Many have heard about bed bugs, cockroaches and even ants. But if silverfish begin to scatter from under their feet, most of the inhabitants fall into a stupor. What is this creature and how to deal with it? Scientifically, it is called home thermobia. The appearance of the insect, to put it mildly, repulsive. But despite this, you need to study the methods of struggle and get rid of the intruder.
General Description
This is a wingless insect about 2 cm long. It has an oblong body and a small head with antennae located on it. The body ends with three processes in the form of tails. In total, there are about 600 species of these insects in the world. About 10 species live in Russia. But in apartments, home thermobia is most common. Today we will talk about her.
She has a characteristic gray-brown body color. Unlike their relatives, who are very fond of wet places, these creaturesmore thermophilic. Therefore, they will occupy places in the kitchen, behind the stove. That is why they eat the flour and other leftovers that have spilled into the crack.
It's amazing how long these insects can live. Thermobia home, if you do not engage in its removal, will soon flood the entire apartment. The fact is that their life expectancy is at least 5 years. This makes it much more difficult to fight them.
Ways to get into the house
Why should they seek closeness to a person? Everything is simple, all conditions are created here. Warm, safe and no need to worry about food. That is why homemade thermobia will occupy hidden corners in which it cannot be detected. This is how she ensures her survival.
These creatures are looking for the most hidden corners and tiny cracks. Their small size allows them to be used for breeding. Therefore, finding their villages will not be easy at all. An insect can get into a living space through ventilation pipes, cracks in the walls. But tiny creatures will easily move with old books, boxes and other things. It is quite difficult to notice their presence. They become noticeable only when they breed. One clutch of a female is about 40 future insects.
Main Challenges
Despite the fact that this is a fairly harmless insect, not everyone likes home thermobia. How to get rid of this insect, we will consider with you today. This is a very hardy creature. Even a cockroach does not survive in such extreme conditions as silverfish. She is able to livewithout food for 10 months. The insect breeds very quickly, so if you do not take action, then the neighbors will soon face the same problem. That is why getting rid of them takes place in several stages.
What is dangerous insect
This is the first question that arises while a person is looking for ways to get rid of home thermobia. By and large, there is no harm from it. It is harmless to humans and pets, is not a carrier of diseases, and by and large avoids contact with humans in every possible way. Only by chance, when you go into the bathroom at night, you may notice creatures fleeing.
But this does not mean that the insect is harmless. Since they multiply quickly, it means that they will eat very intensively. Why is home thermobia dangerous? If silverfish started up in the house, then you are guaranteed to get a lot of spoiled things, books and clothes. Yes, and being in the bathroom with them will be at least unpleasant.
There is another important point. If silverfish appeared in the house, then there is some kind of problem. There is no guarantee that more serious pests will not follow them. Therefore, you need to carefully inspect the bathroom. Your best bet is to call a plumber who can check for water leaks and moisture buildup.
Insect traces
Thermobia home, the photo of which you see today in the article, is a real enemy of all book publications that are on the shelves, be it books or archival documents. These insects have specialdigestive enzymes that allow them to process the paper they eat into nutrients. If silverfish gnawed books, then these places will be disfigured by a fungus, turn yellow or blacken.
These insects, like all others, leave their feces. If there are a lot of them in the apartment, then you can see a real plume of black grains. They can leave their feces or eggs in flour, sugar, bread. Agree, the prospect is not too bright.
Reasons for appearance
If home thermobia has settled in the apartment, it means that the conditions are quite to her liking. And most often this indicates a disturbed microclimate, that is, increased humidity. And here there may be several options. Either the apartment has poor ventilation, or there are places where water gets on the floor. In this case, you must definitely invite a plumber. He will carefully inspect all pipes and eliminate leaks in the house.
Due to their small size, silverfish can live unnoticed in warehouses. At the same time, she easily climbs into bags and boxes and leaves for new places. Of course, if the environment does not suit her, then she will try to find a new home for herself.
Prevention
Thermobia home, the genus Thermobia is not the most common insect. Even when they see him at home, many will decide that this is a wood lice. But this insect is of a completely different kind. In order to avoid an unpleasant neighborhood, it is enough to follow a number of simple rules:
- Home should always be perfectly clean. Regularlyperformed wet cleaning is not only a guaranteed disposal of insects, but also the creation of a favorable climate at home.
