Surprisingly, many people have never heard of one of the most common and dangerous pests - the skin beetle. This small and very unpleasant insect lives in many houses, spoils food and furniture, but homeowners do not even know who gives them so much trouble. So, get acquainted - the kozheed beetle. How to get rid of this pest, why it is dangerous and how to find it in your home - this is the topic of today's article.
Who is he
If you have at least once met a small black or brown bug in your apartment, and more than one, you should definitely read this article carefully. It is likely that a kozheed beetle has settled in your house. If, having heard its name, you decided that this small insect feeds exclusively on skin, then you are very much mistaken. Unfortunately, there are very few inedible things for these nasty insects. Glue, fabric, cardboard, food - this is not a complete list of "sweets" thatwith pleasure they will try such bugs on the tooth. With the same success, they will not disdain products made of wood, plastic and even concrete. Therefore, if you suddenly find such a “little animal” at home, you need to get rid of it urgently.
Types of kozheedov
The kozheed beetle is a common name for a large number of species of this insect. Let's take a look at some of them:
- Carpet beetle. This is the name of a whole group of pests, which includes 3-4 more subspecies. These are small (2–4 mm) brown bugs that can feed only on the smallest particles of organic debris - pieces of cat hair, small crumbs, human skin flakes, and so on. It is noteworthy that such a bug feeds only at the larval stage, and adults consume the subcutaneous "fat" that they accumulated at the initial stages of their development.
- Ham leather-eater. These bugs are most common on the Eurasian continent. The insect very quickly and easily penetrates the dwelling and instantly lays a large number of larvae. It looks like a small black oblong bug with a yellowish-gray color on parts of both wings.
- Subny kozheed. Black in color with five white dots on the back. Despite its name, this bug does not eat fur coats and other things. He is attracted exclusively to food products. Perhaps this is the most harmless kind of kozheedov.
- Brownie and Museum. Most often, such insects start and breed in flowers and stuffed animals. In houses and apartments, despite the name, there areextremely rare.
- Kozheed Smirnova. Brown bug no larger than 3 mm. Most often lives on window sills and in window frames.
- Kozheed Frisha. Just like the brownie (museum), this small black bug is almost impossible to meet in apartments.
Where do they come from
The kozheed beetle enters a person's home in many ways: through open windows, with flowers and furniture, clothes and shoes that have been in the infected room for some time. They get into houses easily and imperceptibly, for some time you will not even know about the new “neighbors”. But getting rid of them is sometimes very difficult, in especially neglected cases, you may even need the help of specialists.
Development and reproduction
To understand how long the fight against these pests can take, let's look at the stages of development of the kozheed beetle. Females can lay their larvae anywhere: on the surface of various materials, in the crevices of the floor and walls, in furniture, and so on.
Depending on the temperature in the room, the period of the birth of a new population can be from two to fifty days. The drier and warmer the room, the faster the process. Each female is capable of laying about a hundred eggs during the period of her life, and under the conditions of the temperature and humidity conditions of an apartment, kozheedy beetles can produce 4-5 offspring per year.
The larva of the kozheed beetle molts 6–7 times with a break of 5–9 days, and before the pupation stage it can gnaw long (up to 10 cm) passages even in those materialsthat are not used for food. Thus, it is the larvae that cause the greatest damage to the premises and people.
What harm can bugs do
So, you got a skin beetle. How dangerous is such a "neighbor" and how to get rid of it? First of all, kozheedy destroy all things made from materials of animal origin: fluff, leather, fur, felt, silk, wool and others. They also like to nibble on food products: dried and dried meat and fish, cheese, milk and cereals. Then they will not disdain books, especially old ones. Their bindings contain glue, which they also "respect" a lot.
In especially neglected cases, skin beetles can harm wires and cables, for example, from a computer, gnaw on furniture, especially upholstery, picture frames, “gobble up” wallpaper, especially natural ones, and gnaw on parquet.
Where to find a kozheeda in the apartment
You can find insects in the apartment in many places. Most often they nest in warm and dry places - in mattresses, sofas, in the kitchen, near radiators. First of all, carefully inspect the upholstery of sofas, armchairs and other upholstered furniture - leather-eaters treat these places with special trepidation. Sometimes it happens that homeowners do not pay attention to insects until one of the beetles, without calculating the flight path, crashes directly into the forehead of the owner. Despite the fact that adults fly well, they are quite plump and do not always successfully reach the target the first time.
