Do you know all your neighbors? Are you sure? Some of them are so small that you simply can’t see them. Insects live in almost every home. This is a fact: even if you don’t see them, this almost always means that the “roommates” are simply hiding very successfully. In some cases, insects in an apartment are absolutely harmless, but some of their species pose a serious danger not only to products and things, but also to the person himself. In general, get acquainted!

For thousands of years, people have sought shelter, starting with the first cave, then building shelters from tree branches and leaves, and making tents from animal skins. As time went on and more tools were developed, humanity began to build houses from strong wood and stone, houses appeared. And always, from the very first home, various insects lived next to a person. Today we see them as uninvited guests and prefer to live without them. But if you think about it, they were before us, and they will be after us. For your consideration, here is a list of 15 small creatures with whom you may share your home. They are also called synanthropes (non-domesticated plants and microorganisms whose lifestyle is associated with humans and their homes, for example, cockroaches, house flies, house mice, bed bugs).

15. Spiders

Spiders are probably one of the most common creatures with which we share our homes, and some of these arachnids will appear on this list more than once. There is a great variety of spiders in nature, more than 45,000 different species. Overall, modern spiders have spread throughout the world over the past 200 million years, which is largely responsible for their wide distribution and diversity. The spider does not do anything bad in the house, sometimes it even does good - it catches flies. Our ancestors had a huge number of signs associated with spiders, mostly positive. They say spiders are harbingers of good things to come. But, probably, if you trust signs too much, you will be completely covered in cobwebs.

14. Ground beetles

Just like spiders, beetles are very ancient and well-adapted creatures for survival. There are more than 40,000 species of ground beetles alone in the world, and these insects come to our homes uninvited. The most common is the bread ground beetle. They usually cause damage to crops in fields, but are increasingly found in ordinary apartments. The bread ground beetle crawls into the apartment only if it likes the living conditions. As soon as the insect enters the house, when darkness falls, it goes to look for food (crumbs, food left on the table, cereals). Ground beetles interfere with sleep, rustle, fall from the ceiling onto the bed or directly onto you. And if they have found food, then the next step will be their reproduction. So, if a ground beetle appears in the house, you need to take immediate action.

13. Crickets

The wise cricket who gave advice to Pinocchio probably looked something different. And ordinary crickets are creepy insects, sometimes of enormous size. A folk sign says that if there is a cricket in the house, then this is a sign of happiness and prosperity. But people who have been visited by this “happiness” in large numbers do not share this point of view and are looking for ways to get rid of them. About 2.3 thousand species of these insects are known in the world, of which only about 50 are found in Russia. Most of them live in subtropical and tropical countries. Our most famous species are the field cricket and the house cricket. The house cricket in the southern part of the country lives both in apartments and in nature. In the central and northern regions, he lives only in houses near people, and gives preference to the old warm rooms with high humidity. These insects live and breed well in warm basements flooded with water. Sometimes crickets can spoil food and even things in the apartment, just like moths. Therefore, although popular wisdom advises against offending them, it is better to remove the crickets. Unless, of course, you like the “night concerts” that crickets usually organize.

12. Book louse

11. Carpet mite

Scientists have found more than 1,000 different species of house ticks, and all of them cause great harm to humans, and all year round. Any carpet or carpet perfectly collects dust, it accumulates in its fibers and even daily cleaning will not give a positive result - dust and mites will still remain there. Ticks, unlike most insects on this list, are very harmful to humans. The ticks themselves are capable of leaving behind their waste products in the form of feces, which contain digestive enzymes, they destroy the cells of the human body and can cause severe allergies and asthma. The damage caused by carpet mites is not limited to allergies: conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis, atypical dermatitis and others can develop. It's easy to deal with them - throw out all the carpets and upholstered furniture, once and for all!

10. Dark-winged mosquito

The main harm is that they squeak and interfere with sleep! Thank God, humanity has invented many ways to get rid of mosquitoes. Mosquito nets, repellents and fumigators are a whole industry. Place fresh branches of elderberry, bird cherry, Caucasian chamomile or basil in the rooms, and place a container with tomato seedlings or geranium in a pot under the windows and on the balcony. Mosquitoes do not like the smell of these plants, so they will want to leave your home as soon as possible. According to folk superstitions, these small, disgustingly buzzing bloodsuckers - mosquitoes - are capable of bringing not only absolute harm, but also benefit, predicting the weather and future events. Clouds of mosquitoes - for good weather tomorrow. Painful mosquito bites and a particularly active buzzing of bloodsuckers - foretells imminent bad weather and night rain.

9. Spitting spider

As mentioned earlier, this list will feature more than one species of spider. Spiders of this species catch prey by spraying a liquid onto it, which neutralizes it by solidifying into a poisonous and sticky mass upon contact. You can observe the habit of spiders swaying from side to side. They do this to wrap up their prey. Most spiders are only capable of producing silk, but Scytodes spitting spiders are an exception. Together with the silk, they release poison from their mouths, and silk strands soaked in the toxin, falling on the spider’s victim, bind it. These spiders are not dangerous to humans, do not weave large trap webs, and are unremarkable in appearance. But they still have one peculiarity - during the hunt they “spit” their prey. This may sound a little harsh, but it's accurate. This is why they got their name “spits”. Spitting spiders live in both warm tropical and temperate regions, including Russia - in human homes, where it is warm.

