The House Dust Mites [HDM] or dust mites are the mite species that are considered in the family pyroglyphidae. These house dust mites are very tiny that they can hide anywhere in your mattress or furniture. These house dust mites can grow from 0.2 to 0.3 mm, and their faecal pellets will range from 10 to 40 micrometres. These house dust mites will feed on human or animal skin flakes, and there are 16 common types of dust mites that can be found in any home. The lifespan of dust mites is from 65 to 100 days, and a mated female dust mite can live up to 70 days after laying 60 to 100 eggs in her last 5 weeks of life. In this shorter lifespan, a female dust mite can produce up to 3000 faecal pellets or more. In this article, we will discuss the House Dust Mite management.
Habitation
These house mites are dependent on temperature, moisture, and food source, their development and population will increase in this area. So, these house mites will stay in the selected micro climatic places to have a safe environment. These house mites love to eat fungi, pollen, and human or animal skin flakes. The average weight of 70 to 140 mg of human skin is drooping daily, it is enough for dust mites to lead their life safe for months.
They prefer human living or residential areas because they can save their food for a greater number of days, and humans will give rise to moisture which is helpful for the dust mites to increase their population.
Number of mites present in a home
- 1 gram of vacuuming dust contains 100 to 400 mites
- 1 gram of stuffed furniture may contain more than 3500 mites
- The regularly used mattress will contain from 1 to 10 million dust mites or it can be uncountable.
House Dust Mite Management
1. Use of Pesticides
The dust mites can cause several health risks majorly allergens, killing the mites will not cure the allergic reactions or issues. The allergies must be properly medicated. It is not sure that pesticides can kill and reduce the number of dust mites, some of the pest chemicals will be named to kill dust mites. But many pesticides will not be named and avoid using those dangerous chemicals which can affect health.
2. Cleaning
Specialized cleaning or spring cleaning like vacuuming your home at least weekly once will reduce the number of dust mites present. A HEPA fitted vacuum cleaner can effectively collect the specks of dust up to 0.3 diameters, vacuuming your home without this HEPA can increase the dust mites count.
3. Specific Considerations
- The properties that collect more dust-like pillows, bedsheets, and carpets should be cleaned regularly or they should be removed from the bedroom.
- Replace all the pillows and comforters with those containing synthetic fibres.
- Try to lower the humidity to 45%, which will effectively reduce the population growth of dust mites. The use of dehumidifiers will also give the best results.
- Avoid using inexpensive ultrasonic devices, which cannot eliminate the dust mites.
- You can have a cat in your home which is a clean animal but having a dog will increase the person count and also can give more food for dust mites.
Conclusion
Thus the simple, house dust mite management tips have been discussed, though they are not visible you can reduce them by following these ideas. You can also hire a professional pest control service, to sweep out the entire organism in your place and also you can get rid of winter pests like mites for years.