What can be done against cellar lobsters in the house? Drive out and fight, of course

Wood lice are harmless to humans and pets. In nature they have an important ecological value, but once they have spread in the house or basement, they quickly become unwelcome "roommates". Before they are killed with radical methods, they can find their way back into nature alive with a few tricks and home remedies.

The habitat of the cellar isopods

The term cellar lobsters does not refer to it because they are only used in cellars find, but is based on the fact that in basements there is often a damp climate and, in addition, darkness prevalence. These are two things that attract basement woodlice, but they can also be found in bathrooms, in the attic, or in sheds and greenhouses.

They do not let people voluntarily prevent them from settling in suitable areas. In daylight they hide in dark places. This can be under cardboard boxes, laundry baskets, washing machines, shelves / cupboards or garbage bags. They don't just stay on the ground, but rather crawl up at every opportunity to look for food, especially in the dark and at night.

Perfect places to eat

This is one of the reasons why they are often drawn to damp rooms, because there they search for food for algae, mold and moss and usually find what they are looking for. But also withered fruit, leaves, wood, spider eggs as well as insect carcasses and animal droppings fill their stomachs. In particular, less inhabited or cleaned rooms such as basements and attics are particularly suitable here, provided they have a correspondingly high level of humidity.

Moving out of the garden

Basically, wood lice live in nature and can be seen more often, especially in damp spring and autumn. If they are looking for a dark hiding place during the day, they often come across small cracks in house walls or openings in windows and doors, so that they can get into houses. If they find no food and the necessary moisture there, they usually move back outside on their own. But that can take time. If you don't want to wait for it, you have to help to drive wood lice out of the house and / or to fight them.

Recognize the cause and eliminate it

If the small beetle-like creatures with the scientific name "Porcellio scaber" are possibly also in If crowds have crept into a room in the house, then it is high time to investigate the cause there. A high level of humidity is not so much the cause, it just attracts it. Somehow they must have made their way from the outside to the inside.

Damage to the structure

Where there is a lot of moisture, wall damage often occurs over time. Investigate whether there are any cracks in the masonry through which the woodlice may have come in. Window frames also often warp, especially if they are made of wood. Small gaps can also have formed here. Old windows and grilles can lose their tightness with increasing age and can leave small cracks. In order to combat the landlice, the cause must first be eliminated so that no new specimens can follow.

Food sources

If the Porcellio scaber find enough food sources in a moist environment, they stay, more are added and finally multiply on the spot. With a lifespan of around two years, entire invasions can form if you do not intervene and drive them away or fight them quickly. If you do not find any food in damp rooms, as already described under "Perfect places to eat", pull existing animals mostly leave voluntarily and with a growing number of crawling animals is not to calculate. Therefore, if you discover woodlice, you should always remove possible sources of food such as leaves, wood and fruit and, above all, potatoes. With a little luck, your problem will take care of itself with a few “roommates”. If that doesn't work or there are already too many, you have to use tricks to drive them away and force them to “move out”.

Get rid of wood lice

Fight by killing

Wood lice in the house are annoying and shouldn't be there either. However, sprays to control woodlice should be avoided. They are very valuable to nature and sprays are usually always aimed at killing the animals. There are environmentally friendly (organic) products, but here, too, killing is the result of the effect. That does not have to be, because you can also take with you naturalHome remedies without great effort.

Combat with mineral powder

When the porcellio scaber has spread around the house, you can fight it with a special mineral powder. Kieselguhr, also known as kieselguhr, is best. The main components are fossil diatoms. They have a sharp-edged surface. Scattered on the floor, the wood lice wander over them and tear their shell open in the process. As a result, you lose body moisture and dry out. Caution is advised when using diatomaceous earth, because the sharp elements could injure the respiratory organs when inhaled. Therefore, absolutely for a corresponding one Nose and mouth protection worry or at least hold your breath while distributing the mineral powder.

Of course, drive wood lice out of the house

Natural predators

Songbirds, mice and various species of toads are natural predators of woodlice. However, these are difficult to integrate into the living environment. Alternatively, roundworms can be used here. These are available from pet shops or gardeners. The roundworms or the stone nema carpocapsae do not eat the woodlice, but infect them with bacteria that lead to death in woodlice.

The problem with fighting in this way is how to make contact. Roundworms are not really mobile, so the Porcellio scaber are to be attracted to the roundworms. This can be done, for example, with special cellar trap, in which an attractant is present. This attracts the woodlice. If they are in the trap in which the roundworms were previously placed, they touch each other. The roundworms get into the digestive tract of the animals and distribute the bacteria inside the body. As a result, the woodlice die from it. The traps can also be used without roundworms and the woodlice can then be released outdoors.

Natural bait

If you want to sell Porcellio scaber, you can do this simply with potatoes or something similar. You should proceed as follows:

• Use withered fruit, rotten vegetables, or windfalls
• Cut a deep hole in potatoes, carrots or the like
• Lay out the prepared fruit / vegetables in the affected area
• The basement lice will now tamper with it and fall into the cavities
• Then collect the "bait" with the woodlice
• You can ideally release the captured animals in nature or dispose of them together with the attractants in the household waste

alcohol

Alcohol is effective in combating basement woodlice. This is placed in the room with the animals. Best suited Alcohol as a lure. Spreading alcohol over a large area on walls or the floor has a faster effect. Especially alcohol attracts the animals and stunned them by the smell of alcohol. You then only need to collect the stunned woodlice with a broom or vacuum cleaner and dispose of them quickly outside the house. Please note that the Porcellio scaber do not die from the alcohol, but are only put out of action for a few hours. Accordingly, a short term control whether anesthetized animals can be found so that they can be quickly "moved" out of the house.

sage

Driving away with sage leaves requires little effort. The basement louse doesn't like the smell. If she takes it, she runs away. Here it is of course advisable not to block the paths through which the woodlice found their way into the house beforehand.

Prevent a lobster infestation

So that you don't have the problem with Porcellio scaber or not again in your house If this happens, you should take the following tips as a preventive measure, especially in basements and attics keep:

• Avoid waterlogging / puddles at all costs
• Especially in spring and autumn, ventilate damp rooms at least two to three times (ventilate briefly but effectively)
• do not hang up damp laundry in storage or utility rooms
• Check window areas for existing structural damage such as cracks in walls or crevices and repair if they occur
• Attach mosquito nets to basement and attic windows
• Do not store any organic waste such as withered fruit or regularly check stocks for possible rotting
• Above all, regularly clean uninhabited storage and storage rooms so that dead insects and their droppings do not provide a source of food