8. Clothes moth

Moths inhabit houses and are a household pest, whose caterpillars spoil fabrics by eating them and gnaw the silk upholstery of furniture. Only caterpillars cause damage to products, because adults lack gnawing type mouthparts. In the dark at night, adult moths fly towards an artificial light source. According to some data, house moth caterpillars also feed on substances of plant origin, namely grains of wheat, barley, oats, corn, flour and dry bread. House moths are widespread worldwide, this type Lepidoptera is a serious pest in human homes. They feed on clothing, carpets, blankets and upholstery, as well as fur, wool, feathers and miscellaneous items such as animal bristles used to make toothbrushes and piano fibers.

7. Woodlice

Generally speaking, woodlice are not insects (they are crustaceans), but they lead approximately the same lifestyle as cockroaches. When threatened, they curl up, simulating death.

In most cases, wood lice appear only in those apartments where it is constantly damp, for example, water leaks from pipes. These insects are excellent indicators of various plumbing breakdowns and depressurization of flanges. The appearance of woodlice in an apartment, first of all, should worry lovers of indoor flowers, because if measures are not taken in time and they are not removed, the plants will soon die. First of all, these insects harm moisture-loving tropical plants that have thin and delicate root system(orchid, fern, cactus), hitting it specifically, so if you have just such plants, then you should fight more actively.

5. Ants

IN different times years and in different regions countries in an apartment, and even more so in a private house, you can often find representatives of various species of ants. Very often, ants in an apartment are random guests, carried on clothes or with things. Among them are insects different sizes and flowers. However, the only real pest in the apartment is the so-called pharaoh ant - independent species heat-loving small ants, which in our latitudes cannot live anywhere other than residential heated premises. These red ants in the apartment are real problem: they are numerous, spoil food, can carry pathogens various diseases, and besides, they are removed with great difficulty.

One colony of house ants can contain several dozen queens and up to 350 thousand workers. The reasons why red ants appear in an apartment, although not numerous, can be found in almost any home. That is why small red ants are successfully conquering more and more areas and are likely to appear in any apartment, even the cleanest one.

4. Serebryanka (common silverfish)

You may have once seen them in the bathroom or toilet if you went there in the middle of the night (when the light is turned on, they quickly run away). Those thin, silvery, small things on the floor? Do you remember? They are called silverfish. Like most of the other creatures on this list, silverfish don't represent any real harm for us, they don't bite. No cases of contact were identified negative influence on human health. They feed on products of plant origin containing starch or polysaccharides; but they may not eat anything for months. Their diet may include sugar, flour, glue, book binding, paper, photographs, starchy fabrics. From storage areas they can be brought into the home through the purchase of toilet paper or cartons of paper napkins. They are harmless to humans and pets and are not carriers of diseases, but can damage damp paper.

Their scientific name is “common silverfish” (Latin: Lepisma saccharina). It is believed that the silverfish is one of the oldest living insects - its ancestors lived on Earth more than 300 million years ago, back in the Paleozoic era. Silverfish prefer damp and dark places; if the house is dry and light, then there will be no silverfish there.

3. Cockroaches

The remains of cockroaches are, along with the remains of cockroach crickets, the most numerous traces of insects in Paleozoic deposits. Additionally, cockroaches are the earliest known Polyneoptera, possibly descending from the ancestor of the entire subcohort. They have always been and will be on Earth. There are more than 4,600 known species of cockroaches; are especially numerous in the tropics and subtropics. On the territory former USSR— 55 types. IN recent years Popular reports of population decline individual species cockroaches in the CIS (they say they completely left apartments in St. Petersburg and some other cities - no one was upset, but the reasons are interesting).

A number of cockroaches live in human dwellings, being synanthropes, for example, the red cockroach (Prusak), or the black cockroach. Others are brought with tropical products to temperate countries and sometimes take root in heated rooms (American cockroach). Cockroaches can cause damage food products, leather goods, book bindings, indoor and greenhouse plants. Some cockroaches, feeding on various waste, including feces, are carriers of infectious diseases (for example, dysentery) and worm eggs.

2. Harvesting spider

Hay-making spiders that build trapping webs are ubiquitous. Hanging upside down on their jumbled, tangled, uneven web. Webs are built in dark, damp niches of caves, trees and under stones, in lairs abandoned by mammals, for example, in cellars and various buildings. In human homes, they love dry and warm places near windows. How dangerous are harvest spiders to humans? Suffice it to say that the poison they have, they spend exclusively on their victims, inflicting a paralyzing bite on them. He is not enough for anything more. The main reason for declaring war on arachnids is arachnophobia. Some people cannot even stand them visually; for others, a creature that gets on their body causes panic. The problem is so serious that psychologists are working on it.

1. Flycatcher

The common flycatcher, also known as the house centipede, is often found in private houses and cottages, and is also found in apartments. Due to its significant size, repulsive appearance and high speed of movement, this insect, which suddenly appears in a house, often inspires horror in residents. But house centipede- the insect is peaceful and completely harmless. They usually appear in search of food from the street or from a neighboring apartment. If centipedes can find a constant source of food in the house, then there is a high probability of their appearance in this room. Centipedes are especially often found in private homes, settling in basements, ground floors and subfloors, from where they go out to hunt, moving around all rooms.

Very often you can notice various insects in the apartment, which feel like full-fledged owners of the house. There are many fables about the benefits of having spiders and ants in your home. But we should not forget about the damage insects cause to property, and most importantly, to the health of household members. All small inhabitants of the apartment must be known “by sight” and exterminated in a timely manner.

