The Beetles!

Unsurprisngly, with the rubbish on TV and social media, People have become far too quick to jump to conclusions these days, and seem to have simply forgotten about Mother Nature, who really is our friend.

 

If you see evidence of any wood boring beetles in your timbers, this is simply Mother Nature's way of telling you that you have high levels of humidity in your home that Is softening your timbers (Incuding furniture). Woodworm certainly doesn't need silly, expensive and dangerous chemical treatments pumped round your house, no more than children in that home need to damage their lungs as they breathe those chemicals in! 

 

No Mother beetle will ever lay Her eggs onto hard, dry timber because She knows that it's too hard for Her babies to tunnel through it, and there's no nourishing food source available for Her babies to feed on and grow. 

 

Beetles are quite easy to understand because in the same way as the band had four members, the beetles life cycle consists of four stages:

  1. Egg stage
  2. Larval stage
  3. Pupal stage
  4. Adult stage

 

1. Egg stage

A Female beetle lands on a piece of moisture laden timber and lays 100's of tiny eggs in a crack or crevice in that timber.

 

Generally between 4 and 19 days later those eggs hatch and the baby beetles appear as larvae.

 

Note: Some beetles do actually keep hold of their eggs and give birth to live larvae.

 

2. Larval stage.

It is what's known as the 'woodworm' stage these hungry larvae commence eating their way through the timber, feeding on the natural fibres, tannins and cellulose present within that softened timber. They continue to feed and grow inside that timber; shedding their exoskeleton many times during their tunneling works as they grow.

 

3. Pupal stage

The 'woodworm' (larvae) then pupate into fully formed adult beetles, this typically occurs over the winter months, 

 

4. Adult stage.

Finally these fully formed adult beetles emerge in the spring and fly off to find a mate to start the process all over again; this is where they tunnel back out of the timber which is when you see the 'flight holes'. By this point they have already left the timber, so squirting chemicals into the holes using a syringe is frankly a total waste of time, money and effort. 

 

 So the cause is simple:- a food source is readily available inside softened timber for the larvae.

 

The fix:- stop that food source.

 

Also see our page about Deathwatch Beetles.

Instead of paying someone to spray harmful chemicals inside your home,

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