How to get rid of wood lice in the apartment yourself?

Mokritsa - as the name implies, this crustacean prefers moisture and moist places. In the wild, it can be found under stones and moist wood debris, in lowlands near ponds and under moist forest litter. Settling into a human dwelling, this parasite searches for such places - cellars, cellars, attics with leaking roofs, bathrooms and bathrooms. And before you learn how to get rid of wood lice in the apartment, it is advisable to find out where to look for them.

Woodlifters in the apartment

In the apartment you can find dark brown and white wood lice. The latter often cause doubts among the owners and they take them for other insects. But in fact, wood lice can be white. Like the grays, their body is divided into several segments and they have seven pairs of legs.

In the daytime, these crustaceans hide from prying eyes, but in rooms without windows they are often found during the day. So where do wood lice come from in an apartment?

Reasons for the appearance

These pests come to living quarters from damp basements, warehouses of supermarkets, garages, the walls of which are adjacent to the house, sewer canals and descend from the attics. And the attractive conditions for them are the following:

• increased air temperature - more than 24 ° C;
• high humidity;
• lack of airing;
• the presence of food, and even scarce sources, such as mucus on a tile, dust and rotting food debris, will become suitable for wood lice.

For these reasons, wood lice are most often found in the toilet and in the bathroom. They can also choose a pot of plants, for example, with an orchid that grows in moist soil. And from the places of their breeding, they crawl into the kitchen in search of a tidbit, which is always present in the bin.

Wood lice come to the house one at a time, so finding them at the first stages of infection is very problematic. "Scouts" rarely catch the eye; they huddle in secluded places, crawling out into the light only at night in search of food, and actively multiply. The hosts meet with the "uninvited guests" a little later, when other members of the pack managed to migrate to the premises and offspring appeared.

On a note! Sometimes a person himself can bring several wood lice to his house - most often with acquired food products, such as potatoes, carrots, beets and fruits. However, in this case, the likelihood that the insects will take root is very small, since the conditions in the new house may not be suitable for their existence!

Woodlifters in the apartment will hide in the most secluded places:

• under the bathroom, where there is always high humidity and small microflora, which is their source of food;
• behind the toilet or under the boiler;
• on the balcony, which was arbitrarily built on the ground floor and it has a cellar;
• in storage rooms, where vegetables and fruits are usually protected.

Advice! If wood lice were found in one of the rooms of your house, then it will be useful to look for them in other rooms. You will surely find them where they are least visible!

What is the danger?

And what is the danger of such insects as wood lice that appeared in the apartment? They are not able to cause harm to humans and animals, since they do not bite, but the threat still comes from them:

• living in a basement or cellar under your balcony, they can cause great harm to the products that are there;
• if in your house there are decorative tropical plants, then with a lack of the main source of nutrition, woodlice will certainly attack them;
• if on your balcony there is a young seedling that you constantly water, then these crustaceans can settle in the soil, disrupting its full oxygen supply;
• Wood lice in the apartment are harmful because they carry fungus and lichen on their paws, while moving the insect leaves its excrement on the dishes, becoming a causative agent of dangerous diseases.

Methods of struggle

When we observe these crustaceans swarming in the parks, we may well bypass them. But when they chose an apartment, then it is necessary to clearly know how to get rid of wood lice. What can be done?

Physical elimination

If there are few insects, then it is quite enough to use physical methods - collect them manually and throw them away or crush them on the floor with the simplest available means. One or two wood lice found in the house will not bring much damage, but in this case it is necessary to constantly monitor their numbers.

In addition, care should be taken to create reliable tightness of the tile joints and eliminate defects in the water supply system.

Folk remedies

If there are more and more insects every day, then in this case the fight against wood lice in an apartment should have a slightly different character. The following folk remedies are characterized by high efficiency:

• Table salt, which is scattered around the perimeter of the infected room or a concentrated aqueous solution is prepared from it and sprayed onto all surfaces.
• Boric acid is an old folk remedy that is proven by more than one generation. It is used in the form of an aqueous solution, which treats the places of accumulation of parasites.
• Rub a teaspoon of tobacco into powder, add the same amount of red ground pepper and a similar portion of soda. Dilute the components in a liter of water and spray all the surfaces in the room, paying special attention to the corners where wood lice can live.

Insecticides

The destruction of wood lice in the apartment with insecticides is carried out in case of their large numbers. To the rescue can come:

• spray "Delicia" - a modern powerful insecticide that can cope with a large army of insects:
• the drug "Tarax" - getting on the insect chitinous cover, infects it. Woodlice carry poison into their nest and thus destroy the entire family;
• Tetrix concentrate - often used by sanitary workers. It has an intense odor and is toxic to humans and animals, so it should be used strictly according to the instructions;
• professional insecticide "GET" - one bottle of 100 ml is enough to handle a large room with a total area of ​​100 m². It is characterized by the complete absence of any odor and is highly effective against many insects.

In addition, it is important to remember that if woodlice appeared in the apartment, then before starting a fight with them, it is necessary to carry out a general cleaning and reduce the humidity in the room. If this is not done, then there is no guarantee that after processing these crustaceans will not appear again!