Bloodsucking

Insects of this species feed on blood and can infect people with serious diseases:

Bed bugs

Females cause harm to humans - they spread various diseases: meningitis; malaria; Japanese encephalitis; yellow fever and others.

Fleas

They are carriers of dangerous infectious diseases: hepatitis, anthrax, encephalitis, plague, brucellosis.

Lice

These types of insects can cause harm to property and human health:

Cockroaches

Very nimble insects of the cockroach order. They lead a nocturnal, secretive lifestyle. Body sizes range from 1.7 to 9.5 centimeters. They feed on plant and animal remains, various garbage and even feces. The color is mainly yellow-brown and black. Life expectancy is about 30 weeks, and in some species even several months. Habitat – basements, garbage cans, human habitation. They harm indoor plants, book bindings, spoil food and furniture.

They are carriers of infectious diseases and helminths.

House ants

Tiny insects of the Hymenoptera family. They lead an active lifestyle next to a person. Body dimensions 2-4 millimeters. House ants are omnivores, but prefer meat, fish, and sweets. The color is mainly yellow and brown. They live in large families, the number of individuals reaching up to 1 million in one family. Life expectancy is as follows: males live only 20 days; working ants and ordinary females - up to 2 months; female queen – 275 days. They live mainly in human dwellings, commercial establishments and catering. They harm plants, spoil food, and are carriers of all kinds of microbes.

Double-tailed

Insect type - arthropods, order - cryptomaxillary hexapods. They lead a secretive nocturnal lifestyle. They have a body 2-3 centimeters long. They feed on microscopic insects and living microorganisms. The color is red-brown. They live for about 1 year in damp areas(bathroom, kitchen, etc.) They cause hostility in a person by their very appearance, they bite painfully, they damage plants, books, and furniture.

woodlouse

Arthropod insect order - isopods, suborder - crustaceans. They lead a hidden lifestyle (hiding under stones, lying trees) in damp places. The body length reaches 20 millimeters. Life expectancy is from 9 to 12 months. They feed on living and decaying plants. The color is gray, the abdomen is white. They do not cause harm to humans and do not pose a danger.

Carpet beetle

Beetle, order - Coleoptera, family of leather beetles. Lives mainly in houses, apartments, in nature in bird nests and tree hollows. Body dimensions range from 2.5 to 5.5 millimeters. It feeds on organic residues in house dust. The color is uniform from light brown to black. It is a serious pest of leather, fur, wool, feathers, silk, carpets and runners, upholstered furniture and toys, as well as all types of grain and food.

Book louse

Arthropod insects with body sizes from 2 millimeters to 35 centimeters. The body is divided into a head and a trunk, which consists of 25-100 segments and has a number of legs from 10 to 750. It is nocturnal and a predator. The color is most often gray, brown, less often reddish. Life expectancy reaches 5-6 years.

Fur moth

Insect, order Lepidoptera, butterfly. Body dimensions 5-8 millimeters. Leads a nocturnal lifestyle. The color is golden brown. Life expectancy is from 200 to 250 days. Lives in pigeon nests and living quarters. Representative dangerous pests: destroys fur, wool, felt and products made from them.

Clothes moth

Lepidopteran insects in the form of a butterfly of straw-yellow color. Body sizes vary from 5 to 9 millimeters. They are nocturnal. They live on average 8-10 days, residential buildings And warehouses. They feed on cotton, wool, fur, carpets, and furniture upholstery, thereby harming people.

Moshkara (midge)

They are harmful because they bite painfully and carry infectious diseases (tularemia, anthrax, leprosy, glanders, plague).

Harvester spiders

Small insects, spider family. Body sizes can range from 2 to 10 millimeters, but they have very long legs up to 9 centimeters. The color is grey-brown. They are nocturnal. They like to live in dark, damp rooms, but in residential buildings they prefer dry, warm places near the windows. They feed on flies and small insects, thereby benefiting people. Life expectancy 1 year. They have poison, but use it exclusively for the purpose of killing their victims caught in the web and only then eat them.

flies

They cause harm: they bite painfully; carry all kinds of bacteria and dirt, which leads to infectious diseases.

Silverfish

Small wingless insect, squad - bristletail. Body dimensions 0.8-1.9 centimeters. They have a very beautiful silver color. They are nocturnal. They live in rooms with high humidity (most often in bathrooms, baths, saunas, etc.) They feed on everything that comes their way. They do not cause any particular harm and do not pose a danger to humans.

Termites

White insects, order - herbivores, family - cockroaches. They have a soft white body, 1-10 millimeters in size. They lead an underground lifestyle. They live in large colonies, where the number of individuals reaches several million. The main food is cellulose. Pests cause enormous damage to forests and agriculture. Some species of termites are beneficial - they form and mix the top layers of soil and, thus, improve the yield of grain crops.

Insects in food

Insects of this species are destroyers of food supplies and can harm human health:

Mucoed

Small insect, order Coleoptera. Body length 1.5-2.5 millimeters. The color is red. Habitat – premises with high humidity and air temperature of at least 20 degrees (barns, granaries, mills, food warehouses). They feed on flour, all types of cereals and flour products, and do not disdain any other types of food, therefore they are malicious pests.

Bread grinder

Small beetle, family of grinders, order - Coleoptera. Body dimensions 1.7-3.8 millimeters. The color is red-brown. Leads a nocturnal lifestyle. It feeds on everything in the world, even some types of poisonous drugs. Life expectancy 1 month.

