to move the damp, leafy shelter a little further from the house:
The garden pest control guide covers how planting choices affect pests around the house more widely.
If the ground next to your house stays soaked for days after rain, it will keep producing millipedes. Drainage is the part of the problem that is really building work:
Millipedes and centipedes walk in; they do not fly. So the openings that matter are the ones at or near the ground. Walk around the house after rain and look for trails and clusters:
| Entry point | Where you find it | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Gap under the door | Back door, kitchen door, wash-area and porch doors | Door bottom seal or brush strip; adjust or repair the door |
| Cracks in the floor slab and walls | Porch, wash area, where the floor meets the wall | Fill and seal the cracks with a suitable filler |
| Open floor traps and drain holes | Wash area, bathrooms, yard | Fit covers and keep traps topped up with water |
| Gaps around pipes at ground level | Where water and waste pipes enter the wall | Seal around the pipe |
| Sliding door tracks and gaps | Patio and yard sliding doors | Clean the track and fit or replace the seals |
| Wall vents near the ground | Low vents and airbricks | Fit mesh behind the vent |
Sealing cracks and crevices in slabs and walls also removes hiding places for the centipedes that do get in. For doors that no longer close properly, see the door repair guide.
Indoors, the approach is dry, tidy and sealed rather than sprayed:
For millipedes, treatment inside the home is not necessary, because they die within a few days indoors. A pest control company can help when a garden keeps producing very large numbers after you have cleared it, or when centipedes keep appearing inside because of an insect problem you cannot control yourself. That treatment is a job for a pest control company, not a contractor. The pest control services guide explains what a proper treatment includes.
Pest treatment itself is carried out by a pest control company. What we do is the building work that keeps crawling pests out: door bottom seals and door repairs, sealing cracks in floors and walls, sealing gaps around pipes, mesh for low vents, gutter and drain repairs, re-levelling apron slabs and compound areas where water ponds, and cleaning. We are an experienced KL & Selangor contractor and we coordinate the trades, so the small jobs are done together. The price is flat, with no hidden charges. A site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead. WhatsApp us your job details and we reply within the hour.
Millipede habitat, migrations after heavy rain, survival indoors and clean-up are from the Penn State Extension guide to millipedes. Millipede diet, moisture needs, swarming, defensive secretions and legs are from the Wikipedia article on millipedes. Centipede venom, bite effects and habits are from the Wikipedia article on centipedes and the Wikipedia article on Scolopendra subspinipes; indoor habits, sealing cracks and dehumidifiers are from the Penn State Extension guide to house centipedes. The first aid steps are general bite and sting first aid from Healthdirect. The advice on the compound, drainage and door gaps reflects common practice for keeping crawling pests out of homes. This guide publishes no pest treatment prices, because treatment is priced by the pest control company that carries it out.
Pest treatment itself is a job for a pest control company. ClickBina handles the building side: sealing gaps and entry points, ceiling and roof repairs, and cleaning. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote. We reply within the hour.
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