How to use Mashenka chalk pencil against cockroaches, ants and bedbugs

Mashenka pencil is a long-used remedy for cockroaches and other household pests. Insects not only die, but leave human habitation.

But nowadays there are so many insecticides produced that, when faced with a choice, it is not always possible to give preference to the most effective product. Before purchasing another “weapon” in the war against disgusting arthropods, you need to figure out whether it’s really worth it.

Pros and cons of the drug

It seems strange that a small white block can solve the problem of harmful bugs scurrying around the house. Especially when it comes to a room where children, pets or people suffering from allergies live. In such a situation, you need to be wary of any foreign substance, especially a toxic one.

Positive qualities of the insecticide:

• low toxicity;
• no odor;
• low cost;
• easily applied to all coatings and simply washed off;
• multifunctional - works against several types of pests.

This is interesting: the development was originally created in the 80s to protect supplies in military units. Only in the early 90s the drug appeared on the public market, having proven itself well.

The negative side of using a pencil should be considered in more detail:

1. In case of contact with the mucous membranes of the mouth, eyes or respiratory tract, it may cause irritation, allergies or mild poisoning.
2. Another disadvantage is the visual unaestheticness of its use. Not everyone will like seeing an apartment covered in white stains. When the insect infestation is small, its habitat is primarily in the kitchen or pantry. But in advanced cases, you will have to outline the entire apartment, not excluding cabinets, chests of drawers and sections from the inside.
3. The drug does not last long. The lines need to be periodically updated, having previously erased the old “drawings”. Efficiency decreases especially quickly when exposed to direct sunlight.
4. Chalk "Mashenka" is not a brand. The name is not protected by copyright, so the drug is produced by many companies specializing in the production of insecticides. When choosing a product, you need to pay attention to this and give preference to a product that is produced by a company with a good reputation.

The appearance of chalk from different brands is almost the same. The main difference lies in the level of efficiency.

Is it possible to completely remove ants using Mashenka chalk?

Ants are characterized by differences in the characteristics of their life activity when compared with representatives of other insect species. For example, to kill a cockroach or bedbug, you can use a drug with contact or intestinal action, after which you can expect the death of the infected individuals. This scheme allows you to reduce the pest population. All females are capable of reproduction, so if they are destroyed, the number of pests will be reduced as quickly as possible, and new individuals will not be able to appear.

In the case of ants, the queen, who lives in the anthill/nest throughout her life, is responsible for reproduction; she is not responsible for obtaining food and building housing. The induced functions are assigned to working individuals, who catch the eye of the owners of the house or apartment. If only the worker arthropods are destroyed, new individuals will continue to reproduce as the female continues to lay eggs.

So, we can conclude that the impact needs to be directed at the uterus, which can only be reached by destroying the anthill, which is quite difficult, since it cannot always be located around the perimeter of the home. Most often, arthropods set up an anthill outside the building. If destruction of the queen is impossible, then the use of contact insecticides is required, which the workers will deliver inside the nest.

Taking into account the fact that Mashenka chalk does not contain attractants, it is necessary to apply stripes on the premises as often as possible, due to this the likelihood of picking up particles with a toxic substance will increase. The ants will carry the poison inside the anthill, and when in contact with their fellows, they will quickly spread it to all healthy individuals

This scheme has a fairly high probability of destroying not only the working ants, but also the queen.

When using chalk along with bait, the effectiveness will increase several times. To do this, after applying stripes throughout the premises, you need to leave attractive food for arthropods near them. While looking for food, they will quickly fall into a trap and receive a dose of poison.

Composition and mechanism of action

Real cockroach chalk “Mashenka” has a pure gray-white color and weighs 20 g. Sold in blue or light blue impermeable plastic packaging. It is produced in Russia, but created as an analogue of the Chinese insecticide “Mashenka Serebryanaya”.

The composition contains deltamethrin and zeta-cypermethrin as active substances.

Important: both drugs are included in the group of pyrethroid contact poisons. Thanks to them, the insecticide was assigned a 4th degree of danger for warm-blooded animals.

Chalk and gypsum are auxiliary materials that simplify the process of using the drug and give it shape. Occupies more than 90% of the composition.

The anti-cockroach pencil is intended to help in pest control, as a primary or additional tool. The mechanism of action of the active substances is based on direct contact with insects. Once in the body of arthropods, the poison interferes with the conduction of impulses from the nerve nodes to the muscles, causing complete paralysis, which, in turn, leads to death.

One bar of “Mashenka” against cockroaches is usually enough for a small room. On average, to process an apartment or house, you should stock up on 4-5 pieces. Lines that are not in direct sunlight, but in the shade or covered pieces of furniture, retain their active properties for up to 4 weeks.

Terms of use

The instructions for using Mashenka are extremely simple. In the classic version, you need to put on rubber gloves, print out a pencil, and draw solid lines on the surface in the right place. The width of the strip must be at least 4 cm.

