Our home is a place where a person spends the main part of the day, when he wants special comfort and relaxation. Various factors can influence the appearance of insects in a human home.
That is why the appearance of uninvited “guests” can bring a lot of trouble. Particularly often insects infect two places in the apartment - the kitchen and the bathroom. The appearance of such living creatures often causes negative emotions and disgust in people; often these pests can be carriers of various infections.
The main difficulty in dealing with such pests is the fact that these insects are for the most part omnivores, which is why they are only happy to live with people under the same roof, where there is a huge amount of food.
Strange white creatures in the apartment
It would seem strange to see extra living creatures in the bathroom, since this part should always be clean, but for some, a large amount of water and a comfortable temperature play a major role.
White is a characteristic color for silverfish that have just molted. Usually these insects are up to 1 cm, they have an elongated body, silver or almost transparent color. Very be moving around.
Another species is woodlice. Not dangerous to human life and health.
Let's celebrate! Basically, these two species settle in the walls of the bathtub, since all the conditions for a comfortable life are provided for them. Unlike Prussians and other pests, they are not dangerous, do not carry disease, and do not bite.
Small white insects
This description characterizes woodlice. Such an inhabitant is not uncommon and can often be found in the vicinity of the bath. They have a light body, oblong shape with small scales. Woodlice move very quickly, so they are often very difficult to catch and even see.
Long white insects
Silverfish have a long white body. The main difference from other insects is the presence of a large number of legs on both sides.
Most are silver-black, some are brown. The main food for these insects is glue. In addition to typical inhabitants, the bathroom can be subject to attacks by cockroaches, midges and ants.
What is this strange beast?
The parasites that have settled in your toilet or bathroom are common silverfish. These are insects with a small oblong body, thin legs (short legs - 8 pairs, main ones - 4 pairs) and processes on the tail and head.
Silverfish belong to the order of crustaceans and resemble woodlice. These small white bugs move very quickly, penetrate into the narrowest cracks and hide if you turn on the light. They are quite tenacious and once settled, they will remain for a long time. It is useless to hope that the problem will resolve itself. Not only that, but these insects have a high reproduction rate, so the beetle population will grow larger over time!
Adult silverfish can take on different shades and be green, brown, yellow or silver. Light-colored individuals are most often found in apartments. To accurately identify them, look at these photos.
This is interesting! According to scientists, silverfish are the most ancient insects living on Earth. The structure of their body has rather primitive features that were characteristic of the ancestors of modern parasites.
The beetles are nocturnal - they crawl out to hunt in the evening, and during the day they prefer to hide away. Food products for silverfish are:
- Wallpaper glue; Natural fabrics; Mold; Food leftovers; Wet paper; Garbage under rugs and bedding; Rags.
Most of all, these bugs love dampness and humidity, and they cannot stand bright light. The bathroom perfectly matches the tastes and requirements of silverfish, so most often the parasites settle there.
Why do small white insects appear in the bathroom?
The most important question that arises among residents of apartments is where insects have appeared, where and how they came from.
To begin with, we should highlight the main factors that attract uninvited “guests” to the house. The maximum level of humidity is comfortable for such bugs; it is in it that insects can lead a normal life, they have a habitat, food and the opportunity to reproduce. They always have plenty of water and food nearby.
A person spends a minimum of time in the bathroom, which means that extraneous sounds will practically not frighten the little inhabitants. Since this room is the least visited, it means that it is almost always dark, this is another important factor for such insects.
All these factors make it clear that the bathroom is a great place to live.
Having figured out what attracts bugs to a human home, it is important to understand where and how their appearance can be provoked:
- Open basements and ventilation compartments, presence of insects among neighbors. This is how bugs often immigrate. The easiest way for them to penetrate is to the first and last floors.
- Failure to keep the room clean.
- High humidity.
- Relatively high air temperature.
Let's celebrate! To avoid the appearance of such pests, it is recommended to carefully maintain the cleanliness of the bathroom.
Are white insects dangerous and harmful to humans?
- Silverfish are not harmful to humans; they do not harm domestic animals.
- These insects do not bite because they are small in size and have an unsuitable mouth for this.
- Such “residents” can cause a negative reaction in people, as they appear unexpectedly and can frighten or disgust.
- Despite their safety for humans, such creatures are still not pleasant, as they can cause damage to property. Being mostly omnivores, they can spoil food, cereals, sugar, even wallpaper and books, as well as leather products.
How to get rid of insects in the bathroom?
Physical methods
First, you should carry out a complete sanitary cleaning of the apartment, since it makes no sense to poison pests in a contaminated room and will not lead to positive consequences.
First of all, people try to fight such insects manually, in the hope that due to their small size they will be easy to eliminate:
- One of the main tools is a vacuum cleaner. With its help, people carry out general cleaning, trying to suck in the main habitats. This method is very labor-intensive, since it is impossible to kill one insect at a time, and using a vacuum cleaner does not provide a 100% guarantee. As a result of such treatment, you can easily miss a place with pests, and then this whole idea goes in vain. Even if you managed to remove some nests with a vacuum cleaner, this does not mean that there are no others left.
