Where do woodlice come from in an apartment, in a house, in particular in a bathroom: where do they live and what are the reasons for their appearance, and how to get rid of them?

If wood lice start up in the apartment, it means that somewhere nearby a source of high humidity has appeared. These crayfish and shrimp relatives breathe with gills.

Arthropods do not spread infections and do not harm human health, but few people may like their appearance and neighborhood in the kitchen or bathroom. Therefore, most owners prefer to eliminate dampness and get rid of wood lice.

What species live in an apartment and private houses? Ways of getting into a human dwelling Where do pests settle? Do woodlice bite a person? What is dangerous, and what is the harm from woodlice? Effective pest control methods

Folk remedies Boric acidLiquid composition of kvassSaltBirch broomsLimeWater and chlorinePotatoesRed pepper and tobacco

Chemicals

Concentrated insecticides Powders Crayons Sticky traps Poisonous substances in the form of gels

Physical elimination Special baits

TaraxTetrix

What if they appear again? Prevention of the appearance of wood lice in an apartment and a private house

Woodlice in the apartment

Many people consider wood lice insects, but they are not. These are representatives of the crustacean suborder. There are several thousand species of them in the world, and most of them live in the aquatic environment. Only about a hundred species of woodlice are adapted to live on land. But still, even on land, they are drawn to places where there is high humidity. Only two species live near a person's dwelling, and the most common is the woodlice-armadillo. Less common wood lice are rough.
Their body shape is oval, subdivided into segments. They have 7 pairs of legs and 2 pairs of antennae. The body length reaches 2 centimeters. Their color varies depending on geography from black to dark brown. They feed on plants, including decaying ones. If there is a danger, they curl up into a ball. The main natural enemies are spiders, less often lizards and frogs. Live up to 1 year.

Where are the wood lice in the apartment. Their benefits and harms.

The most common places in which wood lice are found in an apartment are the kitchen and bathroom, due to the constant presence of two factors:

• High humidity. The accumulation of condensation is ideal for the development of crustaceans;
• Food availability. A trash can is an optimal environment in which food waste necessary for life is constantly present.

In addition to the listed places, woodlice can be found in flower pots, where not only a humid environment, but also fallen leaves. The main condition for the development of uninvited guests is high humidity, therefore, the exclusion of this factor will get rid of wood lice.

There are also benefits from wood lice, but it is insignificant. They can feed on the spores of pathogenic fungi on crops, thereby keeping the plants alive. Feeding on rotten plants, vegetables and fruits, woodlice produce mineral fertilization of the soil with their feces.

Folk remedies

They fought against wood lice even in those days when modern means did not yet exist. Most often, folk remedies contain an infusion of tobacco, table salt and pepper. A solution of such a tool is used to treat rooms with high humidity.The main effect in such a remedy is nicotine, but after using such a solution, a specific smell appears in the apartment, not too pleasant.

Sometimes gasoline and kerosene are used to kill insects. Indeed, wood lice die from them, however, it is extremely dangerous to use flammable substances indoors. If they handle closed rooms, then an explosive mixture can form in them, capable of exploding from the slightest spark. It is enough to turn on the switch to set the room on fire.

It is obvious that folk remedies for getting rid of wood lice are not as safe as you might think.

Getting rid of wood lice

Before starting the fight, it is necessary to determine the source of the appearance of woodlice. In multi-storey buildings, they move along ventilation holes, sewer pipes. They descend from attics to the upper floors, and rise from basements to the lower ones. Carefully inspect the room for possible habitats and accumulations (pipes, basements, space behind the baseboard, etc.). In order to prevent wood lice from entering a person's dwelling, it is necessary to conduct a visual inspection for cracks in the underground and in the room from where wood lice can penetrate. If necessary, repair the facade of the building.

If a leak is found in the room, it is recommended to seal all possible ways of penetration into the dwelling and rooms with a sealant. In the underground, you can put LED lamps based on batteries - wood lice avoid light.

First of all, it is necessary to control the ventilation of the room, since the lack of air movement in the room leads to an increase in humidity. Fans and heaters can be used to quickly lower it. Quicklime also reduces the moisture level, it must be scattered on the floor, in the cracks, the gaps between the walls and furniture. Lime absorbs moisture from the environment.

