Common Indoor Bugs
Owen Jones | February 23, 2010Some of the most common indoor bugs we see all over the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. Nobody likes to have a bug in the house, so most people will go to almost any extremes to get rid of these common indoor bugs. The less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are no less wanted.
It does not matter where you are in the world, it can be very difficult to keep these common indoor bugs outside, unless you go to the extremes of keeping all your windows and doors closed at all times, which is quite impossible. I live in Thailand and I know that this is not an option.
So, just what can you do about it? Well, let’s sort out all the flying insects first, because of all the common indoor bugs, I think they are the most unpleasant indoor bug. They are very annoying, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can create irritating sores and besides that, all flies carry disease. I hate to see them strutting about on food, knowing that they have more than likely just come off some dung heap somewhere and now they are spitting on my food to taste it with their grubby feet!
My first line of defence is fine-mesh door and widow screens. They are not dear and can be added retrospectively to any window. My window meshes slide, so they can protect only one half of the window at a any one time, but I do not find that a problem. You can still set up cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposite ends of a room. I just love to see the flies on the mesh trying to get in by day and the mosquitoes doing the same by night. At night, it is wise to turn on as little light indoors as possible in order not to attract these common indoor bugs.
My second line of defence is natural predators – lizards, like Geckos (Jin Jok, in Thai). Some people don’t like them in the house much either and I can’t say that I’m all that keen on them indoors myself, but they are hard to keep outside and they do eat hundreds, if not thousands, of indoor bugs every day. I especially like to see them lying in wait on the outside of the mesh, ready to pounce on any bug trying to wriggle its way through the wires.
My third line of defence is a handheld bug zapper. You know, the electric, handheld bug zapper that looks like a toy tennis racquet. The come in two forms: battery and rechargeable kinds. They are fantastic at trapping and annihilating any flying bug. The inset literally explodes and vaporizes on contact with the fully-charged wires of the indoor bug zapper. If you haven’t tried using one, you really ought to. They are most satisfying. These three defences will keep your house pretty much free of flying insects.
The creeping common indoor bugs are less of a problem really. Door screens on springs will keep 95% of them out and the Geckos will help too. Spiders can get in pretty easily, but then, I don’t mind them too much as long as they keep out of my way, as they consume other insects too. They are on our side to be honest. However, for those who can not bear to trap them and put them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works well on spiders too.
Sometimes, Fleas can be a problem, if you keep cats or dogs, but then if you wash or dust the animal once a month, you should be able to keep these common indoor bugs under control fairly easily. However, there are two final measures that we use. Every week, before we go out for the day, we spray every room with fly killer and every six-months we spray any rugs or carpets with an insect killer containing permethrin, which will survive washing and vacuuming for that long without losing its ability to kill common indoor bugs on contact. If you stick with these measures, you will be able to keep your home or office quite free of the most common indoor bugs and any less common indoor bug too.
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