Sometimes unpleasant insects appear in living quarters. Almost everyone knows what to do with traditional cockroaches and moths. But what if the mysterious black bugs annoy the house or apartment, why do they appear and how do they drive them out? If unexpected tenants have settled, you must definitely find out if they are safe for humans and pets.
If the house got black bugs, then it's time to carry out a general cleaning. This is due to the fact that any insects need to be fed, and they eat dust, particles of skin, tissue or cereals and flour spilled into the cracks. Tiny larvae appear on the dark shelves of closets or in a jar of oatmeal, which can later turn into beetles up to 2 cm in size. You should not be scared, these are representatives of the genus Tenebrio molitor, or simple flour grunts. By the way, larger specimens can settle in different places, or Tribolium confusum Duv - small grunts. Small representatives have a slightly reddish color, large ones are pure black.
Black beetles in the house - methods of struggle
At an early stage of settling on the territory of an apartment or house, it will be enough to throw out the cereal spoiled by insects or carefully wash the containers for storing flour and shelves with detergent. However, nasty black beetles in a wooden house is a big problem, because they can lay their larvae in any gap or wall. To free your residential area from intruders, you need to draw up a small work plan:
- Mandatory wet cleaning with detergent or potassium permanganate.
- Inspection of all cereals and flour for infection.
- The adoption of special measures to prevent a new wave of insects.
Black bugs appear in the house after 2-3 weeks - this is how much the larval phase takes in these insects. Therefore, do not postpone cleaning, while it is possible to eliminate still immature insects. Some thrifty housewives try to sift the affected flour or cereal, but this will not help. Khrushchak eggs are so small that they do not linger in the cells of the smallest sieve. And their “flour” color is absolutely indistinguishable from the usual colors of cereals. The people of this unexpected guest are called the Khrushchak-deceiver. Due to their small size, black bugs in the house easily find refuge. Do not think that if you block access to cereals, insects will not switch to other products.
If large representatives of this genus are wound up, then you need to be prepared for the fact that they settle in a bookcase or put their larvae in dusty dry corners. For reliable protection of new products, they are recommended to be calcined in the oven or frozen in the refrigerator for about a day. Cabinets, where the Khrushchaks lived, are thoroughly washed with soda and vinegar, and then treated with dichlorvos, after which it is necessary to rinse everything again with an ordinary detergent. A good folk remedy for such insects is considered a regular clove of garlic, placed in a container with cereal. You can try lavender oil - the cotton pads moistened in it are placed on the shelves, but not every housewife wants the semolina to smell of a tart herbal smell. The fight against black bugs is not too difficult, but rather painstaking and does not tolerate carelessness.