Travel Tips

Killing Common Indoor Bugs

Some of the most common indoor bugs we see all over the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. Nobody likes to see a bug indoors, so most people will go to just about any extremes to get rid of these common indoor bugs. The less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are no less wanted.

No matter where you are 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 shut all of the time, which is quite impossible. I now live in Thailand and I know for certain that this is not an option.

So, just what can you do about it? Well, let’s deal with all the flying insects first, because of all the common indoor bugs, I find them the most unpleasant indoor bug. They are very annoying, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can produce painful sores and besides that, all flies carry disease. I cannot bear to see them walking on food, knowing that they have more than likely just come off some dung heap somewhere and now they are spitting on my food to taste it with their dirty feet!

My first line of defence is fine-mesh door and widow screens. They are not dear and can be added retrospectively to any window. My window meshes slide, so they can cover only one half of a window at a time, but I do not find that a problem. You can still create cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposite sides 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 burn as little light indoors as possible in order not to draw these common indoor insects.

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 struggle its way through the wires.

My third line of defence is a handheld 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 brilliant at catching and annihilating any flying bug. The inset 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 satisfying. 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 self-closers will keep 95% of them out and the Geckos will help too. Spiders can get in fairly easily, but then, I don’t mind them too much as long as they keep out of my way, as they eat other insects too. They are on our side really. However, for those who can not bear to catch them and throw them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works well on spiders too.

Fleas can 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 those common indoor bugs under control quite easily. However, there are two final measures that we use. 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 stick with these measures, you should 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 are interested in getting an indoor bug zapper, please click one of the links to our web site or blog.

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