No need to accumulate garbage indoors. As soon as it is dry, clean and light inside the house, wood lice will disappear. In the garden and vegetable garden, you can use a safe remedy against wood lice - this is regular baking soda. Chopped red pepper is added to it and dissolved in warm water. With this solution, you need to water the soil of the garden and garden where woodlice live. In the underground, you can pour ordinary table salt - woodlice avoid salt. You can also lay out brooms soaked in water and leave overnight. Woodlice are nocturnal, and at night they make their way into the broom. In the morning, you can throw brooms with wood lice away from a person's home. You can also try using gasoline or kerosene. These substances kill woodlice. But be careful, these substances are fire hazardous.

100 grams of kvass can be dissolved in half a liter of hot water. Pour this solution in the place where wood lice accumulate. If the above measures do not help to eliminate wood lice from the house, then you will have to use chemicals. Most often they use "Dichlorvos", less often - "Mole", "Ideal". Since these drugs are poisonous, they must be used very carefully. Prevent the spread of toxic chemicals in the human home and their contact with food.

If the room is free of moisture, lighting is provided (although this is not necessary), it is sealed so that insects do not pass from other apartments and from the street, and wood lice do not disappear, then you should seek the help of specialists who will carry out professional processing of the room.

The advantages of specialized processing are:

• using safe products that are odorless and do not affect human health;
• careful processing of surfaces and possible habitats;
• guarantees for the services provided.

Attention!

Using chemicals on your own requires extra care and attention.Before using drugs, read the instructions and recommendations for use in detail.

Effective pest control methods

To get rid of wood lice in the house, the first step is to clean up and dry out the debris and dry the alleged habitats of the arthropods and destroy the food sources of the animals.

Next, you can use remedies, both homemade and industrial chemistry.

Folk remedies

A fairly effective method to exterminate harmful animals is to use improvised substances that are almost always found in any home.

Boric acid

You can remove woodlice if you treat their locations with a solution of boric acid.

To do this, you need to take 20 g of the substance and dilute it in 1 liter of water at room temperature. Then mix well and brush with a brush all areas of an apartment or house where arthropods have been seen or may be.

Liquid composition from kvass

Kvass can help cope with woodlice. The composition is made at the rate of 200-250 g of dry kvass per 1 liter of boiling water. To eliminate pests, the resulting mixture is poured into a spray bottle and the area is treated.

Salt

The destruction of animals is possible with the help of ordinary salt, which absorbs moisture well, depriving woodlice of their usual habitat. It is enough to cover the woodlice habitat with this home remedy so that they die or leave.

Birch brooms

Bunched dry birch branches are an effective trap for small animals. The scent of fresh wood attracts wood lice. If you place birch brooms in the corners of the room in the evening, then in the morning you can take out a significant part of the colony along with the branches.

Lime

If you leave a bucket of quicklime in the room overnight, it can poison wood lice. For full effect, doors and windows must be tightly closed. Pets and residents will be forced to spend some time in another room.

Water and chlorine

In this case, dilute 40 g of bleach in 1 liter of water. Use a sponge to wipe the walls and floor. It is best to use rubber gloves for safe work.

Potatoes

A wood lice trap can be made from potatoes. The animals will gather if the halves of the potatoes (with a cut out hole) are placed around the perimeter for the night.

The method does not differ 100% in the result, but with repeated use it will help get rid of crustaceans.

Red pepper and tobacco

If you mix tobacco and red pepper in half a teaspoon (you can add soda in the same proportion), dilute the composition in 1 liter of hot water and process the room, the wood lice will die or go away. After this procedure, it is better to wash the treatment area with bleach.

Chemicals

When traditional methods are powerless, you will have to purchase chemicals. You should use them after carefully reading the instructions.

Concentrated insecticides

Ksutal micro, Tsifox or Delta Zone refer to professional means of dealing with wood lice. Substances are used when the concentration of animals is already high. Together with wood lice, all crawling insects are likely to disappear.

The drugs have a long-term protective effect.

Powders

Substances such as Phenaxin, Riapan, Neopin are in powder form. But just scattering the chemical is not enough. The treatment will be more effective if you dilute the product in water and use a spray bottle. In addition, the composition can be poured into a homemade spray bottle from a plastic bottle and sprayed under the baseboards and window sills.

Crayons

To restrict the movement of woodlice, you can circle the entrances to ventilation, exits from the premises, ventilation openings, water supply and sewage pipes with crayons. Crayons do not always do well as the only means of controlling crustaceans.But the positive auxiliary effect of the agent is beyond doubt.

Sticky traps

Not the most effective device for dealing with crustaceans. Helps more against cockroaches or ants.

Poisonous substances in the form of gels

Gels will not help solve the wood lice problem quickly. Means such as Gett, Scabengel, Varan are similar to pencils in terms of the degree of impact.

Physical elimination

In the bathroom or kitchen, the occasional animal that appears is simply crushed. This method of confrontation is not suitable for liquidating a colony underground or in a cellar.

Special baits

The duration of action of some funds is several hours, if the dose and concentration are observed.

Tarax

A universal substance against ants, bedbugs, cockroaches and woodlice is the Tetrix insecticide.

Purchased for 80 rubles. 1 g of the drug, diluted in a glass of water (200 ml), is able to destroy all insects and crustaceans on the area treated with a spray bottle.

You can use the bait regularly as it is not addictive.

Tetrix

Woodlice, fleas, ticks and bedbugs disappear completely after 2 days when using the new Tetrix. Its constituent cypermethrin is a pesticide that is often found in household plots and agriculture.

250 ml of the drug is relatively expensive - about 2,000 rubles. It is costly to use the product for a small house or apartment. But with the invasion of woodlice in multi-storey buildings, it is still cheaper than calling special services.

Unwanted neighbors are woodlice. Where do they come from, how to get rid of their presence in the apartment?

Woodlice belong to the arthropod type, the subtype is crustaceans, the class is higher crayfish. Natural habitats - wet areas of land, habitual diet - parts of living and decaying plants.

But sometimes you can notice unattractive wood lice in houses and apartments. Why do these crustaceans appear in human dwellings? And also you can find out by what signs you can understand that these small arthropods are bred in your house.

Biological description

The suborder woodlice refers to:

a detachment of isopods; a class of higher crayfish; a type of arthropods; the animal kingdom.

The international name adopted in science is Oniscidea.

Habitat

These woodlice in the apartment are predominantly nocturnal and settle in damp and dark places. Dampness, warmth and a nearby forage base are the necessary conditions for their distribution.

In nature, woodlice choose the shores of salty or fresh water bodies, fallen trees, leaf litter in the forest, stones.

The farm prefers gardens, cellars, compost heaps, greenhouses, stables, pigsties. Often they penetrate into living quarters.

Appearance, stages of development and longevity

Interesting! Usually woodlice is perceived as an insect in an apartment or house. Some consider them to be beetles. But science classifies the higher crayfish as animals.

These crustaceans have eyes on the sides of their heads. Woodlice are characterized by a convex oval body from above, which has two pairs of antennae - the first strongly developed and the second underdeveloped.

Chest legs are adapted for walking - 7 pairs, which are all arranged in the same way.

Covered with plates that prevent air evaporation, gills are located on the underside of the abdomen. They absorb oxygen through the water film around them. This type of respiration is physiologically aquatic, but in woodlice it is adapted for terrestrial creatures.

Woodlice live for about 1-2 years. During development, a small animal goes through 14 molts before becoming sexually mature.

What do woodlice eat and how do woodlice reproduce?

In the spring - in May or April - isopods copulate. The seed enters the oviducts of the females. Woodlice molts, its structure changes - a brood chamber appears in the female.Eggs are subsequently laid there, and a new generation develops there.

In the process of life, woodlice eat the remains of animals and plants - detritus. But at the same time they can spoil the fruits and vegetables stored available to them.

Experts consider higher crayfish to be decomposers. The latter perform an important natural function - they destroy dead parts of organic matter to inorganic substances, leaving no excrement.

Where do they live?

The typical habitat for woodlice is wildlife and places as close as possible to the food supply. But some subspecies can settle in both private houses and city apartments.

The diet of individuals is varied:

1. semi-decomposed plants;
2. root vegetables and vegetables;
3. healthy and fresh leaves;
4. spoiled cereals;
5. rotten vegetables.

About what woodlice eat and whether it is possible to poison them, we talk in more detail here.

