Little brown bugs in the apartment - or simply leather-eaters

Many insects crawl or fly into our homes, but small brown bugs in the apartment are rightfully considered to be one of the most harmful parasites. Their ability to survive in any conditions is amazing, and this is not surprising, because they can eat almost any substance, both plant and animal, and dead tissue. In addition, their species composition is diverse, biologists have more than 600 species of skin-eaters, this is the common name of their family, and in everyday life they call it the same.

This is how brown bugs look in the photo in high magnification.

Enemy biology

Kozheedy - insects from the order of beetles, or beetles. Nature did not create them so that they harm people, but with a very specific practical purpose. And this will be that spoon of honey that we will add to the general barrel of negative narration about brown bugs in the apartment.
So, in a natural environment, skin-eaters are natural orderlies. They settle and destroy the remains of fallen animals and insects, thereby cleaning the planet from this kind of garbage. And from this point of view, they are naturally useful.

But when these little brown bugs start up inside a human dwelling, they immediately become the most dangerous pests.

Description

These flying brown bugs in length can range from 1.3 to 13 millimeters, with a width of up to five millimeters. The body itself is convex with an oval profile of brown, brown or black. Under hard elytra there are true wings, which may be absent in some species. The cover of the elytra surface can be formed by tiny hairs or scales.

Lifestyle

In nature, skin eaters are found almost everywhere except for the coldest or wettest geographical areas. Their numbers are especially great in semi-deserts and deserts, but in the tundra they live because of severe frosts. In the forests of the middle climatic zone, they are rare, and in the wet jungle of the Amazon, for example, they are completely absent.

Therefore, brown bugs will not settle in damp apartments and kitchens, they need dry, even overdried air, which we provide in winter with central heating batteries.

Most species of skin-eaters lead a daytime lifestyle, some may be active at dusk or at night. Larvae naturally feed around the clock.

Breeding

The breeding of skin-eaters occurs like most types of beetles. Usually this is a one-year cycle, only some species in the southern geographical areas can produce two offspring per year. At the same time, there are such skin-eaters whose larvae develop over several years.

After emergence from an egg, the larva goes through several cycles, up to eight, of larvae before pupating. But the chrysalis develops rapidly, to pass its generation, it lasts from four to twenty days, depending on temperature conditions.

Food

It is difficult to find an organic object that would not suit skin-eaters for food. These bugs can process almost all organics. Judge for yourself, in their diet there are such objects:

• leather;
• fur;
• feathers;
• stuffed animals and birds;
• natural fabrics, especially silk;
• meat;
• cheese;
• cereals;
• powdered milk;
• dried or dried fish;
• books.

Often, skin-eaters settle in wasp and bee nests, eating dead insects and other dry substances there. Insects are seriously harmed by silk production because of their special love for silkworm cocoons.

Attention! Skin-eaters are also considered human food, while their bites are not only painful, but also dangerous. Bugs can be carriers of bacteria or microorganisms dangerous to humans.

Kinds

The most common are five types of skin eater. It is these bugs that are most often found in our homes and apartments.

1. Ham. It is considered the most common, eats almost everything: from food to wood. Often used by taxidermists to treat the bones of future stuffed animals. It grows to a centimeter in length.
2. Fur coat. Lives in accumulations of house dust, and feeds on various organic matter there. A small brown-black bug of 4-6 millimeters.
3. Carpet. This one, unlike a fur coat, can damage fur coats and other furs and skin, and the pest gets into products and pillows behind feathers. Itself rarely grows to half a centimeter. The elytra is brown.
4. Grain. Just a baby with a length of a brown body of three millimeters. Damages cereals and grains.
5. Spotted. This skinne is one of the most dangerous along with a ham relative. It spoils meat, leather, furs, fish, and other products. Forensics often determine the age of a corpse by its distribution. Length from five to ten centimeters, brown color with small specks of lighter tones.

Harm

Now we’ll tell you what skin-eaters can eat in our house, and how, in fact, they are harmful. Depending on where these bugs wound up, they can damage:

• tissue;
• cardboard;
• wallpaper glue;
• book roots;
• Hercules flakes;
• meat
• fish
• cereals;
• cheese;
• fur;
• skin.

In addition, skin-eaters climb into feather and down pillows, and crawling out from there, bite people, which is very painful and dangerous infections.

Advice! In no case do not eat foods damaged by skin-eaters. It is dangerous to your health!

Where do they come from

In addition to the fact that insects penetrate through open windows or window panes and all kinds of gaps in them, there are several more ways that skin-eaters can enter the apartment. Briefly outline the paths of saboteurs:

• purchase of new products already infected with bugs;
• on the body of pets after a walk;
• ventilation ducts.

In any case, you need to be careful and accurate.

Advice! It’s easier to prevent trouble than to fight it!

Risk factors

Most of all, skin-eaters are spread in those rooms in which the so-called risk zones are located or there are objects that represent a special attraction for insects. Especially carefully you need to monitor the appearance of bugs, if your home has:

• domestic animals whose hair bugs like to eat;
• the same applies to stuffed animals;
• fur coats, sheepskin coats, leather jackets of your wardrobe - a very attractive place for leather-eaters;
• the pride of your home - a large library - is also at risk.

How to fight

In order not to start a grueling battle with the insidious enemy, you need to take care of the cleanliness and humidity of your home. Of course, you should not fill the apartment with water, so that the corners begin to become moldy, moreover, in this situation, there will be other pests in the house.

But it’s wise to humidify the air, especially in the winter, when heating batteries dry it, it is necessary. To do this, towels are hung on hot pipes or simply sprayed with water from a spray bottle.

But if, nevertheless, the enemy broke through, it must be destroyed.

To get rid of small bugs in the kitchen and in the rest of the rooms, you can apply these methods:

1. Freezing. It is reliably known that for more than three hours, skin-eaters will not tolerate temperatures below -11 degrees.But in a city apartment, this method is not applicable, unless communal services arrange an accident in winter.
2. Heat. You can simply boil things infected with bugs, and treat books and stuffed animals with hot steam.
3. Boric acid. This remedy is used against various insects, it also acts on skin eaters.
4. Other chemicals. Ordinary chemicals against moths also act on skin eaters, for example: Raid, Raptor, Antimol, Armol, Clean House. Here it must be borne in mind that the first time the tool can not destroy all insects, and after repeated they may develop immunity. Therefore, in subsequent treatments, chemicals with another active substance must be used. In addition, you can change the processing method: tablets, powders, aerosol, etc.

If no measures have helped you, or you simply have no time to deal with them yourself, call specialists who will do the sanitization of your home.

Watch the video about skin-eaters in the house: