We have tiny white bugs in the house driving us mad and wondered if anyone has experienced the same and have some advice?
They are minuscule and seem to be able to travel but have no visible wings. They irritate the skin and seem to bite. They are worse when it is warm. They are in all of the rooms. You can see them on the furniture, floor and clothing.
I've considered dust mites or bed bugs and have used the pharmacy sprays, washed, steamed and dry cleaned all of the bedding and soft furnishing. I've got rid of our rugs and hoover daily (cleaning after each use), and use a steam cleaner on all surfaces.
I've just about killed the few house plants we have by spraying with diluted white vinegar and washing liquid.
I called a pest controller and he can't see what they are other than speaks of white 'dust'. He checked to make sure we didn't have any bird nests nearby (none) so none the wiser.
Driving me mad so reaching out in case anyone has any ideas / experience?
Most likely dust mites (Staubmilbe). Basically keep doing what you're doing to keep them at bay. Bedding needs to be washed hot (60 Grad). You'll see less of them during winter at which time use Ecodoo, DustmiteX or Bedlam several times per week.
Thank you so much for your advice - it's been so challenging! Do you know if they are more prevalent here in CH or is it due to the warm weather this year that has made them worse? I've never had them before and wondered if it's something I've been doing wrong or it's a 'normal' thing here? I've been using Milbern spray from the pharmacy but it hasn't had too much of an effect. I'll try your recommendations. Thank you again!
Is your mattress old? You may need to throw it out as that most likely is where the mites are residing. They love warm humid places and feed off the skin we shed while sleeping.
Washing will remove them from sheets and pillow cases, but not from the mattress. Wash at a high setting, 90c. 60c will not do it. If you can, soak in bleach first.
Duvets and blankets should be dry cleaned, in fact should be done annually in any case.
There are plenty of "home" remedies for the mattress, but none really work.
You may need to properly fumigate the house to kill all the mites and this is best done by a professional.
First time I hear of this, and mites are invisible to the naked eye so it is really strange that you can see them all over.
The pest controller was not very professional in not even identifying the parasite though, should check with a microscope. Maybe another company can do that?
I would still try to isolate the plants on the balcony or a separate room to confirm it's not coming from there.
I would also try spraying with permethrine-based insecticide spray each room (spray a lot continuously everywhere in the room, close for 15 minutes and then air) and see if it kills them.
Is your bathroom well ventilated? Not too much humidity in there?
I should have also mentioned, move as much furniture as you can and hoover and spray those areas, that is where they breed best - under stuff where they cannot be disturbed. You may also find this useful https://www.thespruce.com/laundry-ti…%20the%20mites%20to%20kill%20the%20mites) .
My OH was diagnosed with adult onset asthma last year, the tests found he has a dust mite allergy and is also allergic to certain medications. We now have an air purifying machine running in the bedroom 24/7 which helps his breathing as he wasn't sleeping well.
For the dust mites the clinic recommended we put our mattress and pillows inside protective dust mite covers with zips (dust mites can't get in via the zips). These are readily available online and aren't that expensive. Ours came from Amazon DE.
I use an all natural spray once a month from a brand called Orphea , you spray and leave for an hour before vacuuming and it kills dust mites off. I wash sheets and towels at 40c, but the sheets go in the dryer which kills anything. I air dry the towels in the basement drying room of our building but again finish them off in the dryer for 20 mins. Other than that I vacuum and dust regularly and wipe the floors.
I listened to a UK BBC radio programme last night which was discussing people not heating their homes this winter due to the high cost of fuel.
Anyway, one of the problems of keeping a place cool and drying washing etc in the house is the higher humidity which dust mites love and which means they will breed in abundance.
Swiss dwellings are really well sealed and if you don't air them properly everyday, you may be exacerbating the problem due to the higher humidity.
If you use your vacuum cleaner to gather up the bugs, then be sure to throw out the used bag right away, and not wait until it gets full, or if you have a bagless vaccuum cleaner, than wash it immediately after use. Otherwise, you might be inadvertently setting up ideal breeding conditions.
Thank you for all your help and suggestions. I have bought the zipped covers when I was last in the UK (as I can't find the 'UK' sizes here, even on Amazon) and I will continue the battle cleaning, opening windows and spraying with the suggested solutions.
Let Google be your friend to find the best solution to get rid of them.
We had them inside and outside. Inside mostly on orchids, outside they attacked the hibiscus. To fight them we spent hours picking them off the leaves and spraying with water from the hose ... outside Inside was a constant battle to manually pick them off the plants. No chemicals or sprays. They spread from the orchids to a few other plants ... but not all.
We inquired about them ... apparently, we brought them into the house with orchids from IKEA. Exactly how we got them outside ... who knows, my guess is the wind.