Bats Bats sleep during the day, hanging upside down from the roof rafters or on an outside wall. Contrary to popular ideas, they do not like belfries as they like drought free locations. Various types are native to Britain and are usually seen around dusk as they sweep across the sky catching air borne insects. They cause no harm and under British law, can only be handled by licensed people. Remedy: Law protects all species of bat found in the UK as they are endangered species, it is illegal to kill or even disturb bats in their roosts.     Bluebottles These large, buzzing flies have shiny metallic blue bodies and are 6 - 12 mm long. They are attracted to dead meat, on which they lay their eggs as well as feeding. They are often found around refuse tips, rotting animal matter, dirt and dustbins. They spread disease between their various landing places. Remedy: Keep dustbins clean, with tight lids and away from doors and windows, Keep meat and other food covered.Use an insecticide dustbin powder. Indoors, use a vapour insecticide strip or aerosol fly-spray. You could also fit fly screens over kitchen windows.   Flys Around 10 mm long, the House Fly is the most common pest in buildings and is found in most homes. They feed by vomiting saliva on to the food surface, treading it in and sucking up the resulting liquid! The fly is a health hazard; it passes on dangerous germs from the last place that it visited - which could have been anywhere from a dustbin to animal droppings! Remedy: Scrupulous hygiene and prompt disposal of all rubbish will discourage flies. Keep food covered and site dustbins away from doors and windows. You can also fit fly screens to doors and windows. There are a number of fly-killer aerosols on the market as well as impregnated plastic strips giving off insecticide vapour.   Woodworm This is a term used for the destructive larvae of several species of wood boring beetle. The first sign of woodworm is the appearance of neat round holes 1-2 mm across in wooden surfaces, often accompanied by tiny piles of wood dust. The adult Furniture Beetle is a small brown insect about 5 mm long who can fly and lay eggs on rough, unpolished wood. The grubs bore straight into the wood - leaving no trace until they emerge as beetles three or more years later, usually between May and September. They are usually introduced into the house in second-hand furniture, tea-chests and the like but they can also fly in through windows from nearby dead branches of trees. They may attack floorboards, joinery and, more seriously, structural timbers. Remedy: In furniture, woodworm can be cured by application of a woodworm killer which will penetrates quickly and can be applied using a brush or spray. As the pest is inside the wood, the liquid should be applied quite generously. You can also buy an insecticide polish as a precaution against woodworm. You can buy proprietary fluid used by the experts and treat woodworm in structural timbers yourself. All timbers should be cleaned first and any roof insulation material will have to be removed temporarily so that you can get at the joists. Cover electric cables and the cold water storage tank. Lift floorboards to get at the undersides and joists. You can have detailed surveys, reports and estimates carried out by specialist wood preservation companies and many cover their treatments by long term guarantees - this may help if you sell the house so it is worth considering the additional initial cost for a subsequent benefit.    Moths The clothes moths have infested many households. Two kinds are common:   The case-making moth is so called because the caterpillar spins a shelter case of silk and bits of the material on which it is feeding. The webbing clothes moth, the most abundant and injurious species, spins silky webs as it moves over a piece of material. The adult moths are probably harmless. The clothes moth stays in dark places and flies very little. However the female begins to lay eggs, before it is a day old, and lays about 100 in the 7 to 14 days of its life. The soft, white eggs are laid loosely upon the material on which the larvae are to feed. They are easily dislodged and crushed, so that anything that is regularly brushed or shaken should not become moth infested. In warm weather the eggs hatch in from four to eight days. In colder weather, hatching may take as long as three weeks. The larvae eat furiously for about 40 days before turning into pupae. The pupa stage lasts eight to ten days in warm weather, and three to four weeks in the winter in a heated building. Eggs, larvae, and pupae die quickly at low temperatures. It is the larvae that does the damage to clothes and are about 12 mm long white worms. Adults are yellow-brown, with narrow wings, about 12 mm long. They eat protein based material, they have an unusual ability to digest keratin. Keratin is found in woollens, furs, hair, leathers, hides, feathers, horns and stored meat and dairy products. Clothes moths hardly ever damage synthetic materials. Keratin is also found in hair, skin and nail tissues. Clothes moths will damage silk and linens, and synthetics, but it will be incidental, while the larvae are eating their preferred foods. They particularly damage fabrics stained from oil from human hair, human sweat, urine, beer, milk, soft drinks and juices. Remedy: The first order of business is to clean stored clothes. It is important to identify the source of infestation. Besides looking where clothes are stored, look around your baseboards for fluff. At times they can be found in your kitchen and in bird nests. Vacuum very well all the cracks and crevices of the infested area and spray with a suitable aerosol and place a cloth moth trap. The old fashion moth balls (with their distinctive smell) can also be used when storing clothes.    Carpetbeetle The Varied Carpet Beetle is 2 - 4 mm long, like a small, mottled brown, grey and cream ladybird. The larvae are small and covered in brown hair and tend to roll up when disturbed. The adult carpet beetle can fly and lives outside the house, feeding on pollen and nectar. Sometimes they lay their eggs in empty birds' nests, but they also like felt, fabric and accumulated fluff in buildings. It is the larvae that do the damage, which usually consists of well-defined round holes along fabric seams. Remedy: Check the loft and eaves for old birds' nests or dead birds and remove them. Keep fluff and debris under control within the house, including the airing cupboards, shelves, floorboards, carpets and upholstery. Vacuum carpets on a regular basis. Lift carpets and underlay and clean floors and carpet thoroughly. An insecticide is needed to deal with a bad carpet beetles infestation and affected items can be sprayed or dusted.    Spiders House spider help us by eating a large number of household pests. None of the native British types are poisonous to man. The reason why they are often found in baths and sinks is that they cannot climb smooth surfaces, so if they fall in, they are stranded. Remedy: To remove a spider there is no need to kill it. Simply place a carton over it, then slip a piece of thin cardboard between the carton and the surface to form a lid. Then take the sealed container out of the building and let the spider go.