Book Lice

[Kitty15]

Hi, I have the same problem here. I engaged the pest control to identify what kind of those little tiny brown insect that always crawl on my wall skirting ( below ). He told me its a booklice.

Anyone can tell me if I buy the dehumidifier will help?

As currently I'm pregnant so I do not wish to have chemical spray at the moment.

This booklice always be on my mattrass, bed frame too.

I have changed bedframe for twice and it's the same result.

If anyone has the same problem like mine, please share.

Thx

[Kate Smith]

using a fan does help circulate and dry out the area. You can turn it towards it. Once the area is dry they will not be able to feed on it. they need moisture to live.

I turn the fan facing the affected wall and doing this every day helps dry out.
If you can get rid of moisture they die. Using the aircon regularly helps too

for cup*** buy the hungry hippo containers and they suck out the moisture but need replacing more frequently

if your wall is an outside wall then the dampness is all the way through and its tougher to get it dry.
Spraying insecticide is toxic and short lived. the creatures will reappear with this method only.

[Coastal]

Living by the coast makes a big difference; you can leave all windows open to left the seabreeze in and this stops the air from getting stale inside the house. Mold spores don't stand a chance here.

[ex-pat]

I don't think head lice can live long off a head.  If they were fleas you would be getting bitten.  For mould problems use Oil of Cloves and wipe it on walls etc as it kills mould spores for good.

[EVDisinfection]

Dear all,
Book lice, these are the brown bugs, that do not fly, their bums are bigger than their front, These are usually found on the walls and ceilings - and their food source are the mold spores.
These are usually the first signs of a mold infection / outbreak. (This is different from the silver fish (found in books) and bed bugs (found in mattress))

We are help many households rid of the mold problem,

[Silver lining]

We  have just moved into a 9 year old hdb flat, staying on a high floor where we get a generous amount of sunlight in the day. Sometimes windy. We moved in after renovation completed about 5 months ago. This book lice issue was discovered recently and we did research on the internet. May home owners are facing similar issues.

Initially it didn't make any sense to me when my husband found out that they are actually book lice. We have not unpacked our books from the boxes since our move 5 months ago.  We planned not to do so until the study room is fully set up. So what book do they feed on? But like he said, butterfly doesn't mean it it likes to eat butter!

It's been raining in Singapore so there's so much moisture in our home. We leave the windows closed while we go to work, like other people do. We leave the windows open and switch on fans on weekends. So the first discovery were the moulds on our bedroom ceilings. We wiped the mould with dry cloth. But it kept coming back.

Back to the book lice, I first discovered these creepy crawlers in our study room, which like i said is not quite set up (so no books and furniture yet). This was about 4 weeks ago.There were some tiny dots on the wall. They're so tiny that I couldn't capture a picture. When i tried to put my finger on one of them, it jumped a few inches.  So I told my husband about this.

A week later, we decided to do spring cleaning when my husband noticed the ceilings of all our bedrooms were infested with these book lice and mould. I was so angry! We could actually saw tiny holes on our ceiling.  Very tiny! They are feeding on our paint!

The fact that i have a walk-in wardrobe in the master bedroom, i guess it has made things worse. My instincts led me to check my wardrobe. I was shocked to find white/brownish book lice crawling alone in sleeves, collars.... usually  on the underside of clothes. After i found 3 of them, I couldn't take it anymore but to wash everything in the wardrobe. Every single thing! Thank god i have a dryer at  home! So go inspect your wardrobe too! They're too tiny and they hide underneath your shirts and pants!

The logic which we could guess is the moisture has develop moulds on our clothes too so these creatures feed on the moulds. So for now, i am not putting the clean clothes back in the wardrobe. Not until the bugs are 100% gone! For now there is no lice in the wardrobe, still.... the moist and mould would warmly welcome their return! I can't afford another round of mass laundry!

For your info, these book lice come in 3 colours- black, brown and white.

It's upsetting to encounter this problem after moving into our new home for 5 months. We hope the rainy season will be over soon.

 Here's what we did during the spring cleaning:

1. Sprayed the ceilings with insecticide (Baygon)
2. Left the room for about half an hour
3. Vacuum the ceiling
4. Wiped the ceiling with a mixture of hot water and dettol

The ceilings were good until a few days later. These bugs were back!

