Booklice
Summary: Booklice belong to a group of insects known as the psocids. Booklice don't bite, but occasionally infest houses to the point that they become a problem.
Booklice are the nerds of the insect world. They are always reading old, musty tomes that haven't been lifted off the shelf in ages. What makes booklice so fond of old books?
Well, actually it is the microscopic mold or mildew that results when books are not sheltered from moisture that attracts the booklice. This is a great food source for book lice. Booklice like warm, dark, damp environments, so stored books can provide shelter and food for them at the same time. Booklice can also be commonly found in furniture, rugs, cupboards and closet. They will
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sometimes be attracted to stored food products like cereals or other grains. The tiny bugs can also live in straw, or the dust that collects on door frames and window sills.
Booklice are very small insects known as psocids. They are usually less than 1/16th of an inch long. They are colorless, grey or light yellow. They have soft bodies, chewing mouthparts and relatively long antennae. The head and abdomen appear large, while their middle section, the thorax, is narrow. This can give them a swollen appearance. Indoor booklice are usually wingless, but outdoor booklice have wings and are often called barklice because they inhabit the bark of trees. They resemble true lice, but booklice are not parasites and they do not live on or bite animals.
Booklice reproduce parthenogenically, which means that the females can produce eggs without ever mating. The eggs are white, oval, and covered with a crusty coating or strands of silk. Booklice live for thirty to sixty days, and their populations grow more quickly during humid weather.
If an outbreak of booklice occurs inside, it is probably due to excessive moisture. Booklice like to feed on mold, so eliminating wet spots created by leaking pipes or air conditioning units can help take away the places the booklice can survive. Adding a fan or dehumidifier to a damp room, along with allowing sunlight in, can help eliminate conditions favorable to booklice. Bring the humidity levels down below 50%.
Booklice will sometimes infest cereals and similar food products that get moldy. If booklice have infested a stored food product you can kill the insects by freezing the product for several days or by heating in the oven at 200 degrees for half an hour. Many pesticides containing pyrethrin or cyfluthrin are available as aerosol sprays, dusts, or emulsifiable concentrates and can be used to kill booklice, as well. Make sure that the pesticide you choose is labeled for crawling insects like booklice, and don't spray or apply pesticides near food or places children play.
Booklice don't damage clothing or furniture, unless those items are moldy, but, nonetheless, a serious infestation can make your skin crawl. Use good hygienic practices like regular dusting and vacuuming to prevent a booklice infestation. For a large infestation that is difficult to control you might want to call a professional pest control service However, if you see just one, perhaps perusing an old copy of Moby Dick, then you might be inspired to pick up and read one of the long-neglected books in your library.
By the way, if booklice have you jumping off the deep end you can hire a company like ThermaPure to heat treat your home. It's expensive, but the heat kills all the stages of the insect including the eggs.
Comments
19 Aug 2009, 16:08
19 Aug 2009, 16:38
I have/had them in living room/kitchen and bathroom in my apartment, so they will be in different rooms if there's the right conditions. If your back porch is more humid than the rest of your house, and you take care of this right away, you probably don't need to worry, but try to keep the humidity in the rest of your house low.
25 Aug 2009, 06:33
31 Aug 2009, 01:17
I am looking into dehumidifiers, does anyone have any suggestions of good ones to look at (under the $200 mark)?
02 Sep 2009, 17:48
I have done a lot of research into the dehumidifiers since having these bugs. I would try a GE if I were you. I first purchased a Sunpentown, which takes water out, but when the power goes out, it doesn't come back on. I think they may have new models that have fixed that (not sure.) With one that comes back on, you can put it on a timer if you want to. The GEs usually have timers to go off after a certain amount of time anyway, but often if you let it control itself instead of running continuously, it will turn off and on every few minutes. Gauging what size to get is confusing. My apartment is about 650 sq ft and I think the 50-60 pint ones work for me to keep it quite low, but it also depends on how humid it is where you live. Good luck. Also, try to look at the wattage because that will tell you how much it costs to run. Running one continuously is expensive.
02 Sep 2009, 20:25
I'm not too worried about the cost to run it, I live in university housing and I don't pay utility fees.
I will look into GE's though
02 Sep 2009, 20:40
14 Sep 2009, 15:16
18 Sep 2009, 08:20
Are there any sprays you know of that I can use for spot treatment?
I have thrown so much out - truckloads to the dump - and spent so much on large laundry and drycleaning. I'm ready to move but with an earlier post of it happening to someone with a house 1 year old I guess that is not a sound option.
28 Sep 2009, 14:54
07 Oct 2009, 03:34
09 Oct 2009, 08:17
I believe the source is from a leak inside my bathroom wall. We have a slab floor so our toilet connects to the sewage pipe inside the wall (not below the floor). It doesn't seem to be well-connected because the wall shows evidence of water. The building has reconnected my toilet to the pipe more than once and this seems to be the best they can do. So I'm wondering if a dehumidifier would do anything for me, since the humidity (and mold) is inside the wall?
21 Oct 2009, 13:29
As far as a dehumidifier I say it couldn't hurt but I don't know that it is a great long-term solution if there is mold already; however, I am not an expert.
Good luck!
28 Oct 2009, 00:58
31 Oct 2009, 12:59
31 Oct 2009, 15:44
04 Nov 2009, 07:45
Regards, Linda
03 Dec 2009, 15:00
I tried opening all the windows in my room and turning off the heater, but the little buggers just won't die!!
i can't afford a humidifier and these little creatures are driving me mad, i keep seeing them everywhere. I've hoovered my room and some books, but i had a big folder and i found about 30 of them in there. Please does anyone have any advice about how to get rid of these without a humidifier?
05 Jan 2010, 16:31
I know exactly what are you going through. I have these horrible bugs for 4 years now and it is very difficult to get rid of them. I have found them everywere. On the furniture, shoes, cloths, in the kitchen and the bathroom. I had never seen such bugs before until I moved into the flat where there were lots of them. I have spoted them after a few weeks living in there and I started to spray everything I could. It did not work. I have thrown away lots of things, washed all cloths and moved away hopping that the problem is sorted out. I was wrong! I found them again. I bought more sprays for crawling insects thinking that I have killed them all but wrong again. I have called in pest control and they have sprayed my house 6 times. The amount of booklice decreased but there are still in especially on our cloths. I have washed all cloths twice in 60 degree and some of them had to be thrown away as the high temperature damaged the cloths however some of them survived on the cloths. I feel hopless and I do not know what else to do.
03 Feb 2010, 09:36

