Cockroaches, flies, bugs, moths, ants – these and other insects can be found in any apartment. Uninvited guests not only pester, but also pose a real threat to the health of the inhabitants of the house. How to get rid of unpleasant roommates and prevent them from re-intruding?
The invasion of these insects causes panic even in the most persistent hosts. Cockroaches multiply quickly and lay eggs in hard-to-reach places of the apartment – behind the baseboards, in the cracks of furniture, in the kitchen, in the ventilation. Because of this, it is difficult to deal with them – grown offspring come to replace the destroyed individuals. They feed on the “mustache” leftovers of any food, waste, so it is so important to remove crumbs from the table and shelves, not to leave open packages with food, to throw away and wash the trash can in time – in general, to keep the apartment clean. Cockroaches not only spoil food, but also act as carriers of various infectious diseases. If cockroaches show up, start fighting immediately.
How to get rid of: you can try proven products and buy sprays, gels, cockroach traps in the store. The disadvantage of this method is that aerosols are toxic, and gels and traps should be placed away from children and animals. An effective method is to call a specialist from the sanitary and epidemiological station, but after disinsection you will have to be away from home for a day. By the way, it is better to fight cockroaches together and carry out the processing of the apartment and the neighbors. A good folk way is to scatter boric acid powder in the habitats of cockroaches or prepare bait in the form of balls from it. To do this, you need to mix mashed potatoes, egg yolk, sugar or flour, roll into lumps and spread out wherever pests live.
These parasites cannot be confused with any others. From them you literally lose sleep, because at night the bugs crawl onto the bed, bite and feed on human blood. The bite sites hurt and are accompanied by severe itching, and the insects themselves are classified as carriers of dangerous diseases. Bedbugs are very small, moreover, they huddle in the most secluded places of the apartment, so they are difficult to calculate and exterminate.
How to get rid of: remedies for bedbugs are produced in the form of aerosols, liquids, powders, but not always store-bought products can help. If you cannot remove the parasites on your own, it is better to call specialists from the sanitary and epidemiological station. Do the neighbors have the same misfortune? It makes sense to do the processing with them, so that the bugs then do not migrate to your apartment.
They appear more often in apartments where there are pets, but the absence of pets does not guarantee that the parasites will never descend. Fleas are not only feline or dog, but also mouse and even basement. All of them pose a danger to humans. Parasites bite and feed on blood and can carry such bad diseases as encephalitis, typhus, brucellosis. If the pet behaves strangely, scratches and bites itself, carefully examine it. Have found fleas – immediately start processing the housing. There is a lot of work to be done.
How to get rid of: except for an animal that needs the help of a veterinarian, you will have to get literally to every corner of the apartment. First, it is necessary to pack and remove all food products, plants, and take the animals out of the apartment during the disinfestation. Secondly, do wet cleaning in all, even hard-to-reach places, using disinfectants. After that, treat the entire apartment with special flea-repellent chemicals. They come in the form of sprays, powder, liquid. This must be done with a mask and gloves. The drugs will act for several hours, during this time there should be no one in the premises. Then you need to ventilate the apartment well and do a general cleaning again. To prevent fleas on things and in bed, you will have to wash and iron everything. It is better to replace the rugs on which pets sleep with new ones.
Flies often overpower in the summer, flying through the open vents. Especially unlucky for those who live on the ground floors – insects can migrate from the basement or from containers intended for garbage. The harm from flies is that they sit on open foods and spoil them, since they are carriers of the most dangerous infections. In addition, they can lay eggs, so if flies have been on the plate, it is better to discard such a dish or wash it thoroughly, if, for example, it is not chopped fruits or vegetables. Flies appear if there are products in the apartment that have begun to deteriorate, but not always in plain sight. This happens with onions or carrots stored in the pantry. Both flies and flies breed where there is food waste, so first of all, you need to get rid of this in the apartment and keep it clean. The trash can, especially in summer, should be emptied more often without accumulating waste.
How to get rid of: using special means in the form of sprays or sticky traps. After aerosol treatment, the apartment must be absent for several hours, then thoroughly ventilate all rooms.
At the sight of these parasites, you want to jump on a chair. Centipedes tend to grow in the bathroom and toilet, that is, where it is humid. If uninvited guests appear, the first thing to do is to see if there are any leaks in the pipes. Perhaps a leak formed under the bathroom, and therefore woodlice settled there. They do not pose a danger to humans – they do not bite and do not tolerate infections, but taking a shower when parasites are somewhere nearby is, to put it mildly, unpleasant.
How to get rid of: the most important thing is to repair the plumbing and dry the bathroom well, including all the corners and under the bathroom itself. After you have taken a shower, leave the door open so that perspiration will disappear in the room faster and there will be no high humidity. If all this does not help and woodlice still catch your eye, you will have to buy special insect repellent and treat the bathroom.