Lines are simply drawn along baseboards, on window sills, behind furniture. In all places in the apartment where a cluster of pests was found, an ant house was found, and the trajectory of their movement was determined.

Reapply the chalk after 2 weeks if there are a large number of insects. If there were few ants, you can leave everything unchanged for another month. If the location of the ant nest is known, the product is turned into powder, water is added, and poured into the cracks.

How to use Mashenka chalk against cockroaches

There is nothing difficult about drawing an outline with chalk. But to effectively combat pests, you should study their habits and usual habitats, so as not to leave any chance for insects. You should also not ignore the instructions on the packaging.

Instructions for use

For greatest efficiency, outline each room with a continuous line 2 cm wide around the entire perimeter. The closed loop should be near the baseboards on the walls and floor. This is the only way the cockroach will not be able to pass by the trap.

Entry points for communications, ventilation openings and window sills are all key locations and main “pathways” for household pests.

Additionally, the drug is dissolved in water and sprayed on all living plants in the house. Since there is always moisture next to them, insects often live nearby. The poison remaining on the surface will kill the cockroaches.

Important: active toxic substances do not accumulate in greens, buds and fruits. Therefore, they do not pose a threat to plantings.

Using a spray bottle, it is enough to direct the stream to the place where parasites accumulate and spray everything generously. Returning there again, the pest will receive a dose of toxin.

Poisoning occurs gradually, so there is a high probability that the parasite will bring poison into the nest and infect its neighbors. Cockroaches are cannibals; they eat the corpses of their relatives, and the entire colony becomes infected.

When most of the adults die, there are always young and eggs left in the females, from which new bugs will hatch. These are the hardest to deal with. You should frequently update the lines, and not miss the moment of the emergence of a new generation, which will definitely come. After all, after 2-2.5 months, cockroaches will reach sexual maturity and continue to reproduce.

It often happens that insects after baiting appear again after a long time. This suggests that they live with their neighbors. In order to prevent such a turn of events, prevention is needed.

Places where insects may appear are treated monthly. These include:

• door and window openings;
• ventilation holes;
• communications inputs and outputs;
• area around electrical outlets;
• baseboards.

Just because dirt and disorder reign behind the wall does not mean that all residents of the house should suffer from it.

Features of using a pencil against bedbugs

If there is an invasion of bed parasites, a white block will also help. The insecticide, due to direct contact, remains on the beetle's legs. Then, through the proboscis, it enters the gastrointestinal tract and blood. The action is also delayed - 1 hour. An infected individual can also poison its nest neighbors.

To use the Mashenka pencil against bedbugs, you need to draw a contour around the perimeter of the room. But these insects do not have such an active life as, for example, cockroaches, and live mainly near beds and other sleeping places. Feeding on human blood and moving only in the dark, they try not to move away from their nests.

After wiping the bedbug chalk into powder, you need to treat hard-to-reach areas in beds and sofas. After adding a little liquid so that the consistency becomes similar to sour cream, fill the cavities and lubricate other places where traces of parasite activity were found. Another crushed preparation is stirred in water to spray the upholstery of furniture.

Tip: bedbugs make nests on the back of carpets that hang on the wall or lie on the floor. To ensure that pests are removed, products of this kind are sent to dry cleaning. Bed linen, the contents of sofa drawers and cabinets in which insects have been noticed must be washed at the highest possible temperature according to the type of material.

This insecticide does not affect eggs, so the treatment is repeated, 2 weeks after the first.

Can it be used against fleas?

It is not a fact that fleas appear only in an apartment where there are animals. Neighborhood pets and furry street dwellers can cause an invasion of blood-sucking parasites in any home.

If you have a four-legged friend in the house, then before you start fighting fleas that bite people, you need to cure him. These insects need animal blood, and will not live long on a human “diet.” But they multiply at tremendous speed and can become a real problem. Within a week, all things located up to 1.5 m from the floor will be contaminated.

First of all, you need to arm yourself with a vacuum cleaner and process all accessible places, especially upholstered furniture and carpets. Under the latter, it doesn’t hurt to sprinkle dry wormwood, which is sold in every pharmacy. The smell of this plant can repel any insects, but it quickly wears off - you need to remove the old grass and add new grass once every 2 days.

Important: the vacuum cleaner filter, after getting rid of most of the insects and their eggs, will have to be destroyed or treated with a liquid insecticide.

In case of flea control, the floor and baseboards are treated with chalk. If there is a heavy infestation of parasites, carpets should be dry cleaned. The place where the pet sleeps is covered with powder obtained from a Mashenka pencil, and then washed in hot water.

How to use against ants

A common problem in private houses and apartments located on the ground floor is ants. If left undisturbed, they do not harm people, but they can significantly spoil food. Fighting these insects with chalk is similar to the procedure for getting rid of cockroaches.

Ants are easier to control due to their natural habits. They follow established paths and do not run erratically unless there is an obvious threat. It is enough to watch the insects and remember their routes. The stripes must cross the paths so that the pests are sure to step on the poison. In order to lure them to a specific place, it is enough to drip sugar syrup, honey or sweet jam.

