Carpet beetles, flour beetles, bread grinders - it’s hard not to notice them against the white background of a plastic window. Brownish pests are somewhat similar to ladybugs, but smaller in size. At first glance, harmless creatures, however, cause trouble for the owners of modern apartments: they eat food, damage furniture, and the bite of bugs is unsafe.
If brown pests appear on the windowsill, the useful information from the article will help you immediately begin the fight. For those who do not want to encounter them, prevention can help. The main thing is to understand what insects are and how they can get into the house.
Types of brown bugs and features
There are several types of insects with a diameter of 2-4 mm: there are individuals that eat flour and cereals, others prefer wooden products and books. A separate species is the carpet beetle, which is harmful to human health.
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The following types are adapted to apartment conditions:
- Brown carpet . Its larvae are considered dangerous; the adult beetle uses its own reserves.
- Ham look . It has an oblong shape - a black creature with a yellow mustache; most common.
- Kozheed Smirnova chooses window sills and lamps as her abode.
- beetle is the most harmful of those listed above. Spoils food.
Uninvited guests can be spotted on the windowsill at any time.
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Why do they appear and where do they live at home?
Most often, skin beetles enter a home in the summer through an open window. They are brought from another room when transporting upholstered furniture, books, herbariums, and other collections. When buying flowers in a pot, you also run the risk of acquiring a pest straight from the store.
Depending on the species in the apartment, they can live anywhere. Carpet beetles do not choose a specific corner for themselves. Hard-to-reach places become their refuge, where they lay larvae that feed on dust. Kozheeda Smirnov can be found not only on window sills, but also in lamps. Bugs love dry air; they thrive in dresser drawers, cabinets, sofas, and mattresses.
Disinsection of premises
If all the above remedies do not help, then you need to use professional-grade medications. But their use requires increased security measures. You need to purchase a protective suit with long sleeves and a special mask. Processing with such tools requires certain knowledge and skills, so it is better to invite professionals to carry out the work. And the owners’ task is to prepare rooms for this and remove pets and children from the premises.
Effective drugs for disinfestation include Diphos, Phoxide, Morimol, Supronit. They are based on contact insecticides that act directly on the nervous system of insects, causing paralysis and death.
Today, microencapsulated preparations are also used, which remain on the surface for up to six months. In such cases, even if there are larvae left after the initial treatment, they will die immediately after birth.
After disinfestation, the room must be ventilated. It is recommended to carry out wet cleaning immediately.
What danger do brown creatures pose?
Insects destroy skin, fur, wool, fluff, felt, silk, and will not refuse food products and cereals. So, in the kitchen they feast on cheese, dried meat or fish. Powdered milk and cereals will spoil. Pests will happily attack old books with glue binding.
Brown bugs damage wires, furniture upholstery, parquet floors, picture frames, wallpaper, etc. The danger to the human body lies in the transmission of various diseases. A skin beetle bite can cause allergies and provoke the development of infections; there is also a danger of contracting worms through them.
Folk remedies and chemistry
First of all, cleanliness in the kitchen is important. Carpet beetles cannot tolerate the smell of moth repellents, so you can lay out the appropriate tablets and plates on the cabinet shelves. Of the folk methods in the fight against such insects, lavender and wormwood have proven themselves well. The strong aroma of herbs will repel adult insects from the bookshelf.
Cabinets are wiped with water and vinegar. They also fight with chemicals. A permethrin solution will be needed to treat seasonal clothing before storage. The substance is not dangerous for humans, but it is effective against parasites, destroying both adults and larvae. Prevents their reappearance.
Chemical aerosols of the following brands will help get rid of brown bugs:
- "Clean house";
- "Raptor";
- "Armol";
- "Raid" and others.
A group of insecticides is effective against adults and larvae; white powder (popularly known as dust) is poured under the parquet and near the baseboard, you can make a solution and treat objects, rub it into furniture upholstery. Good old Dichlorvos will also be effective in this case.
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Fighting tree beetles
The most effective and simplest way is to take preventive measures, i.e. treating construction wood with special antiseptic agents, which will protect all structures from pests.
