House Hold Pest

House Hold Pest

Control of pests in the house is an integral part of home management. Some insects do good, but most insects do harm. Some are the direct causes of disease while others are indirect forms. These pests can be divided into three types based on their tendencies-bloodsuckers, polluters of food and destroyers of property.

Ants: They live in colonies in soil and in garbage. They can be controlled by

Poisoning with sodium chloride by spraying it into cracks where they abide.

Keep the legs of food safes standing in vessels of water with a little oil.

Dust borax in their haunts.

White ants: These are most destructive of all household pests. They cause damage to wood and wooden articles. They can be controlled by

Wooden post erected on earth should have cement foundation.

If they are planted into the earth directly, the sunken part can be coated with thick tar.

Boiling water or kerosene may be used to kill them.

Cracks should be filled up with cement.

Bed Bugs: These are round flat insects reddish brown in colour. They live on human blood. They breed on crevices of walls, floors, beds and other furniture. They can be controlled by

Plastering crevices on ceilings, walls and floors.

Sun dry bed sheets, cloths and hangings at least once a week.

Spraying pyrethrum in crevices.

Fumigation with ethylene oxide.

Book lice: These pests devour the paste used for binding books and framing pictures. They sometime breed on mattresses and upholstered furniture. These can be controlled by airing the rooms every day.

Cockroaches: The colours vary from dark brown to black. They feed on leather, books, starchy fabrics and all kinds of food. They live in drains and pipes. They are found mostly in kitchen and dining rooms. The control measures are

Do not keep any food item open.

Using repellents like borax or pyrethrum powder.

Thorough cleaning to remove unpleasant odour.

Crickets: They cause a lot of damage to wood. The way of controlling them is to keep the areas clean or spray borax.

Houseflies: Flies are very dangerous insects as they play a major role in spreading diseases like typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, dysentery and diarrhoea. They can be controlled by

Cover all garbage items.

All food items should be covered.

Destroy the eggs with kerosene or borax.

Use flypapers made of 5 parts of castor oil and 8 parts of resin powder, to which flies will get stuck and die.

Mosquito: They suck blood, inject germs. There are different types of mosquitoes namely anopheles which causes malaria, culex which causes filaria and qedes which causes yellow fever. The control measures are

Stagnation of water should be avoided.

Wells and tanks should be covered properly.

D.D.T powder suspended in water can be sprayed.

Mosquito nets can be used over beds and windows to prevent entry of mosquitoes.

Kerosene can be sprayed in open drains to destroy larva.

Incense and other repellants like neem leaves, tobacco and camphor can be burnt.

Eucalyptus oil or lavender oil can be rubbed on the skin.

Silver fish: They attack paste used for bookbinding, framing pictures and starched clothes. The control measures are

Clean pictures, photograph and glass frequently.

Use D.D.T powder or pyrethrum powder.

Mice: They get attracted by the warmth of the building and the food in the house. They destroy clothes and newspapers. They can be controlled by blocking all possible points of entry and placing rodenticides.

Pests : This could be controlled to a greater extent if the house is kept clean. To keep the house clean, it is important to know the various ways of collecting and disposing waste in a hygienic manner.