Woodlice habitats in nature:

• loose, moist soil;
• natural depressions under stones, stumps and foliage, where moisture is retained;
• land areas near water bodies, wells;
• wetlands;
• the area next to rain ditches, sewage pits;
• road shoulders;
• garbage dumps.

You can find more detailed information about various types of woodlice and their habitats in a special article, and here we told interesting facts about the lifestyle of these insects.

In the apartment

Human housing is an unloved and atypical habitat for woodlice, so these are rare "guests" in apartments. In living quarters, individuals appear only under the condition of excessive humidity. Choosing small crustaceans raw places:

The first signals that arthropods appear in housing

An action that will allow you to accurately determine whether there are woodlice in the room or not - to examine the bathroom, damp corners, cracks and cracks in the walls at night using a flashlight.

Woodlice are nasty little creatures covered in scaly shells... They live in dark, warm and damp rooms. Usually they live in nature, but can also appear in residential premises. Favorite places of small crustaceans are bathrooms, leaking pipes, wet things, damp corners. You can eliminate crustaceans by doing a general cleaning and eliminating all leaks. For an accurate result, it is recommended to use poisonous chemicals against wood lice.

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Why do they wind up in a residential area and how to eliminate the causes of their appearance?

The following is an overview of the most typical circumstances in which wood lice can settle in a human dwelling.

We also talk about the reasons for the appearance of wood lice in houses and apartments here.

Where do the apartments come from?

Consider where these crustaceans come from in the apartment and how to get rid of them. The main conditions for appearance are darkness, high humidity, warmth. The following circumstances lure woodlice into the apartment:

• wet or damp linen is stored in the bathroom for a long time;
• abundant watering of indoor plants and stagnant water;
• rotting food leftovers in the trash bin;
• old books that have not been opened for years;
• dirty hidden corners of the apartment;
• standing water in buckets.

Elimination of reasons - keeping the apartment clean and tidy... It is necessary to take out the garbage in a timely manner, hang up wet things to dry, and remove all holes on the baseboards and panels. To control the level of moisture in the room, it is recommended to purchase special climate devices.You can find more recommendations on how to get rid of the presence of woodlice in an apartment here.

Reasons for the presence of small crustaceans in a private house

From what woodlice, which are mistakenly called insects, can appear in a private house? The reasons are identical to those that cause the appearance of wood lice in apartments. But in private homes, several more potential factors are added.

• Garage, basement, barn. In these places, there is constant dampness, fungus and mold may appear, which attract crustaceans.
• A leaking attic where rainwater collects.
• The presence of its own well, column. Wood lice start up in the remaining puddles, and later they crawl into the house.
• Decaying wooden structures of a private house.
• Hotbeds, greenhouses. The moist soil in these places is an ideal breeding and habitat for woodlice.

How to get rid of?

There are many ways to get rid of uninvited guests - from home to purchased ones. The funds can be used the same as that of cockroaches:

• crayons;
• traps;
• poisonous bait.

If there are too many wood lice in the attic or in the basement, you should call special services that destroy insects.

But all destruction measures will be useless if you do not create unbearable conditions for the pests.

Therefore, first of all, it is necessary:

1. dry the bathroom by installing an additional heater;
2. to seal the cracks in the floor and walls, from where new batches of crustaceans can creep;
3. throw out the trash bin on time, without leaving waste overnight;
4. check all pipes and taps for damage;
5. wipe the floor in the apartment dry, temporarily do not dry the linen in the kitchen and bathroom;
6. in a country house, thoroughly ventilate the basement and repair the roof, preventing leaks.

If the pests have settled in flower pots, change the entire soil by rinsing the roots of home flowers with running water before transplanting. This way, there will be no crustacean eggs left on them and they will not be able to reproduce again.

Only if these conditions are met will it be possible to get rid of wood lice forever.

Woodlice are different and therefore we have prepared materials about the types of this pest, including white woodlice.

How to identify the source where arthropods breed?

Often, the owners do not realize that unattractive neighbors in the shell have turned up in the room. This is due to the fact that wood lice are well camouflaged (live in the dark, hide during the day, are active at night). Potential breeding sources for these crustaceans are areas with maximum moisture. The habitats of individuals need to be looked for here.:

• damp rags and bedding;
• damp corners;
• the area under the tiles, under the skirting board;
• water and sewer pipes;
• in private houses, it is also necessary to check the closets by lifting all the containers with vegetables.

