How to get rid of book lice in the apartment

The appearance of any type of pests in the house is a real problem that must be dealt with in the shortest possible time and in the most categorical ways. In order to successfully perform such manipulations, it is necessary to understand the reasons for their appearance and the methods of struggle. If a book louse was noticed, it is urgent to begin planning methods by which you can rid the house of pests.

Description of insects

Book lice - these are small (0.1 cm in length) insects with a flattened body from light gray to white, wingless, characterized by rapid active reproduction by parthenogenesis. Photos of book lice are presented below.

A book louse that is harmful to old books is very mobile, you can detect its presence by a characteristic ticking sound that will be heard from where the insect has settled.

Book lice

Habitats

Book louse can be found in all corners of the world, but the most preferable for it is a tropical and subtropical climate, it successfully reproduces in a warm, humid climate. It is precisely these preferences that explain its habitat next to a man — old book storages, ancient archives, ancient libraries, granaries, dilapidated houses with a broken ventilation system.

On a note!

Book louse begins active and continuous reproduction at a temperature of 16 to 35 ° C, high humidity, no drafts and no fresh air.

Causes of

At home senoed, as they also call this pest, it appears due to the lack of regular cleaning of the room, imperfect ventilation, violation of the thermal regime, high humidity. The same applies to storage sites.

With increasing air temperature and humidity, bookworms begin active growth and reproduction. During the year, one female book lice can give six generations of offspring. It is easy to imagine what dominance of insects can be expected if no measures are taken to remove their colonies.

Hay damage

By its vital activity, this pest is not capable of harming human health. However, it can create certain inconveniences and damage property:

• book louse feeds on starchy compounds, that is, damages the germ of the grain, if it settles in the grain mixes;
• gnaw through the roots of documents and books, feeding on the remnants of glue that permeates the junction of the sheets;
• destroy herbariums and collections of insects and their photographs in entomological museums and laboratories.

Book lice

Book lice control activities

Destroy the book louse in the vaults and at home is not difficult, adhering to the necessary rules. To do this, you need to contact the specialists-disinsectors, who will be engaged in the treatment of the area affected by chemical methods, which can be divided into three types:

• Wet disinsection with peritroids - a means safe for human life, but harmful to insects. To date, there are known some herbal preparations infused with kerosene or white spirit (Flickid, Akarin, Vertimek), which are actively used by professionals. This method can be applied independently, using liquid insecticides, available for purchase, of hazard class III and IV.
• The generation of cold fog is used in cases where the pest has chosen places larger in area: hangars for storing grain or dried herbs, large libraries, warehouses and archives with documentation.
• Hot mist generation - hot steam exposure, which contains insecticide molecules. This method is used only by professionals, as the device itself is quite large and difficult to use.

To get rid of book lice in the apartment without attracting specialists, you can use aerosols and flea spraysuch as cucaracha, get, hangman for fleas. They are non-toxic, easy-to-work and quite effective, they have no smell.

Important!

When working with these drugs it is necessary to observe security measures: before processing, put on a respirator and protective clothing covering the skin.

Means of protection

Pest Prevention

In order to avoid problems with the presence of book lice, preventive measures are necessary - fairly simple to comply, not requiring special skills.

The most important thing - do not neglect the regular cleaning of the premises. This also applies to residential premises and large storage areas. To maintain a constant normal temperature, regularly ventilate the room, monitor the humidity of the air, not allowing it to increase. Senoedy will not carry dry fresh air, so such simple methods can protect property from damage by these insects.

Important!

To understand what are the indicators of humidity in the right room, you can use special devices-sensors.

In grain storages it is necessary to maintain a constant temperature regime, regularly review the grain, visually assessing its safety, when a damaged batch is detected, it should be immediately removed.In the archives and book storages it is necessary to get rid of dust accumulation in a timely manner, to carry out cleaning and inspection, which will help in time to notice the appearance of uninvited guests.

Having considered the problem of fighting book lice, we can say that it is always easier to prevent its occurrence than to get rid of it, despite the fairly simple and effective methods that can be applied in a short time without having special skills.