- Don't keep the bathroom door closed all the time. It needs to be ventilated regularly to maintain optimum air humidity.
- These creatures do not tolerate cold temperatures very well. Of course, freezing an apartment is almost impossible. But, leaving for work, you can open all the windows. In severe frost, the temperature drop in the room will be very significant. Of course, returning to a frozen apartment is not very pleasant, but it should be taken as a preventive measure.
Contact a special company
This might be a good way out. Experts know how to bring home thermobia. Today, there are many companies on the service market that specialize in removing parasites, including insects. Finding them in major cities is not difficult. But you need to be aware that this is not the cheapest pleasure. Not everyone can afford to invite home a team of professionals who will easily clear your premises of any insects.
Do-it-yourself disinfection
Thermobia domestic (family of silverfish) should not live in your home. Therefore, if you notice an unknown insect in the bathroom and it resembles this creature in description, then you need to act immediately. Let's start with the bathroom, because that's where they usually live.
- First of all, we take out everything that can be transported. This is an important point to ensure access to all cornerspremises.
- Wash all surfaces with a chlorine based cleaner.
- After that, the room is treated with a solution of copper sulfate and must be dried. Special attention to places under the toilet and behind the bath.
- Use multipurpose insect repellant sprays (usually labeled "for any crawling or flying insects") to increase reliability. Don't forget to air out the room after the due date has passed.
- Now the final touch. It is necessary to prepare a mixture of boric acid and chalk in a ratio of 1: 4. The mixture should be poured into the places where silverfish are most likely to live. After about a week, it will be possible to sweep it thoroughly along with dead insects.
Destruction of insects in the kitchen
Food is stored here, so the use of chemicals is highly undesirable. A description of domestic thermobia would be incomplete, if not to say that insects come out to feed at night. This is the time we will use to catch adult insects.
Setting traps is an effective and safe way to deal with them. Moreover, they can be made from improvised materials without spending money on buying similar ones in the store. They will not spoil the interior of your apartment, since you can only put them on at night and check them in the morning. To do this, choose the darkest and most humid corners, where the likelihood of insects is the highest. We must not forget that somewhere there may already be masonry with eggs. Therefore, traps alone may not be enough, disinfecting the room remains a must.
Varieties of traps
If you have experience in catching cockroaches or other insects, then we can say that the specifics practically do not change.
- Trap from a can. It is not necessary to take glass, metal or plastic will serve well. The point is very simple. Outside, the walls are wrapped with masking tape so that insects can easily climb up. From the inside, the walls are lightly smeared with sunflower oil, and bread or sugar is placed at the bottom. They will not climb back along the smooth walls. You can add some water to the bottom, and put the bait on a hill.
- Newspaper trap. A proven method that has already been tried by thousands of people. The newspaper must be rolled up and tied with elastic bands so that it does not unwind. After that, it is moistened with water in which sugar is dissolved. Insects will gnaw through the layers and go for a walk through the labyrinths in search of food. In the morning, the newspaper will need to be thrown away or burned.
- There are inexpensive Velcro-based traps on sale. They are universal and work against any insects.
Scaring fragrances
The fight against insects must be fought on two fronts. It's one thing to fight those individuals who have already come and settled in your house. And another thing is to prevent their penetration into housing. To do this, you need to make repairs on time, regularly carry out general cleaning, but it does not interfere with the use of aromatherapy. Your task is to makeso that it would be unacceptable for insects to be in your home. Judging by the numerous reviews, the regular use of oils completely eliminates the need to buy poisonous sprays against insects. They will simply ignore your home.
You can use natural lemon or lavender oils. They are harmless, have a pleasant smell, but repel insects very well. But you need to consider that the aroma should be quite strong. It is necessary to process typical habitats of silverfish. That is, the darkest and most hidden corners. Kitchen and bookcases should also not be left unattended. Here you can use clove and cinnamon oil, which are also completely harmless to humans.
Instead of a conclusion
Protecting your home from pests is the task of every owner. Therefore, take into account all preventive measures. But if the silverfish nevertheless penetrated the room and bred in it, then more drastic measures must be taken. Today we looked at the most popular methods to keep your home clean.
