Can you tell me why are springtails in my house? We do not have any moisture problem but they keep coming out crawling around in circles. At first we were vacuuming them up and they’re gone for a day or two but then come back again. Should I seal the baseboard? I stopped watering because the house is a slab and I thought the cement was soaking up water. Then we removed all the mulch, started running dehumidifiers in the 2 rooms where we find them and even had the moisture level checked. My Home Depot meter says the humidity is 15-20 % and we live in the dessert outside Vegas. Builder says this doesn’t happen in his homes and we can’t find any other bugs around the house. And I don’t care about the plants suffering a bit if that’s what it takes but this is a new home and just 2 months in we have these nasty things. I was seeing 10-20 on the ground around the door and window but now less but they just keep coming back like they’re looking for food.
This is an easy one. It’s actually their mating season. So with springtails, Spring-Summer-Fall is their prime season for reproducing and why they forage out into open spaces. Let me explain..
So first, they are NOT “seeking moisture”. If anything, they are actually putting themselves in harms way because where you see them is way more dry compared to where they are currently living. In fact the inside “air” of any home in our country will usually be a lot drier compared to the spaces under baseboards and inside hidden wall voids. And if the inside space was more humid? They would be literally nesting in pocket nests you’d see in corners, on walls and ceilings, 24/7.
And no, they’re not coming out foraging for food. Where they are nesting (under baseboards, in wall voids-attics and under home siding) is where their food is growing and where they will live their best lives. But males like to reproduce. And they’re not allowed to do this in their nests for a few reasons so where is it happening?
So if males can’t actively reproduce in their nests, then where do they go? They come out into the open spaces which is the activity you’re seeing right now! The initial wave will be males looking for a good place to leave sperm. This will be in cracks and crevices away from the nests where everything is bountiful. And once they find a suitable location (not out in the open- this is never where springtails want to be), they will leave sperm deposits that will attract females.
And their mating season is from spring through summer and up till late fall. So typically they’ll quiet down at the end of the year, Oct-Nov-Dec and then start back up in Feb-March. Now in some homes they could be active all year long if left untreated. So yeah, they don’t have to have contact during the act and yes, it’s a bit odd BUT very effective. This is also why so many of these new areas fail to be sustainable. In other words, the males? They don’t choose the best places to start a new home and why so many of them die, along with the females that are chasing them. But every now and then they find a good spot to start anew. Like down a drain or under some grout. Or maybe up the interior wall, by the light switch. And this is when your problem grows.
Now regarding the newness of the home? Well brace yourself because most people don’t like to hear this but the bottom line is that many new homes have them essentially “built in”. We have a short post on this here:
So what we mean by having them “built in” is that what probably happened is that the springtails you’re seeing? They were most likely on the wood used to construct your home. In other words, they aren’t coming from the ground around the home but instead, from under the baseboards of the interior walls. And the exterior walls will most likely be the ones with activity and nests.
Now onto sealing gaps? DO NOT CAULK ANYTHING! For now, leave everything as is, open and accessible. These cracks and gaps are probably where they’re living and if properly treated, you can get rid of them all easily. I say this because the problem is most likely still small since the home is new. That means they’ll be focused, probably mostly where the sill plate is resting on the cement slab, and leaving those gaps open will allow you to POWER INJECT. We explain why sealing or caulking is not suggested when you have an active problem here:
As or any concern about moisture being the reason? That’s a copout. For some reason, service companies use this “excuse” as a way to put the blame on the home owner because they don’t want to deal with it.
And if was true? Then most new homes that have springtails would see the problem resolve itself. How? Because the average home is actually super dry and if any are hidden somewhere, they’ll either dry up or the colony will be limited. In other words, they won’t interested in migrating out to other areas of the home due to the low humidity. Also, the outside annual average humidity for Vegas is in the 10-30% range. This is just not ideal for springtails so there is no reason to be worried about moisture outside or inside.
So what should you do? We have a great post for anyone about to take on the treatment process here:
what do you recommend for springtails and how much should I get?
As you’ll learn, using the Power Injector and treating under your baseboards with BITHOR or MAXXTHOR is the way to start. Given how new the home is AND where you live, it’s just not likely there are substantial numbers around the home but still treat there to be sure.
True, springtails are natures most important recycler and exist everywhere. But in climates like yours, these numbers will remain small and they’ll be content where they have found food, safe harborage and moisture. But if there were some on the wood or other building materials, the inside population could thrive hidden away so use the Power Injector to eliminate them for good.
Lastly, what most people don’t realize is that springtails will be most happy living their lives under BASEBOARDS, DOOR THRESHOLDS and HOME SIDING and that the ones you see? They came from nests within 2-3 feet of where you see them. This is because they can’t travel far and aren’t comfortable out in the open. But they do send out males first and then females and start mating. And if you let this happen, it will get worse so follow our guidelines on how to treat if you don’t want the issue to grow.
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