Is a book false scorpion in an apartment a dangerous or harmless insect?

The book false scorpion lives in nature, but now there are fewer and fewer such natural habitats, so it has moved into houses and apartments. Usually these insects live in damp, dark and secluded places, for example, under a stone, in a cave, in a tree post and other places hidden from human eyes. That’s why they are rarely seen in the wild, but the appearance of a bookish specimen in an apartment throws many into fear, panic and the search for a saving slipper or broom. How dangerous is a false scorpion for humans?

Book false scorpion as part of wildlife

This insect cannot be called a scorpion due to the fact that it is more like a spider, especially without poisonous glands. The abdominal part is more reminiscent of a tick, but the walking legs and feeding method are the spitting image of a spider. The body of the false scorpion is very small - approximately 3 mm, and the largest book "scorpion" was 12 mm in size. This already makes you relax, what can this little guy do?

The weapon of the spider-like insect is chelicerae, claws that allow this predator to attack the victim, pierce it and suck out all the life-giving moisture. It sounds scary, but people are not included in its diet.

An insect's senses are not developed in the same way as a human's, and therefore the claws for a false scorpion serve as all sense organs at the same time. In fact, because of these claws, the spider-like bug was menacingly nicknamed the scorpion. Their size is the same as the body, and therefore it is difficult to ignore this weapon.However, unlike scorpions, its false relatives do not have a tail or that very poisonous sting. So the book insect does not justify its comparison with the sporpion, which is dangerous to human life.

How do book insects reproduce?

This species of arachnid reproduces once a year through sexual intercourse. This is not just some kind of intercourse, but a whole ceremony. Males circle around their chosen ones in a dance of love, moving their abdomens from side to side and dancing with their walking legs.

After the babies are born, the mother will die, sacrificing herself to feed the little bugs. Her children will also be able to become parents in one year, and the life expectancy of book scorpions is approximately three years.

What do false scorpions eat?

Such menacing-looking, scary beetles are predators, but due to the fact that their size is very small, the victims of these powerful claws are also representatives of small insects. At home, book false scorpions prefer to eat dust, mites, and various small insects. They are even capable of weaving a web, like real arachnids, but this is not necessary and therefore they do this extremely rarely, probably only for beauty.

What are they?

In houses and apartments, false scorpions choose to live in a place where it is quiet and calm, as well as a lot of dust and all kinds of living creatures. These are bookcases, shelves with various papers and other storage areas for the remains of human activity and their domestic insects. That is, if there is a place where a rag for wiping dust has reached it, it means that there is definitely this carrier of threatening claws there. It is very, very difficult to notice a false scorpio.This usually happens during spring cleaning, when things are carefully moved from one place to another.

Another favorite room of bookish individuals is the bathroom. Here, most often, the lights are turned off, there is moisture, which means there is something to profit from. In addition, rarely does anyone immediately wash out the bath with bleach after a shower, and there are various pieces of skin left on which small insects converge. It is difficult to notice claws in the bathroom, but if you look closely immediately after turning on the light, you can see some movements - most likely these are false scorpions running away from the prying eyes of the apartment owner.

Are they dangerous to human life and health?

This question is often asked after an entire family of insects has been completely exterminated by cleaning or a slipper, a broom and other “saving things”. In fact, these bugs are only so scary in appearance; their small size and other food preferences make false scorpions absolutely safe for humans. There are, of course, pros and cons of living together with these insects.

Pros or benefits of book false scorpions:

1. These insects are real home orderlies. They feed on bugs that are harmful to humans, but they themselves are harmless arachnids. False scorpions eat ticks, book and dust lice, small beetles and other living creatures that apartment residents don’t even know about. Thanks to their pincers, they pierce the bodies of their victims and eat them in a spider-like manner.
2. The diet of false scorpions not only frees the living space from harmful insects, but also eliminates allergens and other microparticles.The book specimen is small in size, and therefore all things remain in their places and do not affect a person’s life in any way, but there is much less dust. After all, what is dust? These are dead particles of human skin, all sorts of small insects and their metabolic products.
3. Bookbugs reproduce only once a year, and therefore an invasion of beetles in an apartment is extremely rare.
4. False scorpions do not attack humans; they are simply not interested in us.

Cons, aka harm from cohabitation with bookish false scorpions:

1. These beneficial bugs kill insects and protect people from allergic reactions; their waste products can also cause unknown deterioration in health. So people with hypersensitivity to all things False Scorpio associate it with negative emotions and causing harm.
2. If the apartment or house is large, then a small colony of book insects will not harm, but for residents of a one-room apartment, the annually increasing population will be very disturbing.
3. Yes, false scorpions themselves will not attack, but if you accidentally touch him or tear out his walking leg, he may bite.
4. The appearance can irritate or frighten a person, and therefore the proximity of beetles and nervous people must be excluded.

What to do when meeting?

• If you see a false scorpion, calm down, it is not dangerous. Most likely he is also scared, frozen and pretending to be dead. Play along with him, turn off the light and enter the room after 1 minute. The book scorpion will no longer be visible.
• The false scorpion moves slowly and, if you decide to kill it, it can show sprinting abilities and try to escape. And the false scorpio can run sideways, back and forth, so you can expect anything from him.
• If a false scorpion bites, then you just need to lubricate the area with some kind of disinfectant. It does not have any poison, it cannot cause burns or allergies, and therefore there is no point in panicking and nervously calling an ambulance.

How to fight?

• Clean your home more often, do not create ideal conditions for their habitat - do not allow dust and open damp areas.
• Ventilation of the house should be regular, and the floors should be washed not with plain water, but with the use of detergents.
• From time to time it is necessary to carry out special measures to combat domestic insects.

The false scorpion is not dangerous to human life and is even quite useful in household use. But if you still don’t like insects, then you need to reconsider your general cleaning schedule.