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Centipede in your Phoenix home: what it is and what to do
You may have seen a long orange crawler near a pot, under a brick, or across the floor after dark. In the Phoenix area, the giant desert centipede is the large one people worry about. This page helps you tell it from millipedes or scorpions. It also covers risk plus safe next steps.
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- Large orange crawler indoors
- Black head and black tail
- Nighttime movement
- Hiding under pots or rocks
- Fast, flattened body
- Painful pinch after contact
If someone was stung or bitten
Call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222. It's answered around the clock by nurses and pharmacists at Arizona's poison centers, and they'll tell you whether you can stay home.
Call Poison Help: 1-800-222-1222
Call 911 right away for trouble breathing, swallowing or talking, or for a young child with strong symptoms.
It may be a giant desert centipede, a fast Sonoran Desert predator that can reach 6 to 8 inches. Its pinch can be painful because it injects venom, though the Desert Museum describes these bites as not especially dangerous to humans. Keep hands away. If contact happened, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, or 911 for severe symptoms.
Giant desert centipedes belong here in the Sonoran Desert. They are fast predators that hunt at night, then hide from the sun in soil, crevices, under rocks, under bark, or under potted plants.
Their flat body has many segments with one pair of legs on most segments. The head has antennae. On the giant desert centipede, the orange body plus black head and tail are the giveaway.
Finding one indoors usually points you back to nearby cover. It may have come from a shaded patio edge, a pot, brick, bark, or soil litter near the house.
Centipedes eat insects, other arthropods, lizards, frogs, and rodents. They are part of the desert food web, but you still shouldn't pick one up.
- 6 to 8 inches long
- Orange body, black head, black tail
- Flattened body with many segments
- One leg pair on most segments
- Single antenna pair on the head
- Out at night, hidden by day
Health risk
The risk is mainly from a painful venom pinch, not damage to your home. Desert Museum sources say the bite is painful, yet desert centipede bites are not especially dangerous to most people. If anyone was pinched, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, or 911 for severe symptoms.
The sources support night activity: desert centipedes hunt after dark and hide during the day. They don't give a Phoenix month-by-month season.
What's different in the Phoenix area
In the Phoenix area, this is a Sonoran Desert animal, often called cien pies in Spanish. The yard clues to check are the same ones named by the Desert Museum: rocks, bricks, potted plants, bark, crevices, soil litter, and places kept out of the sun.
Often confused with
What you can do today
Give it space
Don't touch it or pin it with bare hands. The venom comes from pincer-like appendages near the head, so contact can hurt.
Use the panel after contact
If someone was pinched, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, or 911 for severe symptoms. Don't try to judge symptoms from a web page.
Check daytime cover
With a light, look near rocks, bricks, potted plants, bark, crevices, and soil litter. Keep hands out of places you can't see.
Reduce close cover
Move loose litter, stacked bark, and unused bricks away from door areas with a rake, dustpan, or other long tool. Don't handle a centipede.
Watch at night
They hunt after dark. Use shoes on patios or garage floors when you're checking.
When to call a pest control company
Call a local pest control company if you keep seeing centipedes indoors, find one where people sleep, or have many shaded hiding spots against the home. A technician can inspect crevices, pots, bricks, bark, soil litter, and prey insect activity, then talk through non-handling control options.
Not sure what you're dealing with?
Describe it on the phone. The company on the other end handles these calls every day and will know what to ask.
Common questions about giant desert centipede in Phoenix
Is a giant desert centipede dangerous to humans?
It can cause a painful venom pinch. Desert Museum sources say these bites are not especially dangerous to most people. If contact happened, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, or 911 for severe symptoms.
Can a centipede sting or bite?
The injury people call a bite is a pinch from pincer-like front appendages. Those appendages inject venom into prey.
What does a giant desert centipede eat?
It is a carnivore. Sources list insects, other arthropods, lizards, frogs, and rodents as prey.
Why did I see it at night?
Desert centipedes are nocturnal. During the day they stay underground or under rocks, bricks, pots, bark, or other cover.
How do I tell it from a millipede?
A centipede is flatter and has one pair of legs on most segments. A millipede is cylindrical, has two pairs on each segment, and may coil when disturbed.
Get the giant desert centipede problem looked at
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