Something eating my deck....

JDmommy

I just moved into an apartment about two months ago. When I moved in I talked to my landlord about a couple of boards on my deck being soft..kinda squishy when I stepped on them. I noticed a few carpenter ants scurrying around and called again. Now the carpenter ants are gone and there are weird little centipede creatures that have taken over their home in the wood of my deck. The landlord is coming to replace the deck but the evil little critters are now inside my apartment too. Everything I've read says you can not kill a centipede. Any tips?

slakker

Is it a centipede or millipede? you can tell by the number of legs in each segment (millipedes have 2 pairs, centipedes have 1)... centipedes are predatory were as millipedes eat vegetation, hence possibly your deck... Keep things dry and there are many chemical control products/pesticides...

ocoee

Sounds more like millipedes which feed on decaying organic matter such as rotting deck boards

Any bug can be killed (cept lubbers)some just require more time than others so bugmen say that they can't be killed because they are paid by commission not by the hour

A wettable powder or CS formulated pesticides applied around the entry points and known harborage areas will do the trick, it may take two or three applications and there goes that whole commission thing again