- Another method is treatment with boiling water. Cleaning is also carried out and boiling water is poured onto the nests and holes. This causes the insects to flee to another location. This method also does not guarantee anything, since pests can easily escape to another secluded place in the apartment.
- All living beings do not like cold. This leads to the next method - to lower the temperature in the room as much as possible.
Let's celebrate! These methods are very simple, but do not guarantee that the person has removed all the insects and that they will not return after a while.
Traps and bait
- Traps include the use of traditional methods. It is recommended to place wreaths of birch branches in the corners of the bathroom overnight. Bugs remain in the rods overnight. Such a wreath must be thrown away immediately, or better yet, burned.
- For the next trap, use a glass jar. Place paper or tape on the outside. Any sweet product, such as an apple or sugar, is placed inside the jar. The silverfish easily climbs up the jar, penetrates it, but cannot get back out. The next morning they get rid of insects in such jars.
- Another bait is a roll of paper. You need to moisten it overnight and leave it on. Insects cannot live without moisture, so they will not ignore such a roll. During the night, many pests crawl into such a “house”. In the morning, it is important to throw away such a roll, or burn it without unrolling it.
Chemicals
The most effective in fighting insects are chemicals; thanks to them, it is possible to get rid of pests for a while, along with their larvae.
There are a large number of drugs on the market today aimed at controlling household pests.
Copper and iron sulfate, as well as products containing chlorine, are considered the most effective. Among the assortment you can find sprays, aerosols, powders, gels and other types.
Some of the most popular and effective aerosols include the following:
- Raptor;
- Mosquitall;
- Combat;
- Antimol;
- Dichlorvos;
- Raid;
- Clean house;
- Armol;
- Extramit.
These preparations are suitable for long-term treatment; at first it is recommended to spray them indoors once a week.
When working with such drugs, it is important to follow the instructions, since such products have a pungent odor that negatively affects the human respiratory system.
Let's celebrate! Therefore, when using chemicals, it is advisable to use protective clothing, remove animals and children from the apartment during treatment, and ventilate the room.
Traditional methods
Folk remedies have been around for a long time; they are particularly effective, low cost and simple.
Such methods have existed for more than 100 years, so there is no point in doubting their effectiveness:
- Regular sugar, as well as brown sugar, can be considered the main assistant. It is distributed into cracks and places where white bugs may appear.
- Yeast can be decomposed in the same way. Such living creatures do not like the smell of cloves, so it is necessary to sprinkle this particular spice indoors.
- You can also treat all surfaces with water with the addition of citrus or lavender oil.
- The next assistant is boric acid. This product helps fight a large number of household pests. Balls should be made from a boiled egg and boric acid powder and placed in the habitats of living creatures.
The appearance of any harmful living creatures in an apartment is due to non-compliance with hygiene rules, both on the part of the owners and neighbors. When such a problem appears, it is important to solve it immediately, without delaying it, since then the insects will multiply and it will be much more difficult to remove them.
First of all, you need to find the source of the problem, if insects are fleeing from the basement, then block all kinds of entrances and exits for them; if the problem is with the neighbors, then you may have to deal with them, you may have to poison them not only in your apartment, but also in the neighboring one.
In any case, there is no need to panic and be afraid of these insects, because fear and panic will not help in any way in the fight against pests, thereby a person will only waste time.
Centipede: description
The centipede got its name due to the fact that it has 15 pairs of legs, quite thin, which reach a length of up to 3 millimeters. The centipede grows up to 60 mm in length. Thanks to this, the insect moves relatively quickly - up to 40 cm per second, which gives it the opportunity to quickly go to cover in cases of danger.
If you carefully examine the insect, you can see small hairs all over the body, and long whiskers grow on the head. Along the entire surface of the body you can find stripes that even extend to the paws. Therefore, the centipede resembles a scary beetle with a flexible, elongated body. A centipede is born with 4 legs, the number of which increases as the insect matures. During her life, a female centipede lays up to 60 eggs.
Centipedes (also called flycatchers) prefer living conditions with high humidity and lack of light. In people's homes, flycatchers choose to live in rooms such as bathrooms, all kinds of closets or basements. As a rule, centipedes appear in human homes before the onset of winter. During this period, the centipede feeds on ants, mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, termites, spiders, etc. In other words, such a proximity between humans and centipedes is only beneficial for humans.
Those owners who know how the centipede lives and what it eats try to use it as a natural enemy of many insects, sometimes dangerous to humans. The flycatcher can sit motionless for a long time, waiting for its prey, after which it attacks its victim with lightning speed. This is achieved thanks to excellent vision and speed of movement. The flycatcher releases a venom that paralyzes its prey, after which it slowly eats its prey. If she manages to catch two insects at once, then she eats one and holds the other with her paws, since she has many of them.
Flycatchers (centipedes) do not bite humans or domestic animals. They also do not damage room furniture. Therefore, the fight against centipedes is carried out only because many owners do not know how this insect lives and what it eats. A centipede lives for about 7 years. It settles in human housing only to survive the cold. Upon completion, she moves to her natural habitat. When it is very cold, the insect hibernates. It is most active in the spring.
