How to get rid of wood lice in an apartment (or in a private house)

Last update: 2022-05-12

2022-05-12

Next you will learn:

What is an effective integrated approach that allows you to get rid of wood lice in an apartment once and for all;
How can you make your apartment uninhabitable for wood lice;
What should be paid attention first of all in order to reliably block the penetration of wood lice into the apartment from the outside;
What modern insecticidal agents make it possible to most effectively get rid of wood lice in a residential area, and to do this safely for human and pet health;
What are the important nuances to consider when using insecticidal preparations;
What is useful to know about folk remedies for wood lice in the house;
How can wood lice be completely destroyed in their breeding ground - in the attic of a house or in the basement ...

Surprisingly, some people seriously expect to permanently get rid of wood lice in their apartment by simply scattering salt in the corners of the room or setting up a couple of sticky traps, usually used to catch cockroaches. And someone even just tries to collect wood lice from the walls manually, or with a vacuum cleaner - in the hope that one day their endless stream will finally dry up.Needless to say, at best, all these half-measures will help to destroy only a very small number of pest individuals, while this will not affect the size of the main population of wood lice (especially if they enter the room from the attic or from the basement of the house).

So, in order to reliably get rid of wood lice in the apartment, it is necessary to approach the solution of the problem in a complex way:

Create unfavorable living conditions for wood lice in the apartment;
Block the ways of penetration of wood lice into the room from the outside;
Destroy existing pests in the apartment (in the bathroom, toilet, kitchen, rooms);
And, finally, destroy the wood lice in their breeding ground (usually in the attic, or in the basement of the house).

With the competent implementation of these points, it will be possible to forget about the invasion of wood lice almost forever, or at least for a very long time.

On a note

It is generally accepted that wood lice are, although unpleasant, pests that are absolutely harmless to humans. In reality, however, the situation in this regard is far from being so rosy.

And it's not even that wood lice can damage indoor plants, as well as harm stocks of potatoes, onions and carrots. The main problem is that, as in the case of cockroaches, when wood lice appear in an apartment, the sanitary condition of the entire room suffers: imagine that until recently, pests crawled somewhere in the basement next to rat excrement (or in the attic - next to piles of pigeon droppings), and now the same woodlice have made their way into the apartment and are attacking the kitchen, bathroom and toilet.Moreover, even within the same apartment, wood lice can migrate, for example, from the toilet to the kitchen - and you must admit that such migration does not promise anything pleasant either.

That is why you should not even try to coexist amicably with wood lice (they say, these "cute creatures" are absolutely safe) - these pests should be disposed of as soon as possible after they are discovered.

But before you start an all-out war with wood lice, evaluate again - are these wood lice for sure? Practice shows that for some reason many people call wood lice, for example, the same silverfish.

Below is a photograph of the so-called "home" woodlice (which is most often found in human housing):

And the following photo shows sugar silverfish:

As you can see, silverfish are very different from wood lice, and it is not entirely clear why they are so often confused.

Next, we will consider situations when woodlice, and not any other arthropods, are wound up in the house - getting rid of woodlice has its own important nuances.

What are wood lice afraid of: we make the apartment unsuitable for their life

Before considering the methods and means of exterminating wood lice, it should, perhaps, be noted the most important factor that can make your apartment not only a cozy refuge for them, but also literally an incubator for new pest hordes.

We are talking about high humidity in the apartment or in its individual rooms (usually a toilet, bathroom and kitchen). And speaking figuratively, wood lice, first of all, are afraid of dry rooms.

On a note

It may seem surprising to some, but wood lice are not insects - they belong to crustaceans.Simply put, these are small land crustaceans that, despite their land lifestyle, have retained gills and actively use them: oxygen is absorbed from a thin film of moisture that wets the gills.

Therefore, high humidity and access to water in general are vital for wood lice, and they simply will not survive in dry rooms.