Eating bread contaminated with this type of bug is dangerous harm for people's health.

Flour beetle

Small insect of the darkling beetle family, order Coleoptera. Body dimensions 12-18 millimeters. The color is brown. Lives in kitchen furniture, food pantries, grain barns, pasta factories. Life expectancy 1 year. Omnivorous food. The harm lies in spoiled almost all types of food.

Weevil

Insect, order – Coleoptera. Body dimensions 1-30 millimeters. It can be black, yellow, brown depending on the habitat. They live inside plants and in the soil. They live from 1 to 2 years. Eating dicotyledonous plants and plant roots. Pests of agricultural and forest lands, including granary cereals.

food moth

A very hardy and tenacious insect. A small butterfly with a body size of 8-10 millimeters. The color is grey-brown. Lives in kitchen furniture. Loves high humidity. Life expectancy is 2-3 weeks. It eats dried fruits, flour, tea, coffee, baby food, cereals, all types of pasta and much more. Spoils all kinds of food products, harming people.

Only insect larvae harm products.

Man has always treated nature as something that needs to be transformed, conquered and made to work for himself. Remarkable theories and calls for a return to the natural state of man and merging with the surrounding world found their embodiment only in the dacha of the average city dweller, which, contrary to Chekhov’s opinion about the possible beneficial influence of man on the earth, is not always well-maintained, and more often than not openly abandoned appearance. It is naive to think that nature does not react in any way to such an indifferent consumer attitude towards itself on the part of the species homo sapiens: harmony does not tolerate imbalance, and natural disasters- evidence of this.

Fauna, in terms of its aggressiveness, tries to keep up with its mother nature, and from this point of view, domestic insects are like horsemen of the Apocalypse, not giving humans a single chance of salvation from them. True, there is still a significant difference between these horsemen: biblical characters and heralds Last Judgment- this is fate, and insectoids are retribution, which a person treats as a challenge, responding to it with toxic substances prohibited by the Geneva Convention. However, domestic insects also use unsportsmanlike methods of warfare, so in this fight all means are justified.

One of the methods of combating domestic insects with humans is their number and diversity. Indeed, in lately nature has given birth to so many flying-buzzing-crawling-biting-sucking creatures that there are not enough fingers to count and classify them all. In addition, in the post-Soviet space, due to gradual climate change, insects that were previously characteristic of other climatic zones began to appear. This trend cannot but be alarming and calls for tireless vigilance and timely response - of course, provided that you do not want to end up in the hospital with an allergy to something hitherto unknown to science.

But in order for the fight to be effective, you need to know the enemy by sight, so below we, in full agreement with the policy of declassifying secret archives, will tell you everything we know about the enemies of the human race, invisibly waiting for you among your native home walls.

Man has not changed his habit of classifying and labeling everything he sees around him, so even the insects living next to him, he united according to the degree of their harmfulness and danger into the following groups:

Some types of insects are not strictly scientific significance this word, but refers to arthropods. However, for the average person, such terminological clarification has no meaning. In fact, is there a big difference between whom to poison - an insect or an arthropod, if both are good?

Once the list has been compiled, you can begin brief description each of the creatures named above.

Mosquitoes are probably typical of any area where a person lives (with the exception of Antarctica, where work is carried out on a rotational basis, and the Arctic, where it is simply cold), especially if there are enough sources of water - from swamps to flooded basements of private houses. Their stay in an apartment or private house is short and is associated only with the moment of obtaining food - naturally, in the person of a person. Mainly females do this kind of hunting - this is how they gain strength and protein for subsequent laying of eggs. We can say that it is thanks to human blood that the mosquito does not die after oviposition, since in the process it spends significant resources of its microscopic organism. The female selects a victim for herself using two things: the ability to see in the infrared spectrum and thanks to her antennae, on which 72 receptors are located, capable of detecting the smell of sweat from several kilometers away and the smell of breath from several hundred meters away. There are about three thousand species of mosquitoes in the world, of which only about a hundred live in Russia and other CIS countries. Not all of them known to science species bite, but even non-biting peaceful species are dangerous because they are carriers of various diseases. One should be especially wary of the malarial mosquito, the carrier of malaria, which, even in the enlightened 21st century, kills about one million people every year.

It is interesting that the mosquito, as it were, “pays off” the person for the milligrams of blood and protein stolen from him: at the moment of the bite, he injects human blood an enzyme that slows down its coagulation, and an anesthetic substance. But it is mosquito saliva that causes skin irritation and swelling at the site of the bite. And in general, the very understanding that someone has just bitten you does not cause much joy in a person.

Mosquito control products are available and varied, varying in composition and effect, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time searching for them. The best way to prevent mosquitoes from appearing in your home is window mosquito nets.

No matter how unpleasant and dangerous mosquitoes are, lice are undoubtedly much more dangerous. Their peculiarity lies in their inability to live and exist outside of human clothing or body. Like mosquitoes, lice are also attracted to human blood, so those who have them in sufficient quantities experience a strong, irritating itch. But itching is only half the problem: all types of lice are carriers of serious and serious diseases. For example, in the twentieth century, a real disaster was the typhus louse, which provoked entire epidemics of typhus.

