Any bug infestation can become a nuisance if let go out of hand. While some bugs can be completely harmless, they can still become annoying in no time. From finding them in every nook and corner to them buzzing in your ears, bugs can test your patience.
Very often, there are these distinct tiny red bugs that you can spot around your house. Depending on their nature, those little red bugs could be clover mites, chigger mites, or red spider mites. They are all commonly spotted inside and outside your home. These bugs are about a millimeter long and are roughly more diminutive than a pinhead. The color of these bugs is known to be different depending on their age and the species that they belong to. As they age, some go from a bright red to a darker brown shade, while others are orange. These bugs are often found in more significant numbers and cause a lot of nuisance by damaging your yards and plants and sometimes biting you and making you fall sick.
There are several causes behind red bug infestations, such as;
Environment:
These bugs are known to develop and thrive in warmer, humid climates. You can easily spot them in grassy areas, forests, and fields. Keeping a check on the humidity levels is vital, especially if you can foresee bug infestation. Tall grass, dense vegetation, and moisture can significantly contribute to a bed bug infestation.
Human carriers:
Carrying out outdoor activities in possible infected areas can easily lead to red bug infestations. Hiking, camping, and gardening are a few examples of outdoor activities that could lead you to become carriers of bed bugs and also increase the infestation probability. Rodents, birds, and domestic pets like dogs and cats can get these red bugs attached to themselves and carry them around and into your house. You can let bed bugs into your home by entering your home or coming directly into contact with infected animals.
Lacking Pest Control:
Keeping a check on pest control measures is essential for anyone who wants to keep these bugs at bay. By taking specific preventive measures, such as regularly mowing lawns, removing weeds, and maintaining cleanliness in outdoor areas, you can help reduce the probability of red bugs infesting your home.
Lacking Personal Protection:
Anywhere you can be suspected of a possible red bug infestation, you must take the necessary precautions to protect and safeguard yourself. Failure to do so can lead to you getting infected too.
How to prevent mites and get rid of them?
Spray your outdoor plants with insecticides
One of the first things you can do in your garden upon spotting a mite is to spray it with insecticide. You can fill up a spray bottle with liquid insecticide or acaricide. Spray your plants meticulously and coat them with this mite-killing spray to kill the existing mites and prevent more of them from crawling there.
Watering your lawns
Even though mites come in looking for moisture, they never lay their eggs on moist grass; they prefer dry land and areas. As a preventive measure, you can nicely water all those dry patches and places in your garden. This will prevent the eggs from hatching and not let them lay any more of them, either.
Vacuuming Indoor Bugs Away
One of the best and easiest ways to deal with any indoor bug infestation has got to be to suck them away, literally! All these mites do find their way inside your home during cooler months of the year, so you can easily vacuum them out if you spot many of them anywhere together in your house. Pro-tip; they are mostly found near windowsills and entrances of your home, so you can start by looking there first.
Spray them with insecticides
Another great way to go by is using indoor-safe insecticides. Like all those sprays for dealing with mosquitoes and flies, certain pesticides are considered safe and formulated to be used indoors. Any pesticides containing permethrin, diazinon, bifenthrin, or chlorpyrifos are great for tackling all kinds of mites.
Protect your pets
All furry buddies can become a temporary home for these annoying mites, because of which it becomes even more essential for you to take extra precautions for them. Wash your pets thoroughly with insecticidal soap and only animal-safe insecticidal soap. This will kill away any existing mites on them and ensure that no mites can come and settle on them.
Use boric acid-containing detergents
Boric acid is a potent repellent for such tiny red bugs. You can sprinkle powder detergent everywhere you see mites or even where you suspect them hiding. The chemical compound in boric acid chases mites away, so that you can use this method for prevention and damage control.
If you have a liquid detergent containing boric acid, you can also use it to repel these bugs. All you have to do is take some of that detergent in a spray bottle, mix it with some water, and use it to spray on the mites directly. While these bugs can dodge and avoid sprinkled detergent powder, they cannot get away when you are spraying directly on them with a boric acid solution.
Use double-sided tape
You can lay double-sided tape on all the walls, windowsills, and doors where you feel like mites are crawling in. These tapes can be applied to covering as many areas as you wish and will capture all the mites that step on them, leaving them stuck to die. You can strategically place it only on places of concern and replace it when it gets filled with dead mites.
Replace foliage with flowers
Mites are very attracted to foliage plants since they mainly feed on them and use them to lay their eggs. One great way to resolve or prevent a mite problem is by replacing all kinds of foliage plants surrounding your house (especially those touching any wall of your home) with flowers and shrubs such as roses, chrysanthemums, junipers, spruces, or geraniums. These flowers will not only make your lawn look very pretty, but they will also prevent mite infestation and growth.
Any home with a pretty garden is bound to have its fair share of insects and bugs. Regardless of how well you care for your plants, certain things are part of the package and cannot be withdrawn. The point here is to ensure that no matter how much you love and enjoy gardening, it shouldn’t cause any nuisance that can crawl into your home.
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