Centipedes are one of the creepiest pests Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners encounter — fast, leggy, and often spotted dashing across bathroom tile or basement floors at night. North Texas has two main centipede problem species: house centipedes (small, gray, found indoors year-round) and bark centipedes/Texas redheaded centipedes (larger, outdoor, can deliver a painful bite if handled). House centipedes are unsettling but actually feed on other pests; large outdoor centipedes are more concerning because of their painful venomous bite.

Centipedes thrive in damp, dark environments. They follow their food source — silverfish, roach nymphs, spider nymphs, ants, and other small insects. A centipede problem almost always means there's a moisture issue AND another pest population feeding the centipedes. Treating just the centipedes you see, without addressing the underlying conditions, fails every time.

The CanMan's centipede program targets the moisture conditions they need, the prey populations they're feeding on, and the harborage zones (basements, bathrooms, garages, attic spaces, around foundations). Reducing the prey species — silverfish, roaches, ants — is one of the fastest ways to drop centipede populations long-term.

Centipede pressure is steady across DFW, with spikes after heavy rain or sudden droughts. Older homes in East Dallas, Lakewood, Highland Park, and historic Fort Worth see house centipedes year-round due to original construction, moisture pockets in masonry, and mature landscape. Suburbs with stone or mulch landscaping — Southlake, Coppell, Flower Mound, Westlake — see more outdoor centipedes, including occasional Texas redheaded centipedes. New construction in Frisco, McKinney, Prosper, and Celina sees centipedes when irrigation overspray hits the foundation or when prey populations (silverfish, roaches) establish indoors.