Accordingly, leaking pipes, regularly accumulating splashes next to the sink in the kitchen and in the bathroom (especially with poor ventilation), wet earth in pots with indoor plants - all this often creates excellent conditions for the existence of wood lice in an apartment.

Therefore, the begun (and before that long-delayed) repair of plumbing can be a good start in getting rid of wood lice in the apartment: a dry room will not only be unsuitable for the life of these pests, but, importantly, it will attract new individuals here to a much lesser extent from the outside - wood lice strive, first of all, to where the air is as humid as possible.

We block the penetration of wood lice into the apartment from the outside

There are situations when the apartment, it would seem, is dry, and all rooms, including the bathroom and toilet, have already been treated with Dichlorvos many times, and wood lice still thrive indoors. At the same time, some residents sometimes mistakenly believe that wood lice, like bedbugs or cockroaches, are hiding somewhere in the apartment in their secluded nests, laying eggs - and now, they say, therefore their ranks are constantly replenished.

In fact, everything is much simpler - new individuals massively enter the apartment from the outside: they can crawl from the attic, from the basement of the house or from the neighbors.

The photo below shows a relevant example:

So, in order to get rid of woodlice in an apartment, it is important to pay attention to the four main ways these pests enter the room:

Room ventilation system. It is recommended to put a fine mesh on each vent;
Cracks in the ceiling, floor and walls. This is especially true for old buildings - it is necessary to close up all the cracks through which pests can migrate from adjacent rooms (when it comes to the last floor, woodlice can literally get into the apartment from the attic through hundreds of cracks in the ceiling);
Holes for cold and hot water pipes (water supply risers), as well as a hole for a sewer pipe. Between the pipes themselves and the floor (ceiling) there can often be gaps through which pests migrate. It is advisable to seal these gaps, for example, with alabaster or mounting foam;
As well as through holes for sockets in the walls, when, in fact, two neighboring rooms directly communicate through such holes - then wood lice can easily enter the apartment from neighbors. In this case, it is advisable to seal the space behind the outlet with the same alabaster or non-combustible mounting foam.

It is also useful to read: What types of wood lice can be found in an apartment or house

After the indicated ways of penetration of wood lice into the apartment are blocked, it remains, in fact, only to get rid of the pests already in the room.But, as practice shows, they process the apartment here, who is in a lot of things - and they just don’t use it: someone sprays a strong solution of salt, someone prefers soda, and some residents don’t even mind breathing kerosene, smearing it liberally on the walls ( the possibility of ignition of kerosene is apparently not taken into account).

So, instead of dubious "grandmother's recipes", it will be much more effective to use modern insecticidal preparations, the range of which, let's take a closer look ...

The main means of destruction of wood lice

Despite the fact that, as noted above, wood lice are not insects, their belonging to crustaceans does not in the least prevent them from being poisoned by the same drugs that are successfully used today to get rid of various domestic insects. In some respects, wood lice are even more vulnerable than, for example, bedbugs or fleas, since they willingly eat poisoned baits and die en masse after that (and fleas and bedbugs feed only on blood, so only contact insecticides are effective against them).

So, you can get rid of wood lice in the house with several types of insecticidal agents:

