When you open the cupboard early in the morning to get a mug and a cockroach falls on your head, you're invigorated in an instant. But you'd probably prefer just coffee. Find out how to get rid of household insects before they completely annoy you.
How to get rid of moths
It is customary to think of butterflies as beautiful creatures that flutter over flowers. However, some species are not so pleasant, and few people would want to observe them in their homes. For example:
- The dressmoth (Tineola bisselliella) is a small butterfly that, like cockroaches, has followed humans around the world. Adult insects are devoid of mouthparts and cannot spoil clothing. Wool, knitwear, cotton and feathers are eaten by moth larvae. If you give them time, they can eat a whole coat and spoil the closet. But adult moths are not so simple. In their search for a suitable place for laying their eggs, they can fly up to 800 meters without stopping. That is, they can easily fly from one house to another and fly into open windows without mosquito netting.
- The southern barn moth (Plodia interpunctella), like the moth, has no mouthparts and does not feed. The larvae do most of the damage to the farm. They eat grain, dried fruits and nuts. The caterpillars first eat the embryo and then eat the shell. With the help of spider webs, they glue the remains into clumps. This is how they prepare their huts, where they live in whole groups. The moth spreads in two ways: the caterpillars travel together with infested products, or it flies from one place to another and lays eggs there. They can produce two to four generations per year.
How to fight it. Grain moths are sensitive to temperature. Therefore, you can kill them by heating the grain to 60 degrees or by cooling it to -17 degrees. But if there are not many infested stocks, it is easier to throw them away. So you will get rid of the caterpillars, but the butterflies may remain and bring offspring again. Therefore, it is better to move the food into airtight containers.
Moths from the closet will drive out strong smelling substances, such as lavender and cologne. It is also important to keep furniture and clothing clean. The fresher the textiles, the less likely moths are to be infested. Bedbugs, by the way, are also affected.
But you can also take a modern approach and use the Indoor Ultrasonic Pest Repeller (Electromagnetic) With Ion Generator - which you can buy on our website.
How to get rid of cockroaches
Cockroaches love cluttered garages and old houses, where there are many hiding places - cracks in baseboards, unevenness behind loose wallpaper, garbage chutes. But these insects are not squeamish about new houses either.
There are three types of cockroaches in apartments and houses:
- The red cockroach (Blattella germanica) is the most numerous. It is the one that most people imagine when they hear the word "cockroach". Native to southern Asia, in the XVIII century he came to cold Europe and North America, where he multiplied in warm human dwellings and ousted the black cockroach.
- The black cockroach (Blatta orientalis) is a small tar-black cockroach. Like most cockroaches it likes warm climate, so it lives mostly in houses.
- The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is a large cockroach up to 5 centimeters long. Homeland is tropical Africa, from where in the XVII century it was introduced to North America, and then to Europe. Today the species is found throughout the world, except in its most northern parts. It lives in the vicinity of humans.
In our homes, cockroaches of all kinds are attracted by plenty of food and moisture - especially in houses with garbage chutes, where they accumulate uneaten food. But even in places where garbage is not accumulated, they will find something to feast on, such as paper. With hunger they can even chew the plastic insulation of wires and cause a short circuit.
The excrement left everywhere by insects causes allergies. From garbage cans and trash cans, cockroaches can carry helminth eggs and bacteria that cause intestinal infections. But such cases are extremely rare and are known more from scientific literature.
It is difficult to get rid of cockroaches on your own. They are very hardy insects, capable of living for a month without food and accustomed to all kinds of poisons. The fact that cockroaches are caring parents also contributes to the preservation of the species in the apartment and home. Some species carry eggs on their bodies until the offspring hatch.
Eggs packed in slender rows in protein foam. This "cradle" protects the babies from water and poisonous substances. Hatching cockroaches, or nymphs, do not scatter, but stay in their native nest, forming colonies. And only when they reach a certain age, they begin to go out for food. But they do it at night, when the risk of being under the slipper is minimal.
How to fight it. Before choosing a poison, do a general cleaning or, if possible, do some cosmetic repairs. Cockroaches love hard-to-reach places - the space behind the refrigerator and cabinets, cracks in baseboards, floors and walls, peeling wallpaper.
So, if the repair has made long ago, freshen it at least with new wallpaper, or paint the walls and change the flooring. Seal cracks or sealant foam. To keep the mustachioed, striped roaches from coming in from the neighbors, put fine mesh grates on the ventilation system.
After repairs and general cleaning will have to strictly monitor the order for several months - the less garbage and food remains, the harder it will be for the insects to survive. Also try to limit access to water as much as possible. Completely without water, cockroaches can only survive for 2-3 days. But, of course, if you find a piece of fruit or a drop of moisture somewhere - it will be enough to survive.
While you're cleaning up, mark the places with the most cockroach tracks. Chances are, there's a nest somewhere nearby where favorite routes to food begin and end. Put traps nearby or dab some gel, you'll find syringes of it in most hardware stores.
Cockroaches will eat the gel and carry it to congregations, poisoning other individuals. This is one of the most effective ways to control them. In winter, you can also freeze the apartment or house to be sure. Cockroaches live in warm climates, so the cold is destructive to them.
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How to get rid of Bed bugs
Bed bugs are the main pests of bed bugs (Cimicidae). This is a small family of bed bugs, including about a hundred species. The most famous is Cimex lectularius, which is distributed all over the world.