What if you appear again?

The common wood louse, or a fairly common variety of arthropods - the two-tailed, can return after processing.

With a small number of woodlice re-populated the territory, you can try to comprehensively apply folk remedies:

cover damp places with salt; pour boric acid solution into the space under windowsills and baseboards; treat sewer pipes with pepper and tobacco.

On a note! It is more effective to use drugs with long-term protection. For example, Tetrix is ​​able to secure even a damp room for 70 days or more.

Woodlice: where they come from and where they live

Incomprehensible bugs, which can be noticed periodically not only in the bathroom, but also in the kitchen, near the basement and any other places, create a lot of problems. Firstly, it is not aesthetics, pollution of the living space. Secondly, there is a danger that household members can get sick with one or another type of diseasebrought by such bugs.And, thirdly, using a room where you constantly stumble upon the crawling of uninvited "guests" is an extremely unpleasant phenomenon. Let's see where they can come from in a house, apartment, such individuals, what they are and how they can be removed from the apartment.

Why are they dangerous, and what is the harm from wood lice?

Small crustaceans do not penetrate the human body, do not poison the water. But, eating the remains of decaying organic matter, it is possible that they can carry pathogenic plants and infections. There is no exact scientific data to support this assumption yet.

The most common reason for the destruction of wood lice is their unpleasant appearance and the ability to quickly reproduce and form large colonies, for example, in the kitchen.

In addition, animals:

They violate the integrity of the root system of indoor plants. They eat living foliage. They plump the soil and deprive it of oxygen. They spoil the stocks in the cellar.

For 2 weeks without treatment, cancer individuals are able to destroy a houseplant.

What are woodlice

Woodlouse (or, as it is also called - silverfish) is not an insect, but a beetle, belonging to the crustaceans of the suborders and to the order of creatures called isopods. This means that it has both gills and a carapace of scales. That is why such an individual does not drown in water, does not choke and does not die, no matter what liquid medium they get into. In total there are about 3500 species such small-caliber crustaceans. Let's list some of the most common types of silverfish:

1. Battleship. The carapace is black; when you approach it, you can see how it quickly coils into a spiral.
2. Rough. The color is brownish, yellow and red. The stratum corneum is significantly softer than that of the Battleship. The body is bent, but does not curl up into a ball if caught.

In more detail, woodlice looks like this:

1. The body shape is oval and slightly convex like a lens.
2. The head is equipped with not one, but two pairs of antennae, one of which is longer and the other is shorter.
3. The eyes are located on the sides of the head.
4. The jaw has no tentacles in the upper part, but there are such receptors on the lower part.
5. The body of an adult is divided into 8 segments. The very first one protects the head from all sides, the last segment has a peculiar notch, and on the abdomen of the creature, these chitinous formations are freer.
6. The presence of seven pairs of legs is excellent for walking and running.
7. The internal branch of the body structure is the gills, specific respiratory organs, which are covered by the external branch.

About appearance and habitat

To understand how to cleanse a house from the presence of insects, it is necessary to firmly understand that the body length of woodlice is up to 20 mm, the semicircular shell has small teeth. This is noticeable because the body is divided into segments, connected to each other by dense armor plates. On the sides there are 14 legs for walking and 12 with lateral outgrowths. Thus, this "centipede" moves quickly enough and seems to be in several places at the same time.

The organs of touch are two pairs of whiskers, one of which is very strongly developed. In addition, there are a pair of eyes on the head. Therefore, woodlice react very quickly to irritating factors: light, sound, chemical odors.

It is most likely to meet wood lice in free space in spring and autumn. Their reproduction takes place in the summer. For this, the female has a special bag inside her body where she stores eggs.

It should be noted: It is most likely to see woodlice at night, because during the day they hide. At the slightest danger, they curl up into a ball and lie motionless until the danger has passed. This happens at the level of instinct, but it looks quite consciously.

Very often woodlice can be found in the area of ​​flower pots. In stagnant soil liquid, they find ideal conditions for their habitat. However, this neighborhood harms plants.Their leaves are often damaged, and the soil inhabited by insects is poorly breathable and impairs the respiration of the root system.