However, if such domestic beetles have already settled in a wooden house, then there are several recipes for their extermination. The peak of their activity occurs in May-June; it is during these months that the fight will be most effective.
Folk remedies for exterminating pests in wood:
- the use of petroleum jelly, which is injected with a syringe into the found passages and holes in the tree, you can fill them with wax;
- mix turpentine and kerosene in a ratio of 3:1 and pump into the cracks and passages;
- a mixture of naphthalene (10 g) and gasoline (100 ml) is applied to the surface of the wood with a brush;
- one of the effective ways is to warm up the rooms in the house with hot air (at a temperature of +60°C) or by freezing them in winter frosts (at -5...-10°C);
- fill the passages and crevices with a mixture of naphthalene, resin and carbolic acid;
- spraying a solution of copper sulfate with a syringe;
- Before starting work, it is better to clean the holes in the walls with wire.
In addition to traditional methods and solutions, experts recommend using chemicals:
- insecticides containing cypermethrin, organophosphorus compounds and lambda-cyhalothrin, the most effective of these chemicals is Fufanon, which should be treated at least 2 times with an interval of 2 weeks;
- aerosols Prima-71, Bichromat, Dichlorvos - are used to combat larvae in July.
If, after the measures taken, black and gray bugs still remain in the tree, then you should seek help from specialists who will help neutralize the wooden house from dangerous pests.
The appearance of crawling or flying beetles in an apartment is a very unpleasant phenomenon. Not everyone knows what they are called, what they are and how dangerous they are to humans. There may be many such beetles in an apartment, but only a few of them cause concern. Unfortunately, they appear in the homes of even the cleanest housewives, but few know how to quickly get rid of them or what to do.
Lifehacks for getting rid of brown bugs
There is a more humane way of fighting, but it applies not to insects, but to food. For many, throwing away cereals is an unaffordable luxury.
If pests have left their mark on it, you can do the following:
- Sort and sift well through a fine sieve.
- Heat in the oven or place bags of cereal in the freezer for several days.
- You need to use it first.
- Treat the surfaces of the cabinets with vinegar, boric acid or laundry soap (rub it and make a solution).
- Pour boiling water over the cracks.
- Wash the dishes to completely get rid of derivative bugs.
The vacuum cleaner will suck out hidden parasites and their larvae from all the cracks. After the procedure, the dust collector or garbage bag is thrown away or, once emptied, frozen for 3-4 days to prevent re-infection.
As soon as the cereal is placed in the boxes again, “traps” are installed. To do this, pour a little sunflower oil into small containers; the remaining beetles, which will drown in it, will definitely come for a treat.
Prevention methods
To prevent the skin beetle from entering the room, a number of measures are carried out:
- Ventilate regularly and do wet cleaning. Insects seek dry environments.
- Twice a year they go through clothes in closets. Lavender, wormwood, tansy, tobacco, and camphor are left on the shelves.
- In the kitchen, surfaces are often treated with vinegar, the garbage is taken out and the bucket is treated.
- Wash the floors thoroughly with the addition of cleaning products to wash away the larvae from the cracks.
- Mosquito nets are hung on the windows.
- Create conditions for storing cereals and other food products.
Washing powders, bleaches, ammonia, and chlorine have no effect on kitchen pests. If you were unable to get them out of the house yourself, specialists will come to the rescue. To clear your apartment of uninvited guests, you may have to leave your home for several days.
Professional processing
When there is a large concentration of insects, it is not always possible to destroy pests on your own. In such situations, it is necessary to seek help from special pest control services, whose experienced specialists have experience in dealing with household pests. It is contraindicated for children and pets to be in the room during this treatment. It would also be a good idea to take out food, indoor plants, children's clothes and toys.
Regular cleaning and proper storage of food are the most reliable and effective means of protecting food. By following these simple rules, you won’t have to fight the mealy bug. Well, if you happen to identify pests in a particular product, you should not hesitate or panic - you need to start fighting them as quickly as possible.
