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Any pest control experts?


Anobium punctatum. The common furniture beetle. Pretty sure this is the beastie we are dealing with, on account of whatever this is leaves a very fine dust behind.

Picture nicked from Wikimedia.

The best treatment is prevention, but it likes damp and it’s in the bathroom, so good luck with that. That’s whar I take muh baths. Fortunately, I don’t see any signs of it in the ancient beams (we call this the Tudor Crapper) but only in one spot in the newer woodwork.

The professionals use permethrin, but I read not to use it in a household with pets, so that’s out.

The safe alternative is apparently boron, but I’m not sure if that’s elemental boron or a derivative like boric acid. I used boric acid as a powder fairly successfully with cockroaches, but I found my cat collapsed and foaming at the mouth late one night and always assumed he ate a boric-acid laden roach (I sat up with him all night and he was better in the morning). This is apparently a powder you dissolve in water and spray – and it has the additional advantage of being a fire retardant.

At least we haven’t heard from the death watch beetles lately. That shit was creepy.

April 27, 2022 — 7:24 pm
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