The common indoor bugs we see all over the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. No-one likes to see insects indoors, so most people go to just about any lengths to eradicate these common indoor bugs. Less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are no less unwelcome.
No matter where you live in the world, it is very hard to keep these common indoor bugs outside, unless you go to the extremes of keeping all your windows and doors closed at all times, which is quite impossible. I now stay in Thailand and I know for sure that this is not possible.
So, just what can you do about it? Well, let’s sort out all the flying insects first, because of all the common indoor bugs, I find them the most obnoxious indoor bug. They are very irritating, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can create irritating sores and besides that, all flies spread disease. I hate to see them walking on food, knowing that they have more than likely just come off some dog’s muck somewhere and now they are spitting on my food to taste it with their stinking feet!
My first line of defence is fine-mesh door and widow screens. They are not dear and can be fitted retrospectively to any window. My window meshes slide, so they can protect only one half of the window at a any one time, but I do not find that a problem. You can still create cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposing ends of a room. I just love to see the flies on the mesh trying to get in by day and the mosquitoes doing the same by night. At night, it is wise to turn on as little light indoors as possible in order not to draw these common indoor bugs.
My second line of defence is natural predators – lizards, like Geckos (Jin Jok, in Thai). Some people don’t like them in the house either and I can’t say that I’m all that keen on them indoors myself, but they are hard to keep out and they do eat hundreds, if not thousands, of indoor bugs every day. I particularly like to see them lying in wait on the outside of the mesh, ready to jump on any bug trying to wriggle its way through the wires.
My third line of defence is an indoor bug zapper. You know, the electric, handheld bug zapper that looks like a child’s tennis racquet. The come in two forms: battery and rechargeable kinds. They are fantastic at catching and annihilating any flying bug. The bug literally explodes and vaporizes on contact with the fully-charged wires of the indoor bug zapper. If you haven’t tried using one, you really ought to. They are most gratifying. These three defences will keep your house pretty much free of flies.
The crawling common indoor bugs are less of a problem really. Door screens on springs will keep 99% of them out and the Geckos will help too. Spiders can get in pretty very easily, but then, I don’t mind them too much as long as they keep out of my way, as they eat other bugs too. They are on our side really. However, for those who can not bear to catch them and put them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works well on spiders too.
Fleas can sometimes be a problem, if you have cats or dogs, but then if you wash or dust the animal once a month, you should be able to keep these common indoor bugs under control fairly easily. However, there are two final methods that we employ. Once a week, before we go out for the day, we spray every room with fly killer and every six-months we spray any rugs or carpets with an insect killer containing permethrin, which will survive washing and vacuuming for that long without losing its ability to kill common indoor bugs on contact. If you follow these methods, you will be able to keep your home or office quite free of the most common indoor bugs and any less common indoor bug too.
Have you ever used an indoor bug zapper? If not, or if you want to get an indoor bug zapper, please click one of the links to our web site or blog.