Insecticide aerosols sold in cans - Kombat Superspray, Dichlorvos of various brands (Neo, Eco, Varan and others), Raptor from crawling insects, Clean House aerosol and some others. Aerosol preparations are advisable to use when wood lice are localized in one small room (and this happens most often - pests usually populate either a toilet or a bathroom).But getting rid of wood lice in an entire private house, a large basement or in a cellar with the help of aerosols alone can be quite problematic, since many spray cans are required and, moreover, such drugs for the most part do not have a prolonged effect;
Insecticide concentrates for dilution and spraying in the form of a spray - Get, Delta Zona, Xulat Micro, Cucaracha, Tsifox, Taran, Tetrix, etc. These preparations are not only highly effective (some of them are used by pest control services), but also economical to use and allow get rid of wood lice at a relatively small financial cost over a large area. It is especially important that such products as Get, Xulat Micro, Delta Zone and Lambda Zone belong to the so-called microencapsulated preparations - they have increased efficiency against crawling insects, prolonged action and are adapted for domestic use (in particular, they are practically odorless and buy they can be in a small package);
Insecticidal powders, today often called dusts in the old fashioned way (although they have nothing to do with the banned DDT). Powdered insecticides are usually scattered around the perimeter of the bathroom, toilet, kitchen. For example, Phenaksin, Riapan, Neopin powders, Chisty Dom insect dust, etc. are used. The problem is that not all wood lice will crawl on the floor, many of them will prefer to huddle on the walls, so the insecticide will not work on them. Therefore, the use of powdered insecticides should be considered only as an auxiliary measure - in addition to other preparations.The same applies to powdered boric acid - it really helps to get rid of wood lice, but not all wood lice will die if you just scatter boric acid on the floor;
Insecticide pencils (crayons) are a very good way to deal with wood lice in residential areas. Firstly, in relation to insecticidal crayons, woodlice are much more vulnerable than cockroaches, since more poison sticks to the flat segmented bodies of moisture-loving pests. Secondly, pencils are convenient to use on vertical surfaces. Thirdly, insecticidal pencils can be used as so-called barrier means - if you draw several lines, for example, along the perimeter of the vent, then even if wood lice penetrate this hole into the apartment, almost all of them will die when crossing the drawn “barrier”.

Review

“The best way to get wood lice out in the bathroom is chalk from cockroaches Masha. I have tried a lot of products, but this is the best. Now I only collect corpses from the floor, in recent months I have already taken out several hundred. Once a month you renew on the walls and on the floor and that’s it, then they die on their own ... "

Oleg, St. Petersburg

Gels from cockroaches and domestic ants. Such gels are also quite attractive for wood lice, so they also allow them to be destroyed. In terms of effectiveness, gels are comparable to insecticidal crayons, however, just like crayons, they do not allow you to quickly get rid of wood lice, and the process of destroying pests can take several weeks;
Sticky traps, usually used to fight cockroaches and ants, also work against wood lice, but in general this tool is ineffective and more suitable for prevention - that is, for catching single individuals who still managed to get into the apartment (and especially if in I don’t want to use “chemistry” as a means of prevention);
Poisoned baits - this method is more often used in the fight against cockroaches, but it also allows you to get rid of wood lice in the apartment, since they also willingly eat various foods from the human table. The classic version is a mixture of boronic acid and egg yolk. However, it should be borne in mind that a mixture of egg yolk with a concentrated insecticidal preparation (Xulat Micro, Lambda Zone, Delta Zone) will be even more effective.

In addition, wood lice almost instantly die when treated with steam or hot air with a temperature above 70 ° C. If you can use a steam cleaner or hair dryer, and the wood lice themselves are within reach, then this method can be a good alternative to using chemicals. But in this case, you will not have to count on long-term preventive protection of the premises.

We poison wood lice with insecticides

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

It is also useful to read: What are wood lice able to eat in natural conditions and human housing

And what do you think is the most important thing when choosing and using insecticidal preparations? Their effectiveness? 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 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, numerous cases of poisoning of people and domestic animals with toxic insecticidal preparations are known, and, unfortunately, this did not always end happily.

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 penetration of wood lice into the apartment from the outside has been blocked. Otherwise, you will have to poison pests with “chemistry” again and again;
Do not chase the highest efficiency of the drug. It would be much more correct to focus on the relative safety for humans and animals, as well as the absence of an unpleasant odor;
A combination of a fast-acting preparation (aerosols, sprays) and a slow-acting but long-acting agent (insecticide sticks, gels) in most cases can give a better effect than using one thing alone;
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.

What is useful to know about folk remedies for wood lice

Sometimes, to get rid of wood lice, it is recommended to use the following popular folk recipe: in 1 liter of water, it is recommended to stir 3 grams of tobacco, red pepper and table salt, and then treat the bathroom, toilet and wet corners in the apartment with the resulting solution.