Reasons and places from where they can appear in the house

Anyone who is wondering where the silverfish could have come from in the apartment can be answered that there may be several sources of contamination of the living quarters. The places and reasons for the appearance are as follows:

1. Dampness... And not only in the apartment, but even in the basement, cellar, sewer canals of an apartment building, or in the attic.
2. Ventilation. Woodlice can easily live in ventilation ducts, and if they sense that there is something for them to profit from in your apartment, they will definitely choose some place in your home.
3. Come from the garden along with bringing crops, for example, or work clothes to the apartment.
4. Bin. If the garbage is not taken out in the apartment for a long time, then this serves as a real bait to attract such individuals to your house.
5. Rotting fruit vegetables and other organic.
6. Standing rotten water in buckets or other containers.

The harm that woodlice can do to people

1. This is, first of all, carriers of viral and infectious diseases.
2. They are spoil products food, accelerating the process of their decay, oxidation and decay.
3. If they choose flower pot with orchid and other similar plants, they can cause rotting of the stem and roots.
4. Settling in the soil with seedlings or other plants, they compact it and disrupt the exchange of air.
5. They are able to tolerate fungal and mold spores on their paws.

Therefore, at first glance, harmless wood lice are not at all such innocent creatures. Therefore, you should listen to further recommendations of specialists in order to avoid such problems.

Where wood lice most often live in the apartment

Compared to cockroaches, ants or flies, wood lice are a relatively infrequent guest. Their settlements are seen in places such as:

• bathroom pipes;
• under the bathroom;
• under the sink;
• in places condensation accumulationswhere there is less light;
• under the skirting boards;
• sometimes under the rugsthat have not been shaken out and cleaned for a long time;
• in damp closets;
• in an old closet where it is indicated damp place.

• waste that will be found in the bin;
• any rotting food debris;
• particles nutrients on the walls of the apartmentthat even dust can serve;
• some mucus on the walls;
• the remains of the plant environment;
• any other small microflora.

How the sources of woodlice appearance are eliminated

The first approach to getting rid of wood lice in an apartment is first eliminate their power source and clean all the places where they like to live in the house. A guide to ridding your home of silverfish consists of the following steps:

1. Carefully do cleaning of all rooms, corridors and closets... Everything is cleaned up to cleaning the walls from the dust layer.
2. Make sure that the water supply or sewerage communications are always in good working order.
3. Heating in the apartment should be normal so that no condensation forms on the walls.
4. Premises should air regularly.
5. Pay attention to the condition of the soil in flower pots. This is especially true for tropical plants.

If you want to act more radically, it is helpful to read:

You should understand once and for all that silverfish or woodlice will always be attracted by dirt and dampness. Therefore, by removing this source, you will remove, thereby, the problem itself. You may not even have to use some kind of insecticide, the creatures themselves will go to another place.

Related video: fighting woodlice in an apartment

Preventive work

To prevent the appearance of wood lice, you need to take care of the cleanliness of the house. Do not leave spoiled vegetables in cellars and pantries. Dampness is the main reason for the penetration of uninvited guests. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain normal humidity in the rooms. Dampness can arise from a faulty ventilation system.

Note: There is a misconception that dehumidification of the air will save from dampness. However, dry air is even more harmful to humans.

Flower pot stands should be rinsed periodically to prevent the accumulation of adhering soil. The accumulation of dirty dishes and debris - all this can also provoke the appearance of wood lice. It is necessary to monitor the health of plumbing fixtures. In case of leaks, the problem should be quickly eliminated.

Any chemical preparation or folk method will not be able to cope with the problem if the original cause is not eliminated - contaminated soil in flowers, moisture and debris. With the comprehensive implementation of measures and eliminating the causes of occurrence, you can easily get rid of this insect.

Where do woodlice come from in houses and apartments and what is the reason for their appearance

Next, you will learn:

• Where do woodlice usually come from in apartments and why most often they can be found in bathrooms and toilets;
• What are the optimal conditions for life and reproduction of woodlice;
• Where to look for wood lice in an apartment building in the first place, and what actions to take in order to reliably get rid of them.

As well as a number of other interesting and useful nuances regarding the appearance of wood lice in apartments and houses.

