General Chat

What are carpet mites??? ARe they similar to the ones in my kitchen we catch at night. Thought they were overgrown flour mites. Gloria

Hi Gloria and Nell I have never seen flour or carpet mites, so have no idea of how to get rid of them. A few years back we were invaded by moths, and after a few weeks we discovered that they were breeding in a oats box that we had forgotton about.........lol Suzy :o) x

eek suzy We first got flour mites when the girls did cooking at school. Had to buy flour that I didnt usually use so it got left in the cupboard and we have had a whole hoard of them ever since. Gloria

we used to get them, when I was younger and the houses didnt have any heating you could see them on the walls, caused by damp I think,. jean

Iam suprised to hear of silverfish being in damp areas.. I have only ever seen them in warm places(cupboards adjacent the fire hearth ) and to my dismay they get into books and make the bindings breakdown. I dont know where else in the world they can be found although they are found in Australia. Rupert.

Thanks for that Lynda,.... I am now itching all over LOL. Jean x.

Carpet mites eat carpet made of wool, usually around the edges and leave their pupa cases which look like uncooked rice grains. Can;t get any info about how to shift them! nell

OMG,how I hate those Silverfish. Had a bad experience when I was about 8 yrs old(early50's) when I was helping an old lady to clean her bottom cupboard out.Aload of them ran up my arm and I have hated them ever since. I found some running on my kitchen work surfaces last year during the night (got up to go to the loo)and next morning was blocking every little nook and cranny up with Silicone just to stop them. Then used bleach on all my work surfaces to make sure everything was spotless so they wouldn't come back. Can't stand the little things. Sue

Thanks for all that info Lynda, now everyone can see why I have such a high praise for them..........lol they are older then the dinosaurs, as are the mud skippers, I love watching them at the London aquarium. Jean..........Have you stopped itching yet...........lol Suzy :o) x

Gloria, Dump any affected flour, vacum your cupboard and keep any new flour in an airtight container. Have only had flour mites once but never want them againRosemary(Essex)

nudging for sanity

lol............Lemon, was it really that bad last night. Hubby has just informed me that he saw a silverfish in the kitchen the other day, so they are still around........goody Suzy :o) x

Hi Suzy I've just seen your kind offer of some newts. I don't have a pond at the moment but am thinking of puttng one in, if I do maybe you could bring a bucket of newts to the next London meet! Carolyn

Hi Carolyn Next London meet is 25th March.........will you have one by then.......lol Suzy :o) x P.S. theres no rush, dont think the newts will be going anywhere

Don't think the pond will be ready by 25th March, so could you hang on to the newts for a bit longer please! Hope to see you there. Carolyn