Kill mites with frost
Mites belong to the arachnid family. Nevertheless, they differ from the predatory spiders in their way of life. One of the smallest mites is only 0.1 mm in size. For comparison, a tick, which is also a mite species, can be considered: Ticks can grow up to 3 cm in size. Since mites are extremely slow, they need insects as a means of transport. Under ideal living conditions, which do not include frost, many hundreds of thousands of these animals live on one square meter. House dust mites in particular are troublesome for the housewife and one wonders how to get rid of the little animals.
What you need:
- Freezer
Dust mites are not always the same as dust mites
- Mites can transmit diseases that are grouped together under the name "acariosis". The house dust mite in particular repels excretions, which in some people lead to the well-known house dust allergy. It is not uncommon for this house dust allergy to lead to asthma after eight years at the latest.
- But there are other types of mites, such as B. the grave mite that grows in the skin digs in and causes scabies in humans and mange in animals. Feather mites harass birds, and running mites cause trombidiosis (blotchy skin reactions caused by mite bites) in humans. Other mites can u. a. causing rickettsipox, typhus, and tularemia from their bites.
- The house dust mite, whose scientific name is "Dermatophagoides (= skin eater)", is exactly that Mites that cause problems for housewives because they mainly live in mattresses, pillows and Duvets. You can't see them with the naked eye, but the mere knowledge of their presence causes disgust.
What you should know about mites
- Mites, like house dust mites, live on flakes of skin that have fallen off, with older flakes tasting better than fresh ones. Female mites weigh about 5.8 micrograms. Male mites are much lighter and smaller at 3.5 micrograms. The females do not lay their eggs as a simultaneous clutch, but spread over a certain period of time. It is therefore important that you vacuum the mattresses regularly to vacuum the eggs as well as the mites.
- Female mites have a lifespan of 30 to 100 days. During this time, they lay between 40 to 80 eggs from which larvae hatch. The development phases of the larvae contain periods of rest. During these dormant periods, the larvae are very resistant to environmental conditions. Usually the ripening period is 30 to 50 days. If the temperatures are very low, it can take 120 days. For this reason, it would be beneficial if you use exchangeable bed linen in order to process one set at a time, as described below.
Sand mites - also called grass mites - live in the sand, on grasses and shrubs in ...
- Dust mites do not like frost and cannot live outdoors. Therefore, they always look out for a suitable means of transport, such as B. clothingto get into apartments. Most mites collect in beds and upholstered furniture because this is where they find the best living conditions. The pillows are the most popular because they contain a lot of dead skin. To wash (depending on the material) or simply supercool the pillow more often (see p. u.).
- There is no such thing as a pillow without mites, because even if you clean a pillow, at least 10,000 of these small, 0.3 mm animals will still be there. Pillows that have never been cleaned, i.e. only removed and freshly covered, often harbor more than 400,000 house mites. Depending on the type of mite, whether the house dust mite "Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus" or "Dermatophagoides farinae", different living conditions are required.
- The mite "D. farinae "loves warm places around 25-30 ° C, with a higher dryness of 70-75%, while the" D. pteronyssinus "rather 15-20 ° C with 75-80% humidity. Both types of mites cannot survive in temperature ranges below 50% humidity. This means that you could "dry out" them, but studies have shown that three hours of high humidity supply the mites with an indestructible life.
You should kill mites with the help of frost
Scientifically speaking, mites can hardly be combated. There are neither mite-free mattresses nor can they be dried out. The humidity will help the animals to survive again and again. However, mites no longer have adequate living conditions at altitudes of 1200 or 1700 m. D. H. the extremes of heating over 50 ° degrees, as well as too high humidity over 80% reduce the mite density. So use the frost in winter to kill mites and a hot wash in summer.
- Vacuum the mattresses regularly.
- In winter, put the mattresses in the frost for 24 hours. In doing so, you destroy the habitat of the animals and reduce the number considerably.
- Also hang the duvets and pillows in the frost for 24 hours. You can also put a pillow wrapped in a sheet in the freezer during the summer to remove mites.
- However, you should always make sure that the bed linen remains in the frost for at least 24 hours, otherwise the mites could recover very quickly.
In summer you should, if possible, wash all washable parts (freezer-too-large-laundry-parts) as hot as possible and maybe in the dryer let dry extremely.
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