They can only be seen under a microscope, but this does not mean that they do not need to be fought. Dust mites cause allergies and even asthma, therefore, if all of a sudden there are symptoms of the disease (itching, redness and rash on the skin), and you are not allergic, you need to look for the reasons in the apartment, more precisely in the bedroom. These parasites tend to inhabit pillows and mattresses.
How to get rid of: first of all, do a general cleaning and change bed linen. If the size of the freezer allows, place pillows in there and leave for a few days. The fact is that dust mites die at low and high temperatures. It is easier to get rid of them in winter. Leave the mattress and pillows on the balcony for a few days. The stronger the frosts, the better. Bed linen should be washed at temperatures above 60 degrees. Dust mites can settle on stuffed animals and need to be washed or dry cleaned. The best prevention against parasites is to damp frequently and change bedding, including washing pillow and mattress covers.
Of all the insects, these are perhaps the most harmless. They do not bite, do not spread diseases, but quietly weave their webs, which, by the way, act as a trap for other pests – cockroaches and flies. Invasions of spiders, as a rule, do not happen, so it is not difficult to get rid of them.
How to get rid of: you do not need to kill the spider, it is better to collect the cobweb together with its inhabitant with a rag or broom and release it.
The invasion of these insects does not bode well. Ants can appear even in clean animals. Basically, they start up in a basement or garbage chute and then move into apartments. Ants spoil food and, if they came from the trash, they can carry a variety of infections.
How to get rid of: the apartment can be treated with store-bought ant antics (available in the form of sprays, gel), but this will be a temporary measure. If insects also flooded the neighbors’ apartment, you will have to fight together. Otherwise, they will move from one dwelling to another. To prevent the ants from appearing again, you need to destroy their den – the anthill. To do this, you will need to call the specialists of the sanitary and epidemiological station. They will process not only apartments, but also insect breeding sites that are outside living quarters: basement, garbage chute, stairwells.
Clapping your hands when this domestic pest appears is useless. Even if you manage to catch a flyer, somewhere in the closet, most likely, a new generation is already growing up. By the way, moth spoils not only fur and woolen things. If a food moth appears at home, it will make food stocks unusable – flour, cereals, pasta, spices. They will have to be thrown away, because the insect infects the food with its excrement. Moths can enter an apartment through ventilation, clothing with eggs, books and animal hair. For prevention, warm clothes and outerwear, sending them to the closet for a warm period, it is better to clean, tidy up and hang moth repelling agents nearby. These can be store-bought or equally effective folk remedies – soap (household or toilet), geranium, dried lavender or lavender oil, as well as orange peel. In summer, fur coats and hats can be put on the balcony for a while – moth larvae die in the sun. The same can be done with things in winter – the insect does not survive in cold weather. Remember to regularly clean and shake out carpets, rugs, rugs where pets sleep.
How to get rid of: treat the cabinet where pests were noticed with insecticides (aerosols, fumigators, plates). After processing, do not forget to audit and check the state of things. The first time, it may not be possible to completely get rid of insects and after a while they will appear again. The fight will have to be resumed with the same means. You can get rid of food moths in one way – throw away all the products that she managed to covet.
No summer is complete without these parasites. But if mosquitoes suddenly appeared in the apartment in a swarm, most likely, a source of their reproduction appeared nearby. Such a place, as a rule, becomes a basement, in which there are water leaks. Blood sucking thrive in such conditions and actively reproduce.
How to get rid of: with the help of the management company, it is necessary to ensure that water leaks are eliminated in the basement and specialists from the sanitary and epidemiological station are called in for treatment. In an apartment, sprays are suitable for killing mosquitoes. For repellents to work, close all windows, spray, and leave your home for a few hours. Ventilate all rooms well after returning. In the future, you can protect yourself from mosquitoes by installing mosquito nets on the windows.
The fact that these insects are in charge of the apartment, you can not guess for a long time. Skin beetles are very small (3,5 mm) and do not parasitize on humans. They eat paper, book bindings, leather goods, and can spoil food. But these pests are dangerous because they can infect the inhabitants of the apartment with helminths, infectious diseases, and cause allergies.
How to get rid of: first of all, you need to find out the main habitat of beetles in the apartment and treat it with a special aerosol or sprinkle it with boric acid powder. After a while, you need to do a general cleaning, throw away old books, unnecessary clothes and spoiled food. Cabinets and shelves need to be washed and tidied up.
These parasites, as soon as they appear in the apartment, switch to its inhabitants. It is impossible to confuse head lice with another misfortune. Lice feed on blood, from their bites the infected head constantly itches, nits (laid eggs) are visible on the hair. The parasites are not transmitted to pets.
How to get rid of: you need to contact a dermatologist, he will prescribe a course of treatment. At home, you will have to work hard: boil all bedding and clothes. After washing, things should be ironed with a hot iron or rinsed with steam and hung on the balcony so that they are well ventilated. Pillows, mattress and soft toys must be taken to the dry cleaner and then also taken out to the loggia, leaving there for several days.