I just moved into a small 1F apartment in Kobe and on my second night there, I found a baby mukade crawling on my futon. I killed it (with a book, big mistake I know), then ran out to buy 虫コロリアース. The shops nearby only had the indoor use spray rather than the powder, so I liberally applied it on every corner and entranceway.
Within 2 hours, there are 3 dead mukade babies in my genkan, 1 dying outside my front door. I thought they may have been attracted by the scent of their squished brethren. The spray did seem to work, and I've not seen any make it to my living room since (now a day later), but I did just find one more dying in the genkan.
I'm quite unsettled by this. I don't live in the inaka, this is a normal semi suburban area. The apartment is from 2001. The sheer number of mukade I've seen over just 2 days is really worrying even if supposedly this spray is killing them, like what if some just get through anyway? Is this going to be the rest of my time here, living in paranoia every time I go to sleep?
Any advice or potential explanations to put me at ease here would be much appreciated. I knew a ground floor apartment would make me more vulnerable to pests but this many on my first 2 nights is a bit excessive surely.
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People avoid lower floors usually for some reason
In the house I normally just use boiling water. Kinda got sick of the spray getting all over stuff.
Really trying to stop them from entering the house in the first place
apartment
Assuming this means アパート ? If so, the first thing I would do is avoid wood structures entirely. Not only is it easy for pests to enter at any floor, termites are plentiful in the summer and target exactly those structures.
RC buildings, while more expensive, have considerably fewer issues with respect to pests in my experience. That doesn't mean it's impossible for them to enter, but the probability of them entering your house seems largely determined by how attentive you are when entering the room or when removing dried clothes etc. from balcony.
Wooden/steel frame build. Glad to know I'm completely fucked!
This is why the 1st floor is always so much cheaper and the price goes up as the floors go up. When you get a 1st floor you jeopardize a lot, including safety and....bugs. There's nothing to put you at ease, if you live on the first floor you are gonna get bugs. If you get some you'll get more. I'd expect roaches, too. Stinkbugs, whatever.
Well thanks.
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I live in deep inaka and deal with the little fucks frequently. The upside is if you are bitten, it's really not that bad, equivalent to a bee sting especially if it's a smaller one. I've been living with the horrible things for a decade, and I've only been bitten once when I literally laid down on it with no shirt on. They're actually not super bitey in my experience.
Smashing them and them releasing pheromones to summon more of themselves is a myth. They usually travel together and if the conditions are good for one, the conditions are good for another and another. It sounds like they're only coming from your front door. Buy the mukade traps and place then around your home. They have scent repellent "traps" as well but I didn't like the smell it put in the room. I'd use the spray around your genkan, primarily in the sunken part where shoes go and all over your door (outer edges, mail slot, etc). Get the diatomaceous earth and spread some in front of your door. Wait a week or two, reassess from there.