There are three types of lice: pubic, head and body lice. All types contribute to the appearance of three types of lice - cephalic, pubic and body lice. A mixed type of disease is also possible. In addition, the presence of pubic lice in itself is a sign of a disease of the reproductive system. The most common causes of lice are unsanitary conditions, neglect of hygiene rules, and personal contact, including sexual contact. You can also become infected with lice in public places - bathhouses, swimming pools, entrances, even in hairdressers through the hairdresser's scissors and comb.

It is not possible to distinguish the types of lice without a microscope, so they are usually distinguished by their habitat and some behavioral features: head lice, as the name suggests, live in hair, cannot fly or jump, but move quickly, using hair as shelter . Pubic lice live in the groin area, armpits, eyelashes and eyebrows. The female of this species attaches nits (louse eggs in a dense shell) to the hair, after which it is impossible to wash them off with ordinary water. Body lice live in the seams and folds of human clothing, where they deposit their nits.

The appearance of lice is easier to prevent than to cure, especially since prevention measures are quite simple and effective: observing the rules of personal hygiene and regularly washing clothes. It is unnecessary to remind that such intimate things as a toothbrush and comb should be individual and not be passed on by inheritance or upon request to borrow, especially to strangers. It is sometimes recommended to lubricate the back of the head and ear areas with lavender or tea tree oil - this also prevents the appearance of head lice.

It is still unknown whether bedbugs are capable of transmitting infectious diseases. However, dangerous pathogens were often found in their bodies, so this possibility cannot be ruled out.

Fleas are one of the most common types of insects, thriving both in apartments and in the wild. Most often, they are carried by pets, so they are sometimes affectionately called “flea bugs.”

However, our favorite “flea-eaters” in the form of dogs and cats, without knowing it themselves, with the help of fleas, carry many deadly diseases - from plague to brucellosis, so it is necessary to remove fleas. Even a simple bite is painful, causing itching and purulent inflammation on the skin. And fleas themselves easily change their hosts, so in any case, such neighbors are extremely undesirable and dangerous, especially since fleas need blood not only for nutrition, but also for reproduction - without it, their eggs do not develop.

Getting rid of fleas is not difficult. The most common method is to treat the fur of domestic fleas with any insecticidal preparation that will be recommended to you at a veterinary pharmacy or pet store. It would also be a good idea to treat the entire apartment, as well as dog and cat bedding and resting areas.

When you hear the word “household pests,” the cockroach immediately comes to mind. He became so close to man that sometimes it seems as if this insect appeared on Earth at the same time as him. The cockroach is the hero of numerous jokes; his image was used by Korney Chukovsky in the children's poem “Cockroach”, in which many, not unreasonably, saw an allusion to I. Stalin, and “cockroach whiskers” is one of the most striking epithets used in famous poem O. Mandelstam “We live without feeling the country beneath us...”. However, such significant services of the cockroach to literature and urban folklore do not negate the simple everyday fact that it does much more harm than good.

The three most common types of cockroaches are:

1. Redhead (aka Prusak).
2. Black.
3. American, whose range has recently expanded due to the development of international trade in the CIS countries.

It is interesting to note that these species do not like each other very much: for example, the Prussian cockroach quite readily feeds on the eggs of the black cockroach, while the American cockroach poses a certain threat to both species. However, you should not hope for their mutual destruction: there is a half-joking opinion that the only creature to survive on our planet after a nuclear explosion will be the cockroach.

Its danger is as follows:

1. food contamination and consumption.
2. absolute omnivory (cockroaches can eat, among other things, paper, various adhesives, shoe polish).
3. ability to carry various infectious diseases and eggs of some helminths.
4. the ability to go without food for a long time - up to 20 days.
5. rapid reproduction and duration adult from 9 to 16 months.

Fighting a cockroach is extremely difficult, but many insecticides have now been developed that successfully help humans to varying degrees. Their list is extensive, so the best advice on this matter will be provided to you in a specialized store.

No matter how difficult the fight against cockroaches is, the fight against ants is not inferior in severity to it with one difference: while cockroaches mainly affect city residents, then ants are a scourge for both city dwellers and rural residents. Like other insects, ants have many varieties, but humans are most often bothered by two types: pharaoh ants (aka red house ants) and thief ants. It is quite difficult to distinguish these species if you are not an expert, but it is hardly so fundamentally important to know the difference between these two species, especially since most often the human home is visited by representatives of the first species.

The harm they cause to humans is standard: food spoilage and transmission of various infections.

When organizing the fight against domestic ants, one important circumstance should be taken into account: very often their “settlement” is a super anthill (a large number of nests united with each other and located in various places - apartments, garbage chutes, basements, etc.) Therefore, the destruction of one nests are a useless exercise: you will only temporarily reduce their numbers. We will have to fight the ants together. To exterminate them, any universal insecticides or special poisoned baits are suitable. various types– for example, in the form of gels.

Moths are another old human “familiar”, divided into two main types. The first type specializes in food products, preferring cereals and groceries, and the second (fur and clothes moth) specializes in fur and woolen clothing. A moth, visible to the human eye in the form of a butterfly, is already an adult individual, which, most likely, has already fulfilled its purpose, laid eggs and may not feed on clothing. Of course, it is possible and even necessary to slam it, but the main fight against moths should be directed against its eggs and caterpillars, which can hatch within 6-14 days after laying. It is at this stage that the moth is most dangerous. There are many ways to combat it, both scientific and folk, but it should be borne in mind that folk remedies, like the use of naphthalene, are more good for preventing the appearance of moths, but not for effective fight with her. In the best way The only way to combat insects is still heat treatment of clothing at temperatures up to 70 degrees, airing it for 24 hours or freezing it, as well as the use of insecticidal preparations. If we are talking about kitchen moth, then first of all you should destroy spoiled food products, no matter how sorry they may be, along with their containers. Then you should thoroughly clean and disinfect all kitchen shelves and cabinets with a vinegar solution or the following solution: add one teaspoon of vodka or alcohol and two tablespoons of tea tree oil to two cups of water. After all this, you can place fresh food along with fresh leaves of some plants whose smell repels moths - for example, geraniums and coleus (nettle). Moths - in particular grain moths - do not like the smell of pepper, tobacco and dried orange or tangerine peels, and fruit - bay leaves. Chestnuts have also proven themselves well.

If we are talking about potato moth, started on your summer cottage, then the contaminated products must be thrown away, and the remaining ones must be placed in a room with a temperature below minus 5 degrees. The moth will not survive in such an environment.

Insects live not only in the closet, bed or kitchen. According to their nature, they can settle in various parts of the house - for example, in flower pots, like springtails (or springtails). They are found in almost all regions of the globe, even in the tundra, inhabiting the upper soil horizons. Currently, up to eight thousand species of these insects are known, having a variety of colors. The attitude towards springtails and their role in nature is quite complex: some species are bioindicators for science in determining the degree of soil contamination, others play a large role in soil formation. But some species of springtails are considered agricultural pests.

They appear in an apartment when flowers are not properly cared for. It is believed that these insects are not dangerous to adult plants, since they feed on microorganisms, bacterial plaque, algae, mosses, lichens and rotten parts of plants, but in large quantities springtails seriously damage young shoots, underground parts of plants and low-lying leaves. The complexity of the situation is further aggravated by the fact that, firstly, science can say little about springtails due to their secretive lifestyle, and, secondly, non-professionals often confuse springtails with more harmful insects - thrips, root scale insects and mites. Given such difficulties in correctly identifying springtails, it would probably be best to limit the scope of combating them to adjusting the level of humidity in the earthen environment. That is, as soon as you find springtails, first of all, reduce the volume and frequency of watering - they live only in a humid environment. Sometimes in online sources you can find advice to add appropriate preparations to the remaining volume of water when watering, but we will leave this measure at your discretion in accordance with the current situation, finally calling for caution and prudence. To prevent their occurrence, gardeners advise using specially prepared disinfected soil when planting and creating flower pot drainage to prevent excess water.

Another type of domestic insect is associated with high humidity - one of those that are not actually insects, but belong to arthropods. We are talking about woodlice (or armadillo woodlice). This species, which looks very unpleasant, is almost harmless to humans: woodlice prefer to live in secluded dark places with high humidity or existing water leaks and feed on organic waste. Occasionally they may feed on vegetables and young shoots indoor plants, but only if they get to them. However, such harmlessness does not mean that wood lice are welcome guests in your home, so even from the point of view of basic hygiene, it is advisable to get rid of them. The simplest way is to eliminate the high humidity that is vital for them (eliminating a leak in a pipe, drying the bathroom and toilet, etc.). If these measures turn out to be ineffective, you can use the appropriate drugs - for example, Delta-Zone, Tsifoks and others.

Some types of insects are so microscopic that a person does not even realize that they live next to him. These species include carpet beetles and book lice, small aphid-sized bugs that can sometimes be found in the bindings of old books. The length of an adult bug is only 3.5 mm, and its larvae are 2 mm, but at the same time they have amazing omnivorousness and versatility in nutrition: in addition to books, they feed on wardrobe items, plain paper, the remains of animals, birds and various insects, remains of debris in the dust... Their larvae are well known to entomologists, since carpet beetles are the main enemies of herbariums and insect collections, and one of the subspecies of the carpet beetle, the museum beetle, is a frequent pest of museum exhibits. In addition, these not so harmless bugs can cause worms and some infectious diseases in humans.

The means of combating skin beetles are no different from the means of combating the above-mentioned types of insects. True, in this case chemistry also comes to the aid traditional methods prevention - for example, lavender and wormwood, whose smell cannot be tolerated by the larvae of these same bugs.

Finally, we cannot fail to mention termites and related beetles, wood borers and some species of moths, whose predilections lie in the area of ​​wooden structures. Basically, these insects are dangerous for owners of private houses, but city dwellers with dachas should also not discount the threat posed by these insects. Their activity often leads to a decrease in the strength of rafters, beams and other wooden parts of the house, which can ultimately lead to the destruction of the building. To protect against them even when building a house wooden structures should be treated with special impregnations or stains, and then painted regularly.

A little about harmless insects

Against the backdrop of all of the above, it is difficult to even believe that there are insects that do not pose particular harm to a person or his home. However, they exist, and primarily they include silverfish. Their lifestyle is similar to woodlice - they also love dark, warm, damp rooms and quickly hide when exposed to light. The most common type of silverfish is the sugar one, most often found in residential buildings and warehouses. It feeds on organic residues - for example, bread crumbs - and plant products that contain starch or polysaccharides - sugar, flour; They also do not neglect glue, book binding, paper, photographs and starched fabrics.

