How To Get Rid Of Water Bugs?
Water bugs are also called giant or toe-biters water bugs and they come from family of Hemiptera. South America, North America and East Asia are their native areas. The average length of water bug is 2 cm but they can grow up to 12 centimeters.
Learning more about water bugs
Water bugs feed on fish, amphibians and crustaceans. They attach themselves to an abject at the bottom of streams or ponds and wait for their prey. Water bugs have most painful sting of all insects.
Water bugs inject powerful digestive saliva when they attack their prey. The bite becomes worse if they keep on injecting saliva for longer period of time. Water bugs also liquefy muscle tissues, so the damaged caused by them may be permanent. In order to breathe, they need to come out of water. Water bugs seem to be dead but they are not if large predator or human is near. They inject the fluid by tricking you. So the bitten area becomes more painful when they come alive again.
Water bugs can easily enter through window openings so window screens should be used to prevent water bugs from entering your home.
As the water bugs are considered pests, so you should get rid of them by applying following methods.
Controlling the population of Water bugs
• Borax – Borax can be used in dark areas and over cracks and baseboards but it should be kept away from the reach of children and pets. You should sprinkle borax outside your home as water bugs come from river, streams or swimming pool near your home. The small amount of powder kills the entire colony once any water bug takes it to their den as borax sticks to their legs.
• Screens and BTIs – Water bugs that bite your skin and suck your blood can be killed by using screens and BTIs. BTIs stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, also called mosquito dunks. You should drop some BTIs into the pond or streams every 30 days. The larvae are killed by BTIs even before they are fully developed.
• Soap detergents –Drop few tablespoons of dish detergent into your pool. E.g. lemon joy is commonly used. Before turning off the pool pump, let the detergent sit on water until dark. Turn on pool lights, after this as water bugs are attracted to lights. Lemon joy covers the surface of the pool. As the water bugs go to surface for air, they are trapped under water and are not able to breathe. In the morning you will see dead water bugs floating on the surface. Next morning, the soap detergent gets neutralized.
• Pyrethrums –It is a challenge to get rid of water bugs from home. Use pyrethrums like ecozone pyrethrum insect powder to deal with water bugs. You can also use boric acid instead of pyrethrums. Clean the places where you think water bugs may hide.
The best way to get rid of water bugs is by eating them. People in Southeast Asia eat water bugs so don’t get astonished. Anyways above tips are helpful too.
Category: Home & Garden, Pest Control