Scientists speculate that these insects originally inhabited the caves of the Middle East and, together with animals and humans, spread throughout the Old World. The first known references to bed bugs are found in ancient Greek literature. There they were attributed the ability to help with hysterical choking, fevers and snake bites.
Bed bugs feed exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded animals, including humans. Both adult insects and larvae need food. With a lack of nutrition, bed bugs "dry up" and the larvae stop their development. But you should not rejoice. As soon as a food source appears nearby, the insects will come to their senses very quickly.
They behave in the same way during a cold snap - they fall into anabiosis and can wait for the warming for about a year and a half. Deterioration of living conditions rarely leads to complete extinction of bed bugs.
How to fight them. Bed bugs love old and dirty dumps where they can hide, but they won't complain once they get into a very clean dwelling. It is difficult to get rid of them, because it is not enough to spread or spray poison. First you need to understand where they came from.
If with the couch, you need to clean it and treat it with chemicals. If they come systematically from the neighbors, you need to put sealant on baseboards, the entry and exit points of wires and pipes. Next, you will need to find and destroy nests - check furniture, shake out old clothes, remove baseboards, look behind the sink.
Bed bugs also like to settle under windowsills, in carpets, in places where beds are against walls. All secluded corners should be washed, clothing and textiles should be boiled well.
Next, treat the apartment with neonicotinoid-based insecticides (acetamiprid, imidacloprid) or those containing diatom powder. Liquid and powder solutions sprayed with a sprayer are most effective. It is a good idea to combine them with a gel or paste. These products retain their properties for a long time and can be used as a barrier on transit paths from other apartments. To prevent the insects from breeding again, clean and treat the apartment again after two to three weeks.
If you do not want to poison your family, children and pets with chemicals, you can use the Indoor - Ultrasonic Pest Repeller (Electromagnetic) - which can be installed in every room if the number of bed bugs is large or if you cannot deal with them for a long time.
How to get rid of Ants
Small red pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) are commonly found in apartments and homes. This name was given to them by the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus, to whom they were brought from Egypt. The ants were discovered by tomb explorers in sarcophagi, where the insects penetrated in search of food.
Also not uncommon are Termites, or white ants, which are a real threat because they can eat wood.
How to Combat. The red ants you see on the kitchen table and countertops, on the floor, and near the trash can are workers. They get food for the queen and larvae, which are in a nest hidden in a secluded place. If you are serious about getting rid of insects, the nest is the main target.
It makes no sense to kill only workers, because as long as the anthill exists, their ranks will be replenished. It is necessary to get rid of the uterus and the individuals that do not leave it. Gels from ants will help in this.
The insects eat the gel and transfer some to the anthill to feed the remaining community. If you want to get ants out of your apartment as quickly as possible, try to locate the anthill. When you find it, collect it in a bucket and fill it with boiling water.
But even this is not always possible to do, but there is a solution to this problem and from termites and ants in the house can help repel insects - Ultrasonic Plug-in Pest Repeller. Also, if ants threaten you on a hike or a picnic, then you can buy a portable battery-operated insect repeller - Portable Ultrasonic Mosquito Repeller with Smart Sensor.
Prevention
- Don't let bugs come in from the neighbors or outdoors. Inspect baseboards, walls, pipe and wire inlets and outlets, and joints under window sills; if you find gaps, seal them with foam or sealant. This way you will get rid of both passageways in your house and secluded places where you can make a nest. Place fine mesh mesh netting on vents and hoods so that even a six-millimeter-long bedbug cannot get past it. Cover your windows with mosquito netting, and you can be sure that moths and fireflies won't come to you from your neighbors.
- Make periodic cosmetic repairs. This is especially true for apartments in older buildings, but it's a good idea to refresh repairs at least every ten years for residents of newer homes as well. Remember that peeling wallpaper, linoleum, and carpeting can become a cozy nest for cockroaches and bedbugs. Places behind modular furniture are also very good for six-legged bugs. To avoid creating a favorable environment for them, repaper the wallpaper, change the flooring. Eliminate all small leaks, let the sources of moisture be as few as possible.
- Keep it clean. Although insects can settle in a very clean apartment, they are not fans of order. Wipe the dust off more often and clean up once a week. Every few months, organize a general cleaning - wash the mezzanine and the balcony, go through the bookcases, air out the clothes. This way, you'll significantly reduce the risk of nasty tenants.
- Get rid of old things in time. Go through your closet and think about which things you need and which you can get rid of. Do not keep old fur coats and sheepskin coats for a rainy day, do not arrange a blockage of dirty socks and t-shirts in the closet, and moths will not want to live with you. Air out sheets that you rarely use, and rewash them occasionally.
- Don't keep food open, and try to throw away leftovers faster. Take out the garbage once every day or two, and periodically wash the garbage cans and the area next to them. Try not to leave unpacked bread, cookies, cereal, and other foods you keep outside the refrigerator. Clean the kitchen immediately after cooking and after eating.
- Try not to use chemicals, but no matter how harmless they were, chemicals are always harmful to children and pets. Use insect repellents - they are 100% safe for children and pets and serve both as a good insect repellent and as a preventative. One or two Best Ultrasonic Pest Repellers (Electromagnetic) With Ion Generator for the whole house is enough to keep insects away, including mosquitoes and termites.
And so, we figured out how to get rid of insects in the house, now the decision is up to you. You can try to get rid of insects with chemicals and poisons, or choose a more effective and safe method of insect control - Pest Repellers (Crioxen) - and you will forget about insects.