During the summer months and on warm spring days, being outdoors can unfortunately become an extremely itchy experience due to grass mites. Occasionally, pets also drag the biting larvae of the small arachnids into the house, or you bring them into the apartment as a dubious souvenir clinging to your clothing from a trip to the countryside. You can find out here how you can fight the pests.
Animals sometimes bring grass mites into the home from outside
Grass mites cannot survive indoors
Since this is not the natural habitat of arachnids, you don't have to worry about the larvae settling permanently in your home or even in your bed. In closed rooms, the animals usually do not survive for more than a few hours.
If you still want to be absolutely sure and have found yourself bitten, we recommend:
- All clothing worn outdoors should be washed in hot water and
- to vacuum the apartment thoroughly.
The way of life of the arachnids
Grass mites prefer to colonize green areas. Here, in spring, the females lay hundreds of eggs in the warming soil. Tiny larvae hatch from these, which need a suitable host for their development.
To find it, climb up the plants and wait. If an animal or a person happens to come by, let them strip you off. They first crawl around on their host until they find a spot where the skin is thin enough to scratch it. They don't drink blood here, but feed on the cell fluid. The now full larva lets itself fall to the ground again.
How do the mites get into the house in the first place?
It may be that you carry the pests into the house with your clothes after you have been outside. If the garden gear to which the larvae are attached is put on a second time, there is a chance of being bitten again days later. Therefore, if in doubt, wash all clothing at 60 degrees and disinfect the shoes with an alcohol-based agent.
It is quite possible that your four-legged flatmate carries grass mites hidden in their fur into the apartment. Since the biting offspring are only 0.2 to 0.3 millimeters in size, you probably won't see them with the naked eye.
tips
The warblers rarely settle in the flower pots of indoor plants that are temporarily outdoors. If you suspect that this is the case with you, you can combat them with a spray solution specially developed against the nuisance bugs or a neem product.