Tiny Troublemakers: Top 10 Most Common Bugs Found in Apartments
Top 10 Most Common Bugs in Apartments
Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for bugs to infest apartment buildings. The type of infestation can vary and will depend on several factors, including where the apartment building is located. However, if you’re wondering what the most common bugs found in apartments are, here’s a list of the top 10 most common culprits in North America. Keep reading to learn why having even tiny bugs in apartments can cause big problems - and what you can do about it.
Common Household Bugs Found in Apartment Buildings
- Carpenter beetles/Carpet beetles
The carpenter beetle is also sometimes referred to as the carpet beetle. These beetles exist around the world, and while adult carpenter beetles live off of plants and pollen, young ones (including carpenter beetle larvae, sometimes called carpet worms) eat natural fibers such as wool, cotton, silk, etc. They can thrive on, for example, the wool in carpets - hence their name. As a result, carpenter beetles in apartments can do a lot of damage to furnishings and clothing.
- Fleas
Other common bugs in apartments include fleas. They can easily get inside via pets or even mice or other rodents that live in the walls, and they can also be spread via mattresses, furniture and carpeting. In short, they can get around quickly and easily, so if they’re in one apartment, it may not be long until they can be found throughout the whole building.
- Bed bugs
These house bugs (or in this case, apartment bugs) can also find their way into your apartment more easily than you’d probably like; they can be transmitted by mattresses, linens and pieces of furniture, like sofas. However, they can also hop onto virtually any soft surface, such as a purse, backpack or piece of clothing, and get around that way. In short, like fleas, bed bugs are easy to transfer, so they can spread like wildfire in an apartment complex.
- Cockroaches
Like most creatures, cockroaches seek out food, water and shelter - and they’ll be able to find all of those in your home, no matter how clean it is. (It’s a myth that they only live in dirty or untidy environments.) Cockroaches can make their way inside from between small cracks, hitching a ride on a package and a number of other ways - and it’s not uncommon for them to carry disease, so they’re a particularly unwanted pest.
- Ants
Like cockroaches, ants can easily find water, shelter and food even in clean homes. They can make their way in through even the tiniest cracks to feast on even just a few errant crumbs on the ground. Further, some ants, known as carpenter ants, feed on rotting wood, so if there’s any rotting wood in or around the apartment building, you could be experiencing an infestation of carpenter ants.
- House flies
The common housefly is attracted to gross things like pet waste, smelly trash cans and drain gunk. Staying on top of these things can help prevent them from infesting your apartment. Unfortunately, you can’t control your neighbors’ apartments, or the building’s system for collecting or storing trash. Your apartment could experience “spillover” from infestation in other areas of the building.
- Fruit flies
Another common type of fly, the fruit fly, likes to feed on sugary foods and beverages, and they love older, unrefrigerated fruit. Again, even if you don’t keep overripe bananas out on a counter, your neighbors might, luring fruit flies to your apartment complex.
- Gnats
You probably think of gnats as those tiny bugs that form in clouds during the early evening hours in the summer. Gnats can happily take up residence in or around your apartment. Interestingly, fruit flies, which we discussed above, can be considered a type of gnat. “Gnat” also commonly refers to drain flies, as well as phorid flies and fungus gnats; basically, it’s a term that incorporates several types of tiny flying insects. Regardless of the exact type of gnat, you don’t want these irritating creatures in your apartment!
- Silverfish
Silverfishes’ distinctive silver color is where they get their name. Silverfish can feed off a variety of common household products, from soap to sugar to clothing, and they love damp areas like bathrooms or basements, so there’s a lot that they can find attractive about apartment buildings.
- Mosquitoes
Ah, the common mosquito. No one likes having mosquitoes in or around their living space, but unfortunately, mosquito infestations can definitely take root around apartment buildings. For instance, if there is standing water anywhere, including on the roof of the building, mosquitoes may go there to breed. And of course, lots of people in an apartment building means lots of blood for the mosquitoes to feed on. In short, annoying and potentially dangerous mosquitoes can be a real problem in apartment buildings.
If you’re an apartment landlord or owner looking for help with an infestation issue, contact the experts at MosquitoNix®®, where we offer PestNix™ pest control services, misting systems and more.
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