Woodlice, as you can easily understand from their name, are creatures that love moisture and dampness. Their natural habitats in nature are forest floor, wood and stones lying on wet ground, the banks of reservoirs and spontaneously formed swamps.

Accordingly, in the buildings of people, similar places are attractive to them - damp cellars, basements, technical rooms and utility lines, in which dampness is constantly present, as well as attics with a leaking roof. Therefore, when figuring out where wood lice come from in an apartment, you should first of all inspect such places in your house.

What species live in an apartment and private houses?

Of the 3.5 thousand types of wood lice in apartments, most often live:

rough; battleship.

The armadillo, or common woodlice, is distinguished by its dark body and high shell. It spread throughout the entire territory of our country. He prefers to live in basements, along the heating main, under objects lying on the ground in the yard, garden.

Rough wood lice are more suitable for living quarters. She moves relatively quickly and is able to penetrate between floors. The animal's carapace is flat, the color varies from red to almost white.

Trachelipus rathke is another species of woodlice, which, despite the absence of a common Russian name, live in densely built-up areas of many Russian cities in the middle lane.

Such arthropods look flattened, with a wide shell and their characteristic long antennae. These “pets” are found all over the world.

How and where do woodlice get into the room

As mentioned above, wood lice appear in an apartment mainly from basements and attics of multi-storey buildings, as well as from the structures of engineering networks - heating mains, trenches of electric cables, sewer tunnels, garages and various technical pits. These small crustaceans are quite mobile, but it is difficult for them to actively move along vertical walls and structures inside houses. Therefore, most often woodlice appear in apartments on the first and last floors - it is easiest for them to get here from the basement or damp attic.

In addition, wood lice in an apartment are sometimes taken from other premises that may be located nearby: supermarket warehouses on the ground floors of apartment buildings, self-built garages adjacent to the wall of a residential building, as well as from sewers.

It may seem strange to someone that woodlice are able to reproduce very actively in attics - how do they generally survive here and what do they eat? In fact, everything is quite simple: the pioneers who accidentally find themselves here among the perennial layer of pigeon droppings find quite good conditions for reproduction.

• First, the bird droppings contain the remains of undigested seeds, which are quite suitable for crustaceans as food, as well as other organic matter in abundance in attics;
• Secondly, the roofs of apartment buildings are rarely repaired, and therefore often leak, providing the necessary dampness;
• And finally, thirdly, with poor ventilation and a leaking roof, even a small rain will provide almost 100% relative humidity for many days in advance.

It is not surprising that under such favorable conditions for woodlice, they sometimes multiply in attics in incredible numbers and begin to literally attack the inhabitants of the upper floors. Cases of woodlice penetration into bathrooms and toilets of apartments from attics are more rare compared to basements in general, but they are characterized by a very large number of uninvited guests entering the apartment.

In local city news from different parts of the country, reports regularly appear about the influx of wood lice precisely on the last floors and precisely from the ventilation ducts. The uninvited guests can be so numerous that they literally creep up the walls in a continuous stream, fall into dishes, crawl into furniture. And what is most interesting - in such situations, SES workers do not always note any violations of the sanitary condition of houses and, accordingly, do not take any action.

Usually, in practice, the situation is as follows: wood lice appear in the apartment one by one, at first in small quantities, and rarely catch the eye. As a result, the first newcomers are unnoticed by the homeowners.

Later, when several dozen uninvited guests migrate to the apartment, they end up accidentally catching your eye in the bathroom or toilet, and then the owners start to panic a little - after a careful examination of the room, it becomes clear that the apartment is full of wood lice! The first question is where did they come from in the apartment and how to get rid of them?

Further, they begin to fight with wood lice, like with cockroaches - crayons, Dichlorvos, even insecticidal gels. All this can really give a certain effect, but first of all it is necessary to find out where the “abode” of lovers of dampness is and eliminate the source of this dampness.

If it is not possible to quickly solve the problem with dampness, then it is useful to take care of blocking the path of wood lice penetration from the damp room into the apartments.

We poison wood lice with insecticides

Above, in general, the means by which you can get rid of wood lice in an apartment were noted. However, it is one thing to have an idea of ​​such drugs, and quite another to apply them as effectively as possible in practice.

