Even one annoying fly can throw anyone off balance. Imagine that dozens of them entered the house. In addition to discomfort, such guests, who love to walk through all the food products that are in the public domain with their dirty paws, can cause intestinal diseases. No less joy comes from mosquitoes with their thin ringing and bites that irritate the skin. We tell you how to get rid of insects in a private home.
Ants
These tiny creatures can cause a lot of unpleasant moments at the dacha or at a picnic. Here's what will help you keep them away from your food.
Cleanliness in the kitchen
Wipe off sticky stains and crumbs from kitchen counters and surfaces, and cover the sugar bowl and honey bowl.
cucumbers
Place cucumber peel around the kitchen or in areas where ants enter - it repels many types of ants.
Mint
Leave a few bags of dried mint or peppermint tea where the ants enter.
Block the entrance
Track where the column of ants enters the house and place the following ingredients at this place: hot pepper, citrus oil, lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee beans. Make sure that these components (one or more) cross the path of the ants.
Leave the light on
Leave a small nightlight or lamp in areas where ants gather. Lighting can interfere with their foraging activities.
Build a moat
If ants get to the pet food bowl, wash the floor around it with hot water and soap - this will dislodge the ants' trail. Alternatively, you can place the bowl in a fairly flat plate filled with soapy water - this will act as a kind of moat for the ants, and they will not be able to cross it.
Corn flour
Place mounds of cornmeal in the path of the ants. They eat it and take it home, but they cannot digest it and die. It will take at least a week for this remedy to work, but you won’t have to worry about children and pets, because the flour is absolutely harmless.
Homemade ant bait
Mix one teaspoon of boric acid, 6 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of water. Soak cotton balls in this and place them in the path of the ants. The mixture dries out, so it's best to pour some into a bottle cap and put a cotton ball in it so that the mixture constantly replenishes it.
Just be careful! If you have small children and pets, keep them away from this trap: boric acid can cause irritation to mucous membranes, skin and eyes.
Worker ants will not only be poisoned, but will also bring low doses of boric acid into the anthill. So be patient, it will take time to poison the ants.
Requirements for insect repellents
The times when insects were poisoned with substances that can poison a person himself are long gone. Nowadays, special insecticides must meet certain requirements, the main one of which is complete safety for people and their pets.
A good product should not cause allergies, discomfort or headaches, and the best one should not even have an unpleasant odor.
In addition, they should not cause damage to your things, such as sofas, armchairs, clothes, walls, etc.
The product must have an international quality standard, but most importantly, it must effectively kill insects.
Mosquitoes
Perhaps mosquitoes are much worse than ants. Because of them, summer overnight trips sometimes become simply unbearable, and even in the city, scratching bites is more than unpleasant.
Block inputs
Mosquitoes become most active in the early morning and early evening. They fly in calm, stagnant air because the breeze blows them away. So close windows and doors on the leeward side.
Remove stagnant water
Check the house for stagnant water: small pools in the yard, a bowl of water for your pet. Change the water at least twice a week and try to eliminate any open sources of stagnant water in your yard.
B-B-Q
If you occasionally barbecue in your backyard, try tossing some sage and rosemary on the coals. This will repel mosquitoes.
Garlic
An excellent natural repellent. Mix garlic juice with water in a ratio of 1 to 5, pour into a small spray bottle and apply to exposed parts of the body. The effect lasts up to 5-6 hours from the moment of application.
You can also impregnate strips of cotton fabric in this composition and hang them in places where mosquitoes can enter.
Neem oil
This is an oil obtained from the fruit of the neem tree, which grows in India. Its leaves and seeds contain a substance that repels mosquitoes, but the oil itself is harmless to human health. Simply add a few drops to your favorite lotion and apply to exposed areas of your body.
Grow more flowers
Plant valerian flowers in your garden or dacha - they look cool and repel mosquitoes. Rosemary, marigold, lemongrass (citronella) and lemon balm also work.
Mosquito repellent candles
You can make candles from aromatic oils and melted wax: 15-30 g of essential oil per 450 g of wax.
Gyvafoto/shutterstock.com
Here are some good repellent oil recipes to repel mosquitoes.
Recipe No. 1
- 5 parts citronella oil.
- 5 parts lavender oil.
- 5 parts clove oil.
Recipe No. 2
- 5 parts citronella oil.
- 5 parts lavender oil.
- 5 parts peppermint oil.
Recipe No. 3
- 10 parts citronella oil.
- 10 parts cedar oil.
- 5 parts eucalyptus oil.
- 5 parts rosemary oil.
Homemade mosquito repellent mixture
For a homemade mosquito repellent mixture, you will need essential oils and something to mix them with, such as vodka or olive oil. For best results, mix different essential oils: lemon, eucalyptus, citronella, cinnamon, juniper, cedar oil.
Disinfection: what to pay attention to
First you need to know the specific places where harmful insects live. Then you need to calculate the path of their movement.
The main thing is to finish the job. There is no need to treat just a certain corner, because the insects will get used to it and acquire immunity in the future.
Also look for places where insects lay larvae and destroy them. If you destroyed the adults, but forgot about the larvae, then soon they will crawl around your house again, as if nothing had happened.
The more successful you are, the more dead insects there will be in your house!
flies
The following remedies will help you deal with terribly annoying flying creatures.
Herbal pillows
Place small cheesecloth bags containing dried mint, bay leaves, cloves and eucalyptus around the house to repel flies.
Homemade fly tape
Mix ¼ cup cornmeal, teaspoon white sugar, and teaspoon brown sugar in a small bowl.
