There are more paper bugs than we think.
Cockroaches, booklice, termites, and many more attack books, documents, and archives.
How do you recognize them and how do you get rid of them?
In this article we will discuss:
What type of insects attack paper
firstPaper bugs lurk wherever books are found and are an annoying presence. Unfortunately, they are also extremely common.
Insects feed on the pages of books, deteriorating the treasure.
In order to recognize insects that are threatening for your books such as cockroaches, booklice, silverfish and many others, you have to try to understand their behavior first.
For example, silverfish like to rest in our homes or libraries because they thrive in high humidity and seek dark abodes.
The problem is that these insects are numerous and some of them are so small that it may be difficult to recognize them.
For this reason, we often discover their presence through the damage they do to paper.
How to recognize insect damage on paper
Insects feed on the cellulose of paper and biological glues such as those in older books.
The most dangerous insects for paper are termites, which in addition to feeding on wood, feed on leather and vellum paper.
There are many other insects that in addition to feeding on the paper itself and the glue, also destroy the wooden materials constituting the bindings (such as binding plates).
Once the presence of insects is discovered, they need to be eliminated.
Paper bugs: how to get rid of them
Generic solutions to eliminate insects are obviously specific insecticides.
However, if you want to go on a more chemical-free solution you can seek out an anoxic disinfestation.
Anoxic disinfestation is a 100% non-toxic and natural solution that is based on the elimination or decrease of oxygen.
The principle of this technique is that paper bugs, as well as all living things, need oxygen to live.
Anoxic disinfestation creates an atmosphere devoid of oxygen, which consequently induces dehydration of the insects themselves, killing them.
The complete process that Prodoc applies can be found here.