It is also useful to read: In detail about woodlice: interesting facts about their life and photos

And what do you think is most important when choosing and using insecticidal drugs? Are they effective? Or maybe an affordable price? Or ease of use?

So, the most important thing when choosing an insecticidal agent for use in a residential area is its safety for humans and pets. Today, you can easily find the most powerful pesticides on the free sale, using which in an apartment, you can be sure that nothing living will remain in it after that. But the problem is that it will be problematic for a person to live in such an apartment. Moreover, there are numerous cases of poisoning with toxic insecticidal preparations of people and domestic animals, and, unfortunately, this did not always end well.

Therefore, when getting rid of wood lice in an apartment, it is useful to take into account the following considerations:

• It makes sense to use insecticides indoors only after the ways of wood lice penetration into the apartment from the outside have been blocked. Otherwise, you will have to poison the pests with "chemistry" again and again;
• You should not chase the highest possible effectiveness of the drug. It would be much more correct to place an emphasis on relative safety for humans and animals, as well as the absence of an unpleasant odor;
• A combination of a fast-acting drug (aerosols, sprays) and a slow-acting agent (insecticidal sticks, gels), in most cases, can give a better effect than using either one;
• All drugs should be used in accordance with the instructions for use. And if it is said that you need to wear a respirator when processing, then believe me - it is better to do this, since inhaling an aerosol insecticide will definitely not add health to you.

Where do woodlice live in the city

In different cities, biologists have repeatedly conducted studies to find out the places in which woodlice prefer to live. It turned out that these small crustaceans live mainly in the following places:

• front gardens and spaces under fences;
• along the grassy walls of houses;
• in basements;
• in warehouses of agricultural products;
• along roadsides;
• on vacant lots and abandoned stadiums;
• in the private sector;
• in parks and recreational areas;
• in landfills.

Here woodlice huddle under stones, various large objects, under mowed grass and in debris. Any decaying plant debris - the same mowed grass, rotting fruits and vegetables, plant roots - serve as food in such places. Woodlice feed mainly at night, occasionally leaving their shelters during the day or at dusk.

The most common for the cities of central Russia are two types of woodlice - common woodlice-armadillo and rough woodlice. The first is best known for its characteristic appearance: it is she who is most often called "watermelon". The second is more mobile, less often curled up into a ball and relies mainly on its own speed. It is the rough wood louse that most often turns out to be an unwanted guest in the apartment.

Is it possible to bring wood lice into the house yourself?

As a rule, woodlice penetrate the room on their own, making their way from their usual habitats to more comfortable conditions for them. These arthropods try to stay away from sources of light, vibration and noise, and therefore they almost never end up on clothes or personal belongings. That is why the likelihood of bringing wood lice into the apartment yourself is very small.

In very rare cases, woodlice can be brought into the house with purchased products - potatoes in bags and nets, carrots and onions, fruits in boxes. But in this case, you should not be afraid of guests - they are unlikely to take root in an apartment that they have not made their way into.

Truly undesirable in a person's apartment are only those wood lice that are taken from basements and from the street and themselves move into wet rooms. It is they who are inclined not only to settle permanently in the apartment, but also to actively reproduce here.

In this case, wood lice are a sign that the apartment has areas with poorly regulated ventilation and constant dampness. Such places need to be found as soon as possible and brought to their normal state in order to avoid more serious problems than the presence of wood lice (for example, the constant presence of mold, which, with its spores, will poison all the air in the apartment).

Favorite habitats of wood lice in the apartment

In the vast majority of cases, wood lice are found in apartments in the following places:

• in the bathrooms, especially under the bathtubs themselves - it is constantly humid here and usually there is the smallest microflora sufficient for nutrition;
• in toilets behind toilets and boilers;
• on balconies and attached loggias bordering directly on the basement;
• in pantries and closets used for storing vegetables and fruits.

If wood lice are found in one room, you should definitely look for them in other rooms and annexes - perhaps, where there are most of them, they are the least noticeable. It is imperative to inspect ventilation ducts for this purpose.

In general, woodlice usually settle where the humidity exceeds the sanitary standards for living quarters. These crustaceans are a good indicator of the presence of constant water leaks, pipeline ruptures, and stagnant sewers.