Some of the most common indoor bugs we see anywhere in the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. No-one likes to see a bug in the house, so most people will go to almost any extremes to eradicate these common indoor bugs. The less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are not less unwelcome.

No matter where you are in the world, it can be 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 deal with all the flying bugs first, as of all the common indoor bugs, I think they are the most obnoxious indoor bug. They are very annoying, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can produce painful sores and besides that, all flies spread disease. I hate to see them strutting about on food, knowing that they have probably 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 will cover only one half of the window at a any one time, but I do not think that’s a problem. You can still create cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposite sides of a room. I like to see the flies on the mesh struggling to get in by day and the mosquitoes doing the same by night. At night, it is wise to switch on as little light indoors as possible in order not to attract 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. I can’t say I’m all that keen on them indoors myself, but they are hard to keep out and they do consume hundreds, if not thousands, of indoor bugs every day. I like to see them lying in wait on the outside of the mesh, ready to pounce 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 toy tennis racquet. The come in two forms: battery and rechargeable kinds. They are brilliant at catching and annihilating any flying indoor 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 keep our house pretty much free of flies.

The creeping 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 pretty 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 to be honest. However, for those who can not bear to catch them and throw them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works a treat 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 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 methods, 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.

Tags: Travel Tips

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