Silverfish do not reproduce in large numbers, are harmless to humans and do not carry any diseases, but their very presence in the house, especially in sugar and flour, will probably be an unpleasant surprise for you. They are rarely combated purposefully, usually by removing them in parallel with other insects using insecticidal aerosols, however, there are some separate ways to combat them:

1. Glass traps, which are a jar wrapped with electrical tape on the outside with a piece of bread at the bottom.
2. A newspaper rolled into a tube and moistened with water, with the edges tied with an elastic band.
3. Special store-bought sticky traps like a “cockroach motel.”
4. Using diatomaceous earth, boric acid, peelings, or liquid pyrethrin spray.
5. The use of spices (cloves, cinnamon and others with a strong aroma), whose odors are not tolerated by silverfish.
6. Use of oils – lemon, lavender essential.

To prevent silverfish from returning, you need to keep your home clean and dry.

Oddly enough, even some types of small spiders are harmless insects - for example, the haymaker spider. The worst thing you can expect from them is the very fact of their presence in the house, provided that you suffer from arachnophobia. In some ways, they can even be considered your allies in the fight against insects, since they feed on mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches and their larvae caught in their webs. It will still not be possible to completely remove spiders from your home, especially if you live in a private house - they will appear with enviable regularity in various corners of it - therefore, the most reasonable thing you can do is to control their numbers in the living space you occupy and not let them especially spread throughout the house. Well, we don’t think there’s any need to tell you how to get rid of spiders.

In this series, centipedes (as well as centipedes and nooses) are akin to silverfish or springtails: they do not appear in the house very often, but their appearance is not entirely pleasant to the human eye. Centipedes and grasshoppers can even be considered useful, since in the warm season they play a large role in the formation of humus on the soil. personal plots and destruction of larvae of agricultural pests. They appear in houses with the first cold weather and prefer to take refuge in the same place where woodlice and silverfish hide. They rarely reproduce in large numbers; most likely, you will not even see their presence, but if you still want to get rid of them, there are no specific recommendations for their removal yet. They are bred using the same methods and techniques as related arthropods.

Conclusion, or “Random Guests” of your home

The group of “random guests,” as already mentioned, includes representatives of all three of the above-mentioned groups in turn, so one of the methods of dealing with them is to simply open the window and release them into the wild (especially since even butterflies can be caught among them And ladybugs). If they do not want to be released, then you will have to use some of the methods described. The exception is flies - perhaps even a baby knows about their harm, so we think that there is no particular need to dwell on the rationale for the need to combat them and its subtleties.

In conclusion, it remains to add that it is still better to try to get along with nature than to fight, therefore, along with exterminating means, it would be more correct to use repellent ones. If you fail to get along with nature, then we can only wish you good luck in the difficult but necessary struggle with aggressive representatives of the modern world.

As mentioned above, it is convenient to divide all insects into groups according to their lifestyle and feeding habits.

Brief descriptions of each household pest

Offered brief description insects that can be found in the apartment - this is necessary for precise definition types of uninvited guest.

Household pests

There are many more household pests:

• Cockroaches - the most common population living in apartments are red cockroaches, otherwise called "Prussians".
• Ants – red house ants and thief ants live in the apartment. It is very difficult to remove them, because they build many nests, located not only in rooms, but throughout the riser, right up to household areas.
• Moths are flying insects that feed on groceries, cereals and clothing made from natural woolen fabrics and fur.

Practical advice: If you get rid of such insects on our own failed, you should call the SES service. They use powerful toxic substances that can clean an apartment in just one treatment.

Flying insects

Bed insects

Harmless house insects

Among the harmless ones are:

• Silverfish - these centipedes lead a quiet and harmless lifestyle, unlike other domestic insects. They, like woodlice, love damp and warm places, preferably dark ones. They feed on organic deposits accumulated in dust accumulations, sugar and other small food waste. These centipedes reproduce little and try not to catch the eye of humans.
• Woodlice - these centipedes are quite often found in apartments. They choose bathrooms and toilets for housing because they require a wet and dark place. They feed on waste from the trash can.
• Spiders are invertebrates mistakenly classified as insects. House spiders are considered worst enemies flying insects, because they catch them in their webs and feed on them. Spiders are rarely found in apartments, but in private houses they are a frequent guest.

Having discovered domestic insect, you should study its harm to humans - this will help you quickly and promptly begin the fight against the uninvited guest.

The harm is presented as follows:

• Cockroaches eat food and pollute it with their waste products. They are capable of carrying various infectious diseases and worm eggs on their paws.
• Bed bugs – their bites can cause allergic manifestations, up to anaphylactic shock. An adult bug bite does not hurt because it injects an anesthetic into the wound. But the larvae do not have this substance in their saliva and their bites are very painful. Scratching a bedbug bite can introduce bacteria, which can lead to infection and an abscess.
• Flies carry various infectious diseases and helminth eggs.
• Red house ants spoil food and spread various infections.
• Mosquitoes, especially malaria mosquitoes, carry pathogens that cause serious illnesses such as malaria.

But various centipedes are not desirable in human housing due to their nasty and repulsive appearance, although they are considered harmless and not dangerous to humans.

Unequal control of household pests

Cockroaches

They are destroyed using insecticides available in the form of gels, aerosols, crayons and powders. The most effective method it is considered to call a team to disinfest the premises. The disadvantage of this method is the high price for the service. Ecologically safe way- This is the freezing of cockroaches, but it is used in the northern and middle regions of the country and only in winter.

