A wide variety of pests and insects often start in living quarters. Some of them are not visible to the human eye, while others turn our life into a real torment. It is worth considering a rather rare variety of unwanted neighbors.
Hay-eater, or book louse, appears least often in residential apartments. This leads to a rather large surprise of the household when they find these incomprehensible insects in their home. Let's try to understand in more detail who the hay eaters are and how to get rid of them quickly.
General Description
Book louse is most often found in nature. Usually insects of this species live in bird nests or rodent burrows. Sometimes hay eaters hide under leaves, in tree rhizomes or ordinary grass. As a rule, they feed on fallen leaves, wood, or dead particles of animal skin.
If hay eaters meet in an apartment, then most likely they came to their favorite delicacy - paste. That is why these insects got their name. The thing is that earlier special book roots were used to make paste. That is why lice were also very common on the pages of books. Today a similar typepaste is not produced. In the manufacture of book covers, synthetic adhesives are used instead. That is why most often book louse starts in libraries, where there are many old editions of books. However, parasites can find something to eat besides book covers.
In the houses of the Stalinist era, there are still pieces of dried wallpaper paste, which was made on the basis of an old paste. In addition, they can be attracted to mold and much more. These insects thrive in heat and high humidity
What do meat-eaters eat
Most often these insects like to feast on mushrooms, lichen, algae, pollen and elements of dead insects. This means that, by and large, their diet can include any ingredients that contain mold or plant-based decay. Therefore, they appear in apartments where there is a fungus. Most often, residents of the last floors in apartment buildings, as well as owners of suburban real estate, where the roof is in poor condition, suffer from the appearance of these parasites.
May appear in a city apartment
These insects can start in the plumbing of the bathroom, and they can also be found in heating pipes. In an apartment, hay eaters can even live in kitchen cabinets, starting to eat cereals. It should be borne in mind that if there are old books in the house, then most likely they have already become a delicacy for these parasites.
Mostthe terrible thing is that hay-eaters breed without fertilization. At the same time, the female of this parasite can lay up to 60 eggs in 24 hours. Therefore, it is necessary to wipe the shelves as often as possible, because dust is also an excellent habitat for many types of parasites.
Features of reproduction
The book louse lays its eggs one at a time or in small batches at once. The maximum number of eggs rarely exceeds 60 pieces per day, but this is quite enough for the parasites to develop into a huge colony. The lifespan of a hay eater depends on temperature conditions as well as humidity and food availability. Adults live quite a long time - up to 53 weeks. At the same time, without a power source, they continue to exist normally for quite a long time. Just one book hay eater egg is enough to start a new colony.
What is the danger
If we talk about allergic reactions, then this happens if a person touches a thing that previously had an insect. However, this does not lead to quite serious consequences. Most of these parasites affect residents of the UK and Europe. They also bring a lot of problems to those who suffer from entomophobia.
Book louse: how to get rid of it?
Since these parasites are extremely rare in homes, there are no special measures for their destruction, but there are a number of preventive measures that will help get rid of these enemies.
First of all, it is necessary to constantly wet clean all the rooms of the apartment. Particular attention should be paid to bookshelves. If there are a large number of herbariums or dried flowers in the room, then they need to be periodically updated or cleaned of dust. In the kitchen, it is imperative to sort out all old cereals, as well as expired products, in a timely manner. If there are already too many hay-eaters and they bring great inconvenience, then only disinfestation of the apartment or treatment with specialized compounds will help. To do this, you will have to call the SES.
There are several ways that experienced professionals use. In some situations, freonite is used, thanks to which insects are frozen. In more difficult situations, wet insecticide treatment is performed. For the complex destruction of parasites, cold or hot fog is used using the latest generation of chemical non-toxic preparations. Thanks to disinsection of an apartment, you can forget about unpleasant and annoying neighbors forever.
Is it necessary to get rid of these insects
If nasty bugs don't bother you, then getting rid of them is not necessary. The fact is that these insects are not carriers of the disease, they do not bite and will not crawl into bed or clothes. By and large, the only trouble they bring is their unsightly appearance, since no one will like it if bugs move around his apartment. They can also interfere if they start eating millet and other groups that are onkitchen.
It can be concluded that the hay eater does not pose a great danger to humans. This parasite does not damage things (except books) and does not emit an unpleasant odor. Therefore, to get rid of them or not - everyone decides for himself. It all depends on the number of insects and whether they are visible to the human eye.
