How to Get Rid of Woodlice | Top Pest Control Strategies

Published

The mention of lice might make you think we are talking about the parasites found in your scalp. No, those are head lice. Woodlice are different and a lot more out of the box than head lice. Woodlice are predominantly found in the United Kingdom, and their infestation can even get out of hand at times.

Besides the fact that they are critters and will dirty your home, woodlice also carry infections with them. So, their presence around the house leaves you at risk of developing several kinds of infectious diseases.

So, at this point, knowing how to get rid of woodlice is a necessity over choice. Having access to a clean house with no insects and critters is just what you need to keep your house looking shiny and tip-top.

Also read: How to Get Rid of Biscuit Beetles?

What Does the Woodlice Feed on?

If you aren’t familiar with woodlice and don’t know why they infest people’s homes, it is likely for food and shelter. Those two are the top priorities.

Typically, not just in the house, woodlice infestation can also damage the garden and backyard. Since these critters feed on plants and decomposed leaves and branches, it isn’t surprising that they are found in abundance in the gardens.

Besides outdoors, woodlice infestation can also be found in the cold and moist areas in the house, predominantly in the bathroom. If you don’t clean the bathroom tiles frequently, make sure you do so if you don’t want to deal with the woodlice infestation.

Ways to Get Rid of Woodlice From Your Home

With all the signs and symptoms that you see around, you are confirmed that the infestation has taken a turn for the worse. If that is the case, your best bet would be to fight back immediately.

There are several ways to prevent further spread or growth of the infestation and also to eliminate from your property permanently.

1. Start With Vacuuming

Woodlice is extremely small and almost negligible to the naked eye. This means that you won’t find them randomly moving ahead and crawling around. Typically, they are found in cold and damp places, corners and closed areas.

So, if you have found a trail of infestation, your best bet would be to catch the trail and vacuum it from top to bottom. If required, use a high-temperature steam vacuum to eradicate from the spot. Woodlice are also found in humid and dark places around the house, so check each corner and nook to find them and kill them.

2. Clear Out Your Gutters

The open drainage and gutters around your home are breeding grounds for several diseases and pests, including woodlice. If you are experiencing any of these issues, we’d recommend that you clean out the gutters and disinfect them daily or at least twice a week if possible.

The bleaching powder solution works pretty great in getting rid of the stench and the accumulated dirt found inside the gutter. We’d recommend that you also keep your drainage systems clean and closed instead of leaving them open, as many households do.

3. Get Rid of Damp and Moist Spaces

Any leaks and damps around the house are an open invitation to the woodlice. If you have open creeks and other issues in your home that need to be fixed, do it before it is too late. Sometimes, a small opening in your basement is the reason why your basement is covered in woodlice.

Typically, we’d recommend that you check the garage, basements, enclosed spots around the house for dampness and moisture. If you find any kind of leakage around the walls and flooring of the house, it is quintessential that you change them immediately without any further questions at all.

4. Try Anti-insect Spray

Sometimes, the simple preventive measures don’t work as well as we anticipate them. In such cases, you need to pull out the big guns to suffice how to get rid of woodlice. An anti-insect spray is a pesticide that contains a potent chemical composition that kills and immediately gets rid of the woodlice on the spot.

However, these are toxic materials and are filled with chemicals. So, if you have kids and pets around the house, you mustn’t spray them in areas they frequent. If you find the woodlice infestation around the sofa, you can’t spray a pesticide around. It enhances the risks of poisoning in the kids and pets. So, use them in secluded spaces like the basement or even garages. Just be careful to wear a mask while spraying it.

5. Seal the Cracks

Not just the damp and humid areas, you need to check for cracks and openings in your home. If the space beside your door has a crack for years that you haven’t fixed, it is your duty that you do the same. Typically, we’d recommend that you find every small spot around the house.

Typically, it doesn’t matter whether the hole or crack is small or big; you want to find every one of them and seal them immediately. Once the woodlice find an entry point into your house, there’s no going back.

6. Clean Your Garden

As we said initially, woodlice often rely on dead and decomposed plants, leaves, and branches to keep themselves fed. This means that if you have left your garden with no care and in a rough condition, you need to change that immediately.

Typically, we’d recommend that you clean up after yourself, pull out the weeds, and collect the dried leaves and decomposed plants around the garden. You want to keep the grass length small too. This ensures optimal growth of the plants but prevents outgrowth or infestation of the woodlice in the garden.

7. Try An Electronic Pulsing Device

This might seem a little off the chart and difficult to handle. However, we’d recommend that you use this if you are having a hard time handling the growing infestation of this pest around and in your home.

Typically, we’d recommend that you use this pulsing device because the vibrations from these devices keep the pests out of the house. So, if the infestation is at its primitive stages, you can easily find them gone in no time at all. Just ensure that you invest your money in the right products.

8. Check For Leaks

Sometimes, we don’t even realize a pipeline leak around the house. Since woodlice are attracted to moisture, it isn’t surprising that any persistent leak around the house will further contribute to the infestation. So, we’d recommend that you keep an eye out for such leaks.

If you can’t find any, call a plumber and get it checked thoroughly. Sometimes, dampness and water shortage in the house are alarming signs of pipeline leakage. Just look around the pipeline system around the house, and you should find something if the issue persists.

9. Seal The Windows & Doors Gaps

Not just the cracks around the house, you should also seal any kind of damage around the windows and doors. Generally, if the infestation of woodlice is high in your garden and backyard, it can easily spread rapidly to the indoors too. 

And, one of the easiest entryways for these insects is via the windows and door gaps. Your best bet would be to find those cracks and open gateways and seal them with some form of heavy-duty sealants.

10. Use A Dehumidifier

Dehumidifier
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thebetterday4u/50027182508

Since humidity attracts woodlice, you should install a dehumidifier if you want to get rid of them out of your house. Typically, these work by reducing the moisture level in the air. So, the less moisture and dampness you have, the easier it becomes to make the place inhabitable for the woodlice.

This is typically what the professionals generally do. Also, place the dehumidifiers in areas where you suspect the infestation is at its peak.

11. Call A Professional

The last option that you have in hand is to call a professional. Typically, you want to ensure that there is nothing else you can do. Calling a pest control specialist can help you check the entire house and the garden and even scope for other pests in the surroundings. They are professionally trained and equipped to exterminate any kind of pest from the house. So, if you want quicker results, this is how you get it.

If you are tired of dealing with woodlice and have been looking for ways to get rid of woodlice, we hope this article gives you all the insights you need. Just ensure that you practice preventive measures beforehand to ensure things don’t go out of control. Sometimes, all you need to do is be a little more mindful, and you cannot just get rid of them but also keep them away for a long time.

Also read: How to Get Rid of Rabbits?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Are Woodlice Good or Bad?

Although woodlice don’t inflict health complications, they are still pests. So, technically, you want to keep their infestation out without any second thoughts. They can damage your house and furniture in the long run.

Does Vinegar Get Rid of Woodlice?

To an extent, it can help prevent the infestation from getting worse. However, we’d recommend that you use some more potent remedies to fix the infestation.

Do Woodlice Bite Humans?

No, woodlice do not bite humans. So, if you were worried about the same, you wouldn’t have to worry anymore. However, they can damage your plants and gardens.

By James Edwards

James Edwards is a writer & editor with almost 15 years of experience from Murphys, California. He earned his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *