In this post, we’ll fact check many of the springtail “myths” we hear from customers. We’re not sure where this mis-information is being found but we notice the same bad information being used as a premise to then devise a treatment plan. This will fail.
Our mission as a company is offer the best advice we can to help control any and all pests that we know how to eradicate. Rest assured there are many challenges we cannot meet! And we’re not afraid to let you know if failure is eminent. But springtail control is quite easy once you understand a few common facts about how they live, where they live and what you must do to eliminate every place they will try to live in or around you home. Meet that requirement and you will no longer have to see springtails or any other pest for that matter. And this journey all begins by understanding your enemy.
Myth 1: Springtails you see inside are invading from outside using some kind of “portal” that only springtails will find (no other insects know about this entryway).
Fact: Not true. Springtails have a limited travel range (when it’s warm – Myth 10 explains when they like to jump). 5-8 feet is about as far as they’ll crawl; they prefer to stay within 3-4 feet of where you see them. Now yes, they will naturally forage up and onto home siding. And from there, they might start to live under home siding, windows or doors. If that happens, they can appear inside but if you are seeing them around baseboards, they are most certainly living there. Same with windows that push open and doors that slide or swing and lead outside to your porch, stoop or deck. So yes, outside treatments are important to stop new ones from getting onto your home. But failure to treat inside (if you see them inside) means you’ll keep seeing them inside. And the most important treatment you can do inside is to power inject.
Myth 2: Springtails seek to be inside your home because your home has “so much moisture you need dehumidifiers”.
Fact: Not true. Using dehumidifiers to reduce moisture inside your home is fine but do this for your own personal comfort. That said, using a dehumidifier will NOT have any impact on the springtails that are living in hidden spaces throughout your home! The most vulnerable place for springtails is out in the open so they avoid coming out at all costs. The only time this happens is when they are performing their act of reproduction (which is very different from any other insect).
Myth 3: The mulch around your home matters because it “controls” the local springtail population.
Fact: Not true. You can have any kind of mulch you want. The bottom line here is simple: if you treat your mulch as we detail, no insects will want to live there. But if you don’t treat around your home? Springtails will most certainly try to live there because their mission on planet earth is just that: to occupy every space space they encounter when reproducing. Most fail due to lack of shelter, food or water but they don’t “think” or problem solve. So when they gravid females make their journey in search of where to lay eggs, they often fail and die. This happens to the vast majority of springtails.
Myth 4: Springtails live in “nests” or have one main “source”.
Fact: Not true. Springtails are solitary insects and so they’ll typically be spread out over a large area that can provide the shelter and food they need. Again, this area will be hidden from view – not out in the open.
Myth 5: Surface spraying will end a springtail infestation.
Fact: Mostly not true. On the outside of a home? Maybe. But if you have them inside, you’ll need to power inject. Surface spraying outside when using Maxxthor and Boost does actually penetrate well enough to knock them out of hidden spaces (like vinyl siding). We know this because over the years, customers have confirmed they have achieved control 75-85% of the time with just spraying their home’s siding. So this can work for outside activity. But for inside the home, this number drops to just 50%. In fact our trained technicians can get rid of any inside infestation using just our Power Injector and Xempt Dust. Surface spraying is easy but with springtails, its rare that the easy pathway will get you good results.
Myth 6: Caulking all the gaps and cracks you find is a good way to control an active springtail issue.
Fact: Not true. This one is about 180 degrees opposite of the truth. In fact, actively caulking to stop most any pest never ends well. If you have gaps/cracks that springtails are using, get them treated and wait until you solve the issue. Once you can go 2 months without seeing them, caulk away. But if you caulk before treating? You’ll be forcing them to find another way out so they can reproduce. This will make it infinitely harder to treat efficiently.
Myth 7: Springtails “hibernate” or “go away” when it gets cold.
Fact: Not true. Springtails are one of the only insects with natural anti-freeze. This enables them to come out in the middle of winter unfazed by the cold. Known as “snow fleas” up north, it’s fairly common to see thousands of them surface through 1-2 feet of snow. True, springtails are less likely to be mating during the cold of winter and so they may remain hidden for a few months. But windows, doors, home siding and under baseboards are all likely hiding places for them to thrive during the winter cold. Focus your treatments there during the winter to avoids seeing them again next spring/summer because they’re what we call a “chronic pest“. And though you may not be seeing them out in the open, they are most certainly re-infesting the areas you treated the previous warm seasons.
Myth 8: Springtails have grown “immune” to many chemicals.
Fact: Not true. Springtails are fleshy, soft bodied insects – much like termites – and as such they are super vulnerable to any and all chemicals because their bodies readily absorb any active quickly. And don’t be confused by seeing them in areas you sprayed just 1-2 later. Treatments may work as a contact killer when first applied (meaning they will kill them in a minute or two) but once that mixture dries in 20-30 minutes? The residual will take days to kill target pests. This is “how” you can see activity where you just treated (after it dries, maybe later the same night or a day later). And with springtails, the “replacement effect” makes it look like the treatment isn’t helping because new ones are coming as fast as the ones affected are dying.
Myth 9: Springtails like to live in air ducts.
Fact: Not true. If they even attempted this, they’d die. And in fact, many do die trying. Springtails aren’t “smart”. They don’t elude or outsmart us; they win by shear numbers. And Air Ducts are where many will emerge but where they cannot live. The actual air duct is super dry. And when your home’s heating/air fan is running and circulating air, any springtail would be in peril if it tried to live in the duct. So don’t ever spray inside your duct. But vents in the ceiling – especially those in the upper levels of your home that have an attic above it – will allow springtails to enter your living space by passing through the gap between the duct and your ceiling. If you remove your air vent, you will see this gap. You do need to treat these gaps with Xempt Dust as they can be an important point of entry for springtails, just like electric outlets and under light switch covers.
Myth 10: Springtails jump like fleas.
Fact: 100% True!! If you search on Google for “snow fleas”, you will find pictures showing them in the middle of winter atop 1-2 feet of snow. The people doing the videos will almost always comment about how they’re “hopping like fleas”. This happens because they’re reacting to the cold. As explained in Myth 7, springtails do not go dormant when it gets cold. But they don’t like sitting on ice or snow. During the winter where it snows, all it takes is one or two “warming trend days” to start melting the snow. This “flood” of water draining into the gutter and then into the sewer pipes will push springtails up and out into the open. The most common place to find this happening will be along streets with sewer pipes. And if you’re lucky enough to spy this where you live, it’s super easy to see them jump. During the warm season, its hard to note how many are actually jumping if you see them on cement or in a group of 25-50. But on snow, it’s easy to see their dark body contrast with the snow. They can jump several feet at a time and this ability is one of the main reasons it’s important to treat around doors and windows during the winter.
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