Cut a strip of brown kraft paper, soak it in the mixture and let dry. Make a hole in one end of the tape and hang it at home.
Sweet basil
Plant sweet basil next to the door in your garden or grow it in a pot by the window - this plant is excellent at repelling flies and mosquitoes. You can even take it with you on a picnic so that insects don’t bother you too much.
Eucalyptus oil
If you have a lot of flies, try soaking a rag in eucalyptus essential oil and hanging it in an area where the insects gather.
Ultrasonic exposure
Insecticides are being pushed out of the market by ultrasonic devices for repelling insects. But the devices are effective only against those pests that communicate with their relatives using sounds. When devices emit sounds of a special frequency, they can act on cockroaches and other insects, forcing them to leave the territory of the house. Magnetic resonance devices are produced that repel bedbugs. Among the well-known devices with ultrasonic waves are Typhoon LS-500, EMR-21, Pest Reject.
Spiders
These insects do not wait for spring and exist quietly in our houses and apartments all year round. Use a few methods and you won't have to remove cobwebs from corners as often.
Mint
Mix a few drops of peppermint essential oil, a little detergent and plain water. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and spray all corners where cobwebs often appear.
Coconut oil and vinegar
A mixture of coconut oil and white vinegar is also great for keeping spiders away, but before you spray your home with this mixture, test it on a small area of carpet, curtains and wallpaper - the oil may leave a residue.
Citrus essential oils
Spiders dislike citrus oils—lemon, orange, and lime—as much as they dislike mint. Of course, this won't kill them, but it will make them avoid places that smell of citrus. Just buy natural essential oils (you can find them at the pharmacy), and not fragrant fakes.
Bedbugs
Where do they come from?
There are several reasons why bed bugs can be particularly difficult to control. Bedbugs are blood-sucking insects, but they can go without food for a long time and remain in shelters without revealing themselves. Bedbugs reproduce quickly and become accustomed to insecticides, especially when people try to kill the parasites themselves with store-bought chemicals.
How to fight
Many exterminators agree that folk remedies are ineffective in the fight against bedbugs and attempts to kill insects with vinegar, ammonia or lavender will only give the bedbugs additional time to increase the population, and a small number of individuals will suffer.
If you live in an apartment, it is better to immediately inform your neighbors that you have discovered blood-sucking pests and call an exterminator. He will provide qualified assistance and tell you and your neighbors how to proceed.
how to fight yourself
If bedbugs have occupied only one or two pieces of furniture in the apartment, you can try to remove the insects yourself.
- Thoroughly knock out all blankets, carpets and pillows outside, treat them with a stream of hot air (not lower than 45 °C) from a heat gun.
- Boil your bed linen.
- Treat the bed frames and legs with insecticidal gel.
If it is possible to get rid of “infected” pieces of furniture, it is better to part with them immediately and hold off on buying new ones until the parasites are completely defeated.
How to find out if there are fleas in the house
The main difference from many parasites is the absence of substances that dull the pain during skin piercing. It is impossible to confuse a flea bite with an attack by another insect or tick: a sharp, unbearable pain pierces the body. Another characteristic symptom is severe itching of the affected area, which is difficult to relieve for a long time.
In most cases, fleas bite legs and arms if a person is sitting. Small red spots appear on the body, and a small drop of blood is visible. It is difficult to catch a flea: after being bitten, the insect quickly jumps onto the floor and walls and hides in a secluded place.
READ ALSO: How to get rid of wasps on a balcony: reasons for the infestation of stinging insects, effective control methods
Why are fleas dangerous? Pests often live in basements, on the bodies of rodents, and in rooms with unsanitary conditions. Insects carry some diseases and provoke the development of bacterial and viral infections.
Biting parasites often attack some family members but leave others alone.
Lice
No one is safe from lice in their hair. Insects do not necessarily choose people who neglect the rules of personal hygiene. You can fight lice the old fashioned way, using tar or laundry soap to wash your hair, dyeing your hair with dyes containing hydrogen peroxide, you can resort to modern shampoos for lice, and combing your hair using the Shepherd method. After getting rid of lice in your hair, do not forget to carry out preventive treatment of the room from nits; this is best done using liquid (chlorophos solution), aerosol or powder (pyrethrum) insecticides.
Spring view of Loshi
Reasons for appearance
Biting parasites do not live long - about 3 months, but in a short period they manage to cause a lot of harm to animals and humans. Under unfavorable environmental conditions, parasites “freeze” for a while. When the danger disappears, fleas come out of hiding and begin to actively feed on blood, grow, and reproduce.
Parasites choose comfortable living areas, closer to the floor:
- carpets;
- torn parts of wallpaper near the baseboards;
- soft toys on the sofa;
- cracks in the floor, doors and window sill;
- pet bedding;
- floor coverings;
- loosely fitting baseboards;
- fabric decor;
- sofa cushions;
- lower shelves of cabinets;
- cluttered areas in the corners of rooms;
- boxes with old things.
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The main reasons for the appearance of parasites in the home:
- long-term lack of repairs in the apartment;
- the owners do not always change their shoes after returning home; they walk around the apartment in boots or shoes for some time;
- there is no mat near the doors: debris, dirt, larvae, insect eggs easily enter the home;
- pets go outside and bring fleas and cat fleas from their walks;
- the owners started renovations: parasites living in secluded corners got out from behind the old wallpaper and baseboards;
- pipes often burst in the basement, creating a damp zone;
- a family moving to an old house with dry wooden structures;
- insufficient cleaning of the premises, the presence of rubbish and corners where bedbugs, fleas, cockroaches, ants, and spiders can settle.