Most often, it is very difficult to detect a pest breeding center. Beetle kozheedchooses for reproduction such places where it is very difficult to reach, for example, under the baseboard and in the air bubble under the wallpaper. Also, window frames and window sills, flower pots, ceiling lamps and lamps with a lot of details can become a breeding ground.
Physical remedies
There are several options for how to breed skin beetles. First of all, you need to try to get rid of them physically, for example, to process all suspicious places with a vacuum cleaner. This should be done at least twice a day for 7-10 days. The vacuum cleaner bag must be thoroughly shaken out each time, and even better, replaced with a new one. You can also use a water filter unit - this will ensure that the bugs do not crawl back.
In addition, all infected items and things need to be processed using a temperature difference - skin-eaters do not like this very much. In winter, you can take everything outside or onto the balcony and leave it there for several hours, and then bring it into a warm room. To enhance the effect, the procedure must be repeated several times. Also, all problem areas can be processed using a steam generator, such processing of skirting boards and hard-to-reach places is especially effective. The procedure should also be repeated several times.
Chemical exposure
What else can you do if you are overtaken by such a disaster as a kozheed beetle in an apartment. How to get rid of this misfortune if the previous methods did not help?
To be fair, simple physicalelimination can only help if the insects have settled in you recently and have not yet had much time to breed. In other cases, the use of chemicals, most likely, cannot be dispensed with. Here are some recipes.
After thorough cleaning, sprinkle boric acid powder in all accessible places, especially under carpets and near baseboards. Also for these purposes, the drug "Borax" is suitable.
To process small items, such as clothes, you can put them in a plastic bag along with the preparations "Executioner" or "Tetrix". These are specialized products that do not leave any stains or smell. Processing should be carried out within 3-4 hours, after which things should be washed and dried.
There are also aerosol preparations that destroy both adults and larvae. Since insect eggs are not damaged during such processing, the procedure should be repeated 2-3 times with an interval of 10-14 days. An example of aerosol preparations is Difox or the good old Dichlorvos.
Also, preparations for fighting moths are suitable for removing kozheedov beetles, but it is better to use them as an additional remedy. It is worth remembering that antimoles have only a short-term effect, but at the same time they are endowed with a strong smell, by the way, not always pleasant.
10 things you need to know about skin eaters
To effectively deal with skin beetles in a house or apartment, you just need to know some details about them:
- Pests are absolutely notaccept moisture. So regular wet cleaning with a steam generator will help get rid of the scourge once and for all.
- Despite the fact that skin beetles are omnivores, things of animal origin are of the greatest interest to them.
- Adults can fly around the house during the daytime, and hide at night. So you can lure them out by simply turning on the light - they will fly to the light bulb. However, the larvae cannot be lured out in this way.
- Like many other insects, skin beetles spoil things only at the larval stage. Adults do little to no harm (other than reproducing).
- The process of turning a larva into a beetle takes 2-3 months. This means that all this time the insect will actively eat, that is, gnaw on your furniture or boots.
- The larvae of all types of kozheeda do not tolerate light. Therefore, when processing, pay special attention to the inner surfaces of cabinets, bedside tables and sofas, as well as other places where light does not reach.
- Keeper beetle bites are not just quite painful. These insects can carry various diseases.
- Keeper larvae are much less susceptible to external influences than, for example, moth larvae. Therefore, antimoles alone are not enough to destroy them.
- If the climate is dry and warm indoors, the larvae will develop quickly and in large numbers. If the climate is changed to a more unfavorable one, then insects will develop more slowly, but there will be much more harm from them.
- The larvae of the kozheed beetle never sleep, they are always inmovement.
Preventive measures
If you managed to get rid of these small household pests, you should also take some measures to ensure that they do not appear in your home again.
- Wet clean your home as often as possible, preferably with a household steam generator.
- Spread sprigs of dry lavender, wormwood or moth remedies on the shelves of cabinets and bedside tables - leather-eaters don't like them either.
- Install windows and balconies with mosquito nets - in the summer, bugs often enter the room through the window.
- Check your closets often - get rid of old and unnecessary things without regret. Less junk means fewer bugs.
- During the preventive treatment of the premises with insecticides, do not forget to take care of personal safety - put on a disposable gown, gloves, goggles and a respirator.
And remember, the appearance of any insects in the house is easier to prevent than to eliminate, so keep your home clean, and then no insects are afraid of him.
