Found mostly in the reference section of your local library, some observers blame this insect for causing the national chain Border’s to go bankrupt. They are relatively easy to detect. Because of their size, they cannot wear contact lenses. Instead they are forced to don tiny little frames to be able to eat the words after they read them. So, if you see a pile of micro-sized spectacles, it’s a sure bet you have an infestation of booklice on your hands.

But Seriously Folks

Unlike the plague of lice that your kids come home with from school, booklice will not cause you to shave their heads or scrub them down with some special soap.

Frankly, you’ll most find these little critters in places that have only casual contact with humans. Places like:

• Crawl spaces
• Under rocks and bricks
• Near garden hoses
• Around the siding of your house
• In the vicinity of light fixtures
• Under a box
• Hugging your flowers
• In the trunks of a tree
• Nestled in shrubs
• Crawling around book cases
• Between the pages of books
• In your attic
• Around window sills
• Where grain is stored
• Near any incidences of mildew, fungus, mold or algae
• A long list of things that would take a month to jot-down

To make it easy, the one thing that booklice have in common is they’re slaves to moisture. Your basic booklice thrives on humidity and wetness. But they’re kind of oddballs. The confusion lies in what they eat. Chameleon-like, they’ll munch-on whatever is available. So to rid your nest of these creatures you have to make their lifestyles a living hell on earth.

Prepare to Meet Thy Maker, Ye Booklice

We’ve already mentioned their common love of moisture. When preparing to plan a full-out attack on the booklice in your life, start with these suggestions of prep work:

• Search for every crack, crevice, hole, opening or entranceway where water gets into your house. Clean them out.
• Chemically treat the discovered openings. Here are a couple of chemicals that you might use before sealing the entry points:
  • Small area? Pyrethrin is an option. Not a long-term one though. You’ll be looking at treating the trouble spots every week until the offenders have died.
  • Something that lasts a little longer is called Cy-Kick Aerosol. It will last a couple of weeks before you need to reapply. Big disadvantage: They actually have to walk over the substance for it to work. It’s not a treatment they smell and keel-over dead.
  • The final insecticide is a killer of mass destruction. Cy-Kick CS Controlled Release Cyfluthrin. This is for professionals like us only. If you have a booklice infestation that requires a Death Star product like this, call a professional exterminator.
• Once treated, head to the hardware store and purchase the proper sealer and a humidity monitor. Once you’ve patched every conceivable fissure, check the device to see if things have changed. Move the monitor around the room; see if it registers higher in one place as opposed to another.
• By eliminating mildew, fungus, mold or algae you will cramp the booklice lifestyle. And the less they eat, the less they make love and the less they have little booklice babies.