And i've been observing that as days passed, they double in size! So next,we have planned to do the following:

1. Call the pest controller to kill the book lice
2. Call the disinfectant expert to get rid of the moulds
3. Paint the ceilings with 2 layers of sealant followed by a  layer of odourless Nippon Paint (anti- insect and moulds)
4. Buy a de-humidifier to suck in the moisture!

We have  just spent so much money on our renovation and now this! Sigh. Can't wait to get rid of them.

Any advise?

[inhabitants]

Silverfish are one of the oldest beings around - serious, I read that somewhere. So tough battle ahead - they're pretty resilent. They thrive on moisture.

I don't think they only like damp paper, they like damp fabric too - so beware holes in clothing.

[matilda may]

not silver fish, book lice.
I have them on my walls too. They are so small and I kill them with my bare hands by putting a piece of paper on them and squashing the critters. i think the ants and gheckos live on them.
My next plan of attack is to spray baygon on the walls and shut the doors for a few hours. Then vacuum them like last post. I think they live on the wooden floors and corners, cracks but we cant see them.
I guess the only answer is anti fungal paint. Oil kills fungus too any type of oil.

I have also been recently infested with spiders with invisible long legs.
In asia you need to vacuum regularly and use bagon in the house or the critters breed. Calling pest control is a waste of money i think. They live of moisture.

[Silver lining]

You may want to apply oil-based sealant on your ceiling. We are going to do that before painting the ceiling with angi-fungal paint. We read this on reno-talk. A DIY store also advised the same.

Also, you may want to get a de-humidifier to suck in the moist.

After all the hardwork, we're going to do weekly wiping of ceiling with those "magic clean" dry wipes to avoid any fungal breeding.

I truly hope these will work!

[Nikigal]

Hey, I also noticed these crawly bugs on my wall and ceiling recently not sure if they are book lice. I am also using the magic clean wipes to comb the affected areas. Since I have a dog, I bought this solution from pet shop previously that is used to kill ticks or fleas or lice. What I did was dilute the solution down w water into a spray can, then I spray it on the magic wipe before combing the walls and ceiling. Seems to work as I only see speckles of bugs when I do interval checks. I suppose we have to clean it regularly for at least a week to see the result or rather complete eradication of these pests. The solution is called Carrington's insecticidal. Can be quite choking, prob not good for pregnant mum to be ard when using.hope this helps.   

[Liliankoh]

Hey, I also noticed these crawly bugs on my wall and ceiling recently not sure if they are book lice. I am also using the magic clean wipes to comb the affected areas. Since I have a dog, I bought this solution from pet shop previously that is used to kill ticks or fleas or lice. What I did was dilute the solution down w water into a spray can, then I spray it on the magic wipe before combing the walls and ceiling. Seems to work as I only see speckles of bugs when I do interval checks. I suppose we have to clean it regularly for at least a week to see the result or rather complete eradication of these Pests. The solution is called Carrington's insecticidal. Can be quite choking, prob not good for pregnant mum to be ard when using.hope this helps.   

How much does it cost?

[Helping the ignorant]

Living here for more than 15 years, I still cannot wrap my mind around why people don't understand that HUMIDITY will not go away with opening the windows or having a fan blow.

If you open your windows you will get fresh air and a ton of humidity at the same time. The only, absolutely only way of removing humidity out of your place (and a lot of critters thrive in humid conditions and mold!)is running AC and even more important a electric dehumidifier. This was the first thing I bought when we started living here and the best thing if you don't want mold.

Forget your open window and sun and fans, get a dehumidifier and there will ne no mold ANYWHERE! Good Grief.

[Chirmin Buka]

Or you could open the windows. It'll lower the humidity.

[Matilda May]

where do you get clove oil?

I recently wiped my bed frame & table with furniture polish and I suspect they dont like the oil in it as they are not spreading as much

[sadstory]

@Helping the ignorant, cannot open the window? i realised if i open the window to allow fresh air come in to house, the humidity will increase. Your dehumidifier turn on for 24 hours. I bought a 20L dehumidifier. If i switch off the dehumidifier the humidity level will increase. I think switch on dehumidifier 12-24 hrs is waste of money and waste of electricity. I bought inverter system 2 and awaiting for installation. Master room humidity level is so higher than common room.

who staying near bt batok nature park. The humidity level is above 70 to 90. Mould like high humidity.

Can anyone advise me whether I should open the window or not. How can don't open the WINDOW for entire yr?