Needless to say, the method is not the most convenient (as, indeed, most other folk recipes on this topic) - not only will red pepper and tobacco stick to the surface, but also the persistent tobacco aroma will obviously not add comfort to the apartment. It should be understood that the main damage to wood lice in this case will be caused by nicotine contained in tobacco leaves and which is a highly effective insecticide. With the same success, you can replace nicotine with modern, odorless insecticidal preparations (some of which have been noted above).

On a note

As for table salt and alum, found in some folk recipes for getting rid of domestic wood lice, these substances are not insecticides and do not kill the pest. However, on surfaces irrigated with solutions of these substances, woodlice are avoided.

Of particular note are attempts to use kerosene, gasoline and white spirit against wood lice: yes, these liquids are really capable of destroying wood lice, as well as various insects - in particular, by creating a thin oily film on their surface, impermeable to atmospheric oxygen. However, first of all, it should be borne in mind that kerosene, gasoline and white spirit are highly flammable substances.Moreover, a mixture of gasoline and air vapors, when accumulated in a closed room (for example, in a bathroom), can explode from the slightest spark.

As you can see, getting rid of wood lice with the help of folk remedies can potentially be far from being as safe for health as it might seem at first glance.

It is interesting

In some cases, you can gradually get rid of wood lice in the country, in a greenhouse or in an apartment using homemade traps.

The first option: in the half of a potato tuber, the middle is simply cut out and a hole is made near the cut line. Then this half is laid with a cut on the floor (or in a flower pot, if wood lice harm houseplants) and left for a day. Woodlice will gather in such a “house”, where food and water are constantly present, and once every few days, pests can be shaken out of the trap;

The second option: a damp bath broom is used as an attractive shelter for wood lice. Pests also like to gather under the leaves of such a broom, and all that remains is to periodically shake it out on the street.

But at the same time, you need to be well aware that no traps will solve the problem if, for example, from a damp attic of a house, wood lice continue to penetrate dozens of dwellings.

We get rid of wood lice in the center of their reproduction

In most cases, wood lice penetrate apartments either from damp attic spaces, especially when the roof has leaked out, or from damp basements. The same applies to private houses.

Along with measures to block the entry of pests into living quarters, it is also useful to try to get rid of the main breeding ground for wood lice - that is, to destroy them directly in the attic or basement.And here two highly effective options can be used:

You can get rid of wood lice in the classic way - by spraying a solution of an insecticidal agent. In particular, one bottle of Delta Zone or Lambda Zone preparations with a volume of 50 ml is enough to process about 100 square meters of area. One 100 ml Get bottle is also enough to treat 100 sq. m. One bottle of Xulat Micro with a volume of 30 ml is enough to process 40 square meters. m. Examples are products that have practically no unpleasant odor and after using which the treated surfaces will be unsuitable for life not only for wood lice, but also for other unwanted animals (fleas, ants, cockroaches ...);
Or you can use a simpler, but no less effective way - to process the attic or basement of the house with the so-called insecticidal-repellent smoke bomb. Preference should be given to smoke bombs with permethrin as an active ingredient - they are very effective and, most importantly, relatively safe for humans. Examples of such bombs are smoke bombs from mosquitoes Quiet Evening, City, and some others. After their use, all insects in a closed room will die, and a thin layer of permethrin will remain on the surfaces, which will provide long-term protection of the room from repeated reproduction of wood lice.

On a note

Instead of insecticidal-repellent smoke bombs, sulfur smoke bombs (Fas, Climate, etc.) can also be used to kill wood lice, but the effect in this case will be, firstly, lower, and, secondly, there will be no long-term residual protective effect.

If you have personal experience of getting rid of wood lice in an apartment or a private house, be sure to share it by leaving your feedback at the bottom of this page (in the comment box).