Bedbugs

They, like cockroaches, must be exterminated by the entire house, otherwise they will quickly return, infecting neighboring rooms. The main method of control is the use of insecticides: “Karbofos”, “Chlorofos”, “Kombat”, “Tetrix” - they will destroy all bedbugs in a short time. Methods of freezing or warming up a room are quite effective, but labor-intensive and not effective enough.

Domestic red ants

These insects are eliminated using slow-acting poisons. One of these is boric acid - it is considered a strong poison for ants, to which they are not accustomed. This poison destroys all queens and all ants in the nests. A week after poisoning boric acid, it is necessary to carry out treatment with the preparations “Kombat”, “Dichlorvos”, “Ride”. Finally apply folk recipes fight insects, place herbs with a repellent effect and essential oils with insecticidal properties indoors.

Silverfish

It is recommended to check the basements first, bookshelves and cabinets, place duct tape traps in them. The favorite environment for this insect is high humidity indoors, so you need to keep it dry and ventilated. Keep flour and cereals in airtight containers, and paper in a special place.

There are many types of insects that live permanently or temporarily in apartments and private houses. Some species feed on food waste, bread crumbs, and food in loosely closed containers, while others prefer human blood. Some pests eat wool fibers, natural carpet pile, and furniture upholstery.

Ants

Reasons for appearance:

• there are often plates with leftover food on the table;
• the trash can is rarely closed;
• There are often dirty dishes on the table and in the sink;
• on the shelves of cabinets, behind the stove, next to the cabinet, flour, sugar, cereals are scattered, honey or drops of compote are dried on the table;
• jars of jam and sweets are not tightly closed;
• fruits are beautifully arranged in a vase;
• the house is quite warm and humid;
• neighbors remove insects. Ants calmly move into an apartment on the lower or upper floor.

Fighting methods:

• poisoned baits. The owners use it in combination with boiled yolk, sweet syrup, jam, mashed potatoes;
• treating floors and baseboards with a solution containing essential oil lavender;
• applying unrefined vegetable oil to ant “paths”;
• branches of elderberry, wormwood, mint and eucalyptus leaves, tansy flowers repel ants;
• vinegar for treating surfaces near the nest and in all areas where insects were noticed;
• cleanliness of the apartment, perfect order in the kitchen;
• lack of sweets, dried fruits, cookies on the shelves in open packaging;
• tightly closed jars of jam and honey, eliminating excess dampness.

Cockroaches

Insects prefer different types food:

• clothes moths eat the stratum corneum of fibers, spoil knitted items, carpets, and clothes made from natural fabrics;
• entwines the grains with a barely noticeable web, feeds on semolina, millet, nuts, wheat, and plant seeds;
• Furniture moth prefers upholstery and fabric used to cover sofas, armchairs, and soft corners.

How to fight:

• go through the closets with clothes, take out all the things, wash them, hang them in the sun, throw away heavily corroded items;
• collect larvae and eggs from the sofa, treat upholstered furniture with steam;
• check the condition of cereals, flour, dried fruits, pasta, nuts, throw away spoiled products. To store bulk products, select jars with tight lids;
• place lavender sprigs, tobacco leaves, dry citrus peels, pieces of foam rubber soaked in essential oil of eucalyptus, fir or lavender on the cabinets;
• treat the cabinets with Dichlorvos Neo, Raptor, Armol, Clean House aerosol;
• put Antimol tablets;
• wipe the shelves with vinegar or ammonia, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5;
• purchase Raptor brand moth traps with ferromones;
• place Mosquitoll or Raptor anti-moth sections or plates in a room/closet with clothes;
• use a fumigator with plates or liquid to kill harmful insects.

How to make and how to use it to catch a rodent? We have the answer!

Midges

Tiny insects often enter apartments in the summer. At this time there are enough ripe fruits that pests eat with pleasure. they gather over rotten peaches, apples, grapes, and fly over watermelon and melon peels. Rotting plant matter is an ideal feeding environment for small insects.

Factors that attract midges:

• fermented compote, juice, leftover wine and beer;
• rotten berries, fruits, melons;
• clogged sink with grease;
• wet rags at the sink;
• watermelon and melon rinds, tomato peels in the trash bin;
• wet tea leaves in flowerpots. Many housewives use natural fertilizer, but they forget to remove the rotten layer in time;
• excess humidity at home with a large accumulation of indoor flowers.

How to fight:

• deprive midges of food. Without a sufficient amount of rotten food and water, insects will gradually disappear even without the use of special means;
• clean up the kitchen, don't leave dirty dishes in the sink;
• remove crumbs from the table in a timely manner;
• empty the trash can regularly;
• do not leave bottles with residues of wine, beer, juice;
• do not keep melon and watermelon rinds on the table;
• do not overwater indoor flowers;
• When fertilizing plants with tea leaves, renew regularly top layer, do not allow the natural product to rot.

How to get rid of midges:

• hang it in the kitchen sticky tape for catching insects;
• arrange several of plastic bottles, yogurt cups, glass jars. The simplest trapping container is a bag filled with “treats” for midges;
• arrange bouquets of wormwood, lavender, tansy: pungent smells repel tiny insects;
• Heat camphor oil in a frying pan and carry the container around the kitchen or room. A sharp, specific smell will drive pests out of the room;
• Peel several large cloves of garlic, cut in half, place on lids, place in areas where midges often accumulate;
• It is undesirable to use toxic compounds: In the kitchen, drugs easily penetrate into food. Most often, depriving insects of food quickly rids the owners of annoying midges.

Learn more about insects that live in apartments from the following video:

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