If you’re sitting at your desk right now, or on the couch with your laptop, you probably read that title and instantly took a look around. You checked the walls, the floor, and ceiling for any sign of these common bugs I’m warning you about.
And you probably didn’t see any. But here’s the thing, bugs are like stealth experts, and even if you keep your house really clean, they’ll find a way in and they know how to hide from you. Well sort of, it’s more that they just prefer to stay in environments that we tend to not be able to see.
Behind cabinets, burrowed into walls, holes in the floor, that sort of place. But they are there, and chances are there are a lot of bugs in your home right now that you didn’t even know existed.
A lot of them are harmless, but there are definitely some which can cause problems and which you should take some measures to get rid of the bugs. Let’s take a look at some common bugs which you may not realize you’re sharing your home with:
1. Carpet Beetles
Carpet beetles are often hard to spot until you’re already dealing with an infestation of them. Even when full-sized, these guys are only about 1-4 mm in length and by the time they’re full-sized they’ve already caused all the damage they’re going to cause.
The reason why they have the name ‘carpet beetle’ is because the larvae’s diet tends to be entirely made up of natural fiber, which means things like wool, silk and leather. So what happens is the adults will fly in through open windows and lay eggs on such materials
So your couch, your bed, rugs, that sort of thing. The larvae hatch and they can eat holes out of all of these different materials. If you can see this kind of damage, you might be dealing with a carpet beetle infestation. (And yes, Sterifab is proven to kill these beetles.)
2. House Centipedes
I know it’s a scary thought that you are sharing your house with centipedes, but it’s not quite as bad as it sounds. When we hear the word ‘centipede’, we think of those giant desert centipedes with their exceptionally painful bites.
House centipedes can bite too but it’s not that painful or dangerous and it’s unlikely unless you handle them. The issue with these is that they are hard to get rid of because they are so fast and they’re also nocturnal so you won’t see them during the day.
3. Bed Bugs
Bed bugs aren’t exactly an obscure insect, most people are aware of their existence, however, we don’t tend to think that we’ll actually personally have to deal with them. We just warn our kids about them as a joke when they’re going to sleep.
But bed bugs are common, and you might not realize you have them until a few days after you’ve been bitten when the affected areas become itchy and painful. If you do have an infestation, it’s not going to go away by itself.
Once they find a place to feed, the bed bugs will get comfortable and will lay their eggs nearby. You will probably need to get professional help, and once they’ve been exterminated you should take measures to prevent any more from coming back in the future.
4. Firebrats
Firebrats look a little bit like centipedes but with significantly less legs and their bodies are usually black. Much like their cousins, the more common silverfish, firebrats aren’t exactly harmful to humans, but they will infest your food if left to their own devices.
The thing about these creatures is that they thrive in very hot, dark environments and won’t come out of such an environment until at night when they feed. So they are easy enough to get rid of if you just lower the temperature of your house. For more details about how to manage a firebrat infestation, check out our article, Hexapods or Firebrats: The Household Pest You Should Probably Be Worrying About
5. Camel Crickets
As you would expect from crickets, and as is apparently becoming a common theme among most of the creatures on this list, these guys only come out at night. But they are a problem because they will eat almost anything.
An infestation of camel crickets will spell disaster for your food supply and they are also an indication that you have cracks and holes which bugs are finding their way into the house through.
If you’re having issues with food being eaten in your cupboards, and you think you might have camel crickets, then you should lay glue traps around and make a point of sealing up any cracks you can find.
6. Pillbugs
You’ve definitely seen these around before but you might know them by a different name, they are often referred to as the ‘roly poly’. Interestingly enough, these are closely related to lobsters and they like to be near water because they can’t breathe if they dry out.
They’re not going to do an awful lot of damage and can actually be a beneficial presence in the garden, but they also multiply quite quickly and it's not nice to have an abundance of these crawling around.
If you have them in your home, it’s a sign that you might be dealing with dampness in your home which can lead to mold and mildew and you might have some ventilation issues.
7. Flour Bugs
These are a member of the beetle family and as you may have guessed from their name, they are quite fond of flour. They actually just really like carbs in general and so if you leave boxes of cereal or loafs of bread exposed, the flour bugs may get at them.
Unlike other bugs, they will actually live in a box of cereal or a bag of flour and lay their eggs there. The only way to get rid of them is throw the food away and make sure that in the future you store your food in tightly sealed containers.
These are the kinds of bugs that a large number of households are dealing with all the time. As you can see, most of them aren’t hugely dangerous or harmful, which is probably why they don’t get talked about too much.
But they are a nuisance and can cause some very irritating problems so if you see any evidence of any of these bugs, it’s best to deal with them as quickly as possible.
So what’s the bottom line?
Regardless of where you live, your home is likely to be intruded eventually by some kind of bug or pest. But that doesn’t mean you have to panic. With the right product and a little bit of know-how, you can get rid of most of these bugs quickly, safely and without leaving a trace? Sterifab, an insecticide, fungicide, virus-killer and odor-neutralizing agent in-one will do the trick.