While a flea or cockroach can jump over a line, an ant lacks such abilities. A line 2 cm wide will become insurmountable. The insects will bring grains of toxin to the nest, where they will “treat” the female and other inhabitants with them. After a short period of time, the colony will die.

To increase the efficiency of processing, look for anthills on the street, close to the house. Having found a shelter, sprinkle it around with powder obtained from chalk, or fill it with liquid mixed with an insecticide. The principle of operation is the same.

Folk remedies for red and red ants

To get rid of red ants in your apartment, it is not necessary to use toxic chemicals. There are many widely known folk recipes that cope well with this task and are completely safe for people and animals.

You can use folk methods to scare away ants, kill working insects, destroy the female and the entire colony with her.

You can scare off insects with the help of spices and flowers that have a strong aroma. Ants cannot tolerate the smells of lavender, garlic, mint, anise, cloves, and citrus fruits.

The treated surface of kitchen furniture and the floor will repel insects from the apartment. Ants follow the well-trodden path of scouts who leave enzyme trails. The vinegar erases them and they lose their way.

The easiest and safest method to destroy a colony is cornmeal. It must be scattered like powder in places favored by insects. They eat this product themselves and feed it to the female. They cannot digest this type of flour and die over time. It will take time to destroy the entire colony.

An aerosol from water and liquid soap corrodes the chitinous shell of insects and they die.

Boric acid is an excellent, inexpensive way to kill parasites. It is used as one of the bait ingredients

It is important to maintain proportions. A strong concentration of acid will kill the insect on the spot, and the female will remain unpoisoned

Here are a couple of recipes:

Egg bait. Mix 5 g of acid with two raw eggs and roll into balls.

Meat bait. Add 1 teaspoon of boric acid to 3 tablespoons of minced meat. Mix and form into balls.

Ants living in the house are classified as medium-difficult parasites to eliminate. In an apartment building, the situation is complicated by the size of the colony. But the enemy is not as terrible as they make him out to be. By involving your neighbors and using several methods at the same time, you can defeat the enemy in three to four weeks.

Is Mashenka chalk against cockroaches dangerous for humans?

Despite the low level of toxicity for humans, a baby crawling on the floor may well be poisoned by this drug if he erases a streak with his palm and then puts his fist in his mouth. The same applies to kittens and puppies, who will be interested in licking the bright features. Adult animals and people consciously avoid such things, but they will also feel uneasy after the drug enters the body. The degree of intoxication depends on the amount of toxin consumed.

Efficiency

Reviews about Melka Mashenka are very different. Experts recommend using it as a prophylactic agent, as an auxiliary drug in combination with effective poisons.

Ants appeared at the dacha. I bought Mashenka. I coated everything I could. I found dead insects, but the living ones also continued to crawl. A weak remedy!

Mashenka definitely doesn’t help with ants. We walked along the stripes on foot, at least henna. You can’t kill them with such poison; you need more potent means. The price speaks for itself.

My grandmother had ants on her windowsill in a wooden house. She smeared her with Mashenka, and they began to die. Gradually, everyone was suffocated within 3 weeks. If the effect is not urgently needed, you can calmly fight with chalk. He helped us.

You can buy Mashenka chalk everywhere. Can be stored for up to 3 years from the date of manufacture. Price for 1 package 10 rubles.

Source

Security measures

The treatment is carried out by relocating household members to another home for a couple of weeks. Before returning, it will be enough to do a thorough wet cleaning and collect dead insects with a vacuum cleaner.

Further contact with surfaces that previously had chalk marks is safe. No grains of the substance remain in the air. When machining while the core is being worn, the chips fall off rather than moving around like dust.

How to protect yourself and your loved ones:

• Do not unpack the crayon completely. Remove only part of the packaging and hold it while drawing lines. Cellophane will protect the skin from contact with the poison. If by chance the wrapper tears completely, you should work with rubber gloves.
• Wear a mask or respirator. This is necessary in order to protect the respiratory tract from poisoning - some crayons generate dust when drawing lines.
• Protect children. Draw in places inaccessible to children. If age allows, you need to explain to the child what these lines are and why they should not be touched.
• Keep your pets safe. For warm-blooded animals the harm is minimal, but it does exist. You need to try to limit your four-legged friend’s access to the marked areas. It is best to give it to relatives, friends or a pet hotel for a while.

Even after a while, when the chalk has worn off on its own, you should not forget that it was applied. General wet cleaning is the only measure to neutralize active substances that probably remain on surfaces.

Rules of application

Not everyone knows that chalk can be used in different ways. Available processing methods using a bar:

1. Drawing lines is the most common option. In this case, stripes with a width of 1 to 4 cm are drawn. The stronger the infection, the wider the lines should be. You can draw solid or dotted stripes. It is important to apply them in shaded areas where sunlight does not reach, otherwise the insecticides will quickly lose their properties. When fