Home remedies for wood lice: what really helps?

Woodlice are small beneficial insects. However, if you have them in your own home, you should take care of the infestation: their presence indicates moisture.

Woodlice ( Porcellio scaber ) are nocturnal lobsters within the class of higher crustaceans (Malacostraca). As saprophages, they feed on dead organic matter (detritus) and are beneficial insects because they are involved in humus formation. In the house, they can appear as storage pests. To get rid of them permanently, it is always necessary to combat the causes, as you will find out below.

It is advisable to prevent cellar isopods in the house, as their presence is a warning signal. We have researched and tried for you how you can get rid of existing isopods with home remedies, whether they can also be combated in the garden and what biological alternatives to classic home remedies are available.

Prevent cellar lobsters in the house

The origins of the woodlouse are in the water, which is why it still has gills around it. Her preference for moisture has remained. At least 70% humidity should prevail in a place where the woodlice can be found. The presence of cellar isopods, for example in the basement, bathroom, or garage, is a warning signal – 70% humidity is not good for the building fabric in the long run. Reasons for the moisture can be as follows.

Reasons for increased humidity:

  • A water damage
  • Rising moisture from the ground (horizontal moisture penetration)
  • Cracks in the cellar wall, leaky sealing of the cellar wall (vertical moisture penetration)
  • Incorrect ventilation
  • Damp laundry, dryer without water collector
  • Moist supplies such as vegetables or fruit
  • Wet organic waste

If you have discovered woodlice indoors, you should first find out the cause of the moisture. Water damage and leaky walls are not that easy to fix and more a case for a specialist company. However, damp laundry and damp supplies or waste in the basement can be avoided or compensated for by proper ventilation.

Home remedies for wood lice: what really helps?

How do you ventilate properly to lower the humidity?

  • In the beginning, you should ventilate the room two to three times a day for 5 to 10 minutes, if possible with cool outside temperatures.
  • If the humidity is reduced, it is sufficient to ventilate once a day for 15 minutes in the morning or the evening.
  • If you do not have enough or large windows for effective ventilation, you should absolutely refrain from drying laundry and storing damp supplies or waste in the affected room.

If the crustaceans have established themselves as storage pests and eat passages in your potatoes, collecting and removing them is ineffective. However, you can change something about your storage technology. If you have no other storage location for your fruits and vegetables, you should ensure that they are kept clean and inaccessible. Hang everything up in nets or at least store it elevated and in well-ventilated boxes and sort out bad things regularly.

Last but not least, it is important to find out how the woodlice got in at all. Cracks and crevices on windows and doors can be closed with filler, clay, or silicone and you should also check stored potted plants. If these are damp and have a musty smell, this is not only a favorite hiding place for woodlice – the roots of the respective plant also suffer from a substrate that is too moist!

Get rid of woodlice

In the previous paragraph, you learned how to combat the causes of a basement plague. But of course, you also want to get rid of the crustaceans that are present. Because the useful destructors can at least still work for you in the garden, we recommend catching the animals in traps and then releasing them. In their two-year life, they can still produce a lot of humus for you and thus compensate you for the effort that has arisen. The compost, for example, would be a perfect new home for the woodlice.

Woodlouse trap

There are many ways to construct a lobster trap. Below are four different methods that have been tried and tested.

  1. Place a boiled potato on a plate on the floor of the affected room. The potato can also be a bit older. Put a damp cloth on the plate and use a piece of wood or something similar as a step for the woodlice. This is how they get on the plate and hide under the pleasantly damp cloth after the meal. You can take the whole plate outside the next day.
  2. Simply place two damp cloths on top of each other on the floor of the affected room. The bottom cloth should be thin and lie flat on the floor. The top cloth can be draped on it in folds. Keep the top cloth damp with a spray bottle for several days. After a few days, a lot of isopods will have gathered between the clothes, and you can put the bottom one together like a sack and take everything out together.
  3. Set up a lure. Again, an old, boiled potato is ideal. Surround this lure with double-sided tape. The woodlice stick to it on the way to the food source. Unfortunately, you will not be able to remove it from the tape, so exposure is out of the question.
  4. Woodlice are attracted to alcoholic fumes. Fill a bottle with a puddle of liquor and place it on the floor. You can give the woodlice access to the opening with a stick or something similar. Due to the tapering of the bottle towards the neck, however, you can no longer leave the bottle after your intoxication. Unfortunately, we do not know whether alcohol consumption shortens their lifespan.

Tip: All of the traps mentioned work much better if the causes of the woodlouse plague have been eliminated beforehand. Because then the crustaceans will only find optimal living conditions at the trap.

Driveaway cellar lobsters

Allegedly, woodlice can’t stand some substances: they seem to repel baking powder, cinnamon, and sage. You can also work with these resources, for example, to talk them out of moving to other premises. To do this, distribute an approximately five-centimeter wide barrier of the fabric. But at least in the house, you cannot avoid combating the causes and actively removing them. In the outdoor area – the natural refuge of woodlice – cinnamon and Co. can be useful to keep woodlice, ants, and silverfish away from terraces and balconies.

Woodlice in the garden

In the garden, woodlice are one thing above all else: useful! We should be grateful to them for their activity, because it gives us fertile, nutrient-rich soil. Natural antagonists of woodlice are toads, frogs, mice, and songbirds. Therefore, if you have the impression that the woodlice are getting out of hand, you can try to encourage their presence.

Of course, absolute cleanliness also keeps the crawlers away. So if you don’t want to see them in your flower pots and on the terrace, you can ensure the complete absence of plant residues, moss, dirt, or even leftover food. You can also use the household remedies mentioned above to drive away from the woodlice – what speaks against transplanting with fragrant, healing sage?

Home remedies for wood lice: what really helps?

Fight woodlice biologically

You may not have the time or the leisure to install elaborate trap constructions or to keep your terrace completely free of any organic debris. If you have the moisture in your living space under control, you can now also go easier ways of combating the woodlice. Our Gardender ant remedy offers an effective option. You can spread it in affected rooms – especially where the woodlice like to hang around, in crevices, cracks, and hiding places. If you come into contact with the dust-free kieselguhr, you will be dealt with within four days at the latest. For you as a user, for children, pets, and non-target insects, the pure diatomaceous earth poses no danger when used correctly.

Ants and silverfish can also be combated with the agent. Since it works via the chitin armor of the arthropod, other insects would also be harmed if the agent was used completely incorrectly. Therefore, please observe our detailed instructions for use when using it.

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