I. General facts about bugs

“How do I get rid of bugs?” you may ask yourself. Well, you couldn’t have asked a more difficult question. Luckily for you, the information is readily available. For the purposes of this article, taking into account most people’s knowledge of invertebrate species, there’ll be no distinguishing between insect, arachnid, or anything of that sort. From here on end, anything that has an exoskeleton and little legs is a bug.

Bugs or insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species – more than half of all known living organisms – with published estimates of unknown species as high as 30 million, thus potentially representing over 90% of the life forms on the planet.

Insects may be found in nearly all environments on Earth, although only a small number of species occur in the oceans where crustaceans tend to dominate instead. There are approximately 5,000 dragonfly, 2,000 praying mantis, 20,000 grasshopper, 170,000 butterfly and moth, 120,000 fly, 82,000 true bug, 360,000 beetle, and 110,000 bee, wasp and ant species described to date.

II. Bugs as pests

A pest is an organism that has characteristics that are regarded by humans as injurious or unwanted. This is most often because it causes damage to agriculture through feeding on crops or feeding on livestock, such as codling moth on apples, or boll weevil on cotton.

An animal can also be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries germs within human habitats. Examples of these include organisms that vector human disease, such as rats and fleas, which carry the plague disease, or mosquitoes, which vector malaria.

So, what kind of bug pests do you want to get rid of? This article has narrowed the categories of bugs down to the primary problems each group of bugs presents: blood suckers, bugs that nest in your home, bugs that sting (you know who you are), bugs looking for a meal, and bugs that feed on you or your pets (parasites).

These categories should cover just about every bug possible. With all of these categories in mind, just what are the best ways to get rid of these bugs?

III. Basic Bug Control

* Screens, citronella, and mosquito dunks are fairly common ways to get rid of bugs that bite or suck blood. Mosquitoes, gnats, chiggers, and ticks are some of the bugs in this group. Window screens will keep most of them out of your house. You don’t have to worry about a chigger invasion; they tend to stay outdoors.

One of the newer remedies for mosquitoes, biting flies and gnats in your yard is called Bacillus thuringiensis, (often referred to as the mosquito dunk), which is dropped into ponds and other sources of standing water every thirty days to help kill the larva before they mature.

If you’re sauntering around in the woods, lather yourself with DEET and tuck your socks into your pants to avoid chiggers and ticks.

* Getting rid of bugs that nest in your home is a more difficult task than you might imagine because these bugs aren’t looking for food. Termites, lady bugs, boxelder bugs, moths, silverfish, earwigs and crickets would be good examples of bugs that are just looking for a place to hide.

With the exception of termites, these can all be eliminated by dusting with pyrethrums (Ecozone Pyrethrum Insect Powder) or boric acid in the places where you think they might be hiding. Lady bugs and boxelder bugs are best taken care of with a vacuum cleaner. The best way to prevent a termite infestation is to avoid having the wood of your house make contact with the dirt.

* Usually a can of wasp killer is the best way to get rid of bugs that sting. When you think of bugs that sting, you’re usually thinking about wasps, bees, and hornets. Luckily for you, these bugs tend to go to sleep at night.

Therefore, night time is when you’ll want to dress yourself in thick clothing from head to toe, grab that can of wasp or bee killer, and make for their nest like a thief in the, well, night. If you can’t find their nest, wait until dawn or dusk and you should see a lot of bugs flying around in the twilight where their nests are.

Make sure to spray that nest at least twice (two nights), and then remove the nest or bury it in the ground when you’re certain the pests are dead.

* If you’re wondering how to get rid of bugs that are looking for a meal, you’re in luck because poison traps are quick and painless. Ants, cockroaches, spiders, house flies and fruit flies would be considered bugs that are coming into your home looking for a meal.

All of these bugs, excluding the spider, have traps specifically designed to kill them, available at your local grocer. Terro brand ant killers and Raid roach hotels are preferable, and house flies are easily done away with Quick Strike fly strips, and spiders can be gotten rid of simply by getting rid of these other pests—cutting off their food supply. These bugs can be reduced in population and prevented altogether by maintaining a clean household.

* Parasitic bugs like bed bugs, dust mites, fleas, and head lice are probably the hardest bugs to get rid of. Bed bugs are a problem because a lot of the time controlling them requires throwing out a mattress, covering the new mattress with a rubber mattress cover, and dusting cracks and crevices with pyrethrums.

Dust mites are equally expensive to remove, requiring carpet removal, hardwood floor installment, and constant vacuuming. Fleas and lice, however, are controlled more easily, usually only requiring a shampoo treatment with a product like Rid or Nix, anything that contains pyrethrins.

Dusting the carpets with boric acid, otherwise known as Borax, is a good way to make sure that leftover fleas are eliminated.

IV. Natural and Organic Bug Control

* Mosquito dunks are perhaps the most interesting biological bug control on the market today. They are cakes composed of bacteria that are particularly fatal to insect larva. Mosquito dunks are also being tested as a biological control for other bugs as well – like gnats, which also spawn in standing pools of water. A similar form of flea control using what are called beneficial nematodes is becoming more popular as well.

* Sodium lights are a kind of natural bug control because the light emitted from sodium lights is not so near the sun’s natural spectrum as your typical white light bulb. This means that bugs are less attracted to sodium lights than they are to white lights.

Using sodium lights (low pressure sodium lamps contain no mercury) for your outdoor lighting needs is the most passive form of pest control.

* Boric acid has been used by pest control professionals for a while now, and is usually used on ground-dwelling pests like cockroaches, silverfish, earwigs, ants, and other flightless insects. It’s sometimes even used on spiders and bees.

* Pheromone traps are a somewhat newer technology, and not always the most reliable bug control products. The reason people tend not to rely on these traps, even though they are a chemical-free way to kill bugs, is because it’s difficult to synthesize precisely the right pheromone needed to attract particular bugs.

* The classic sugar water and soap trap is perhaps the most popular form of natural bug control. Simply fill a small container with sugar water and a drop of dish soap.

The dish soap breaks the water tension, which is what keeps bugs from drowning in most cases. Then, when a bug comes to feed, it will get caught in the solution and drown. This is particularly effective with wasps.

V. Killing Bugs

As you may have gathered by now, many bug control or bug killing products contain a chemical called pyrethrins, which are actually derivatives of pyrethrums, which are derived from dried pyrethrum flowers. So, in a way, pyrethrins are an organic or biological pest control substance. The problem is that pyrethrins are bad for everyone’s health, so it’s better not to just spray the stuff willy-nilly around your apartment or house.

A very basic mixture of dish soap and warm water in a spray bottle is the perfect way to kill bugs without having to crush them and make a mess. This mixture is called an insecticidal soap, and it’s probably the easiest and most ecologically sound way to kill bugs.

One other thing to consider is the idea that pest and bug control products are usually just a temporary solution to a bigger problem. If you want to learn more about getting to the source of each bug problem, then consider searching for tips for each specific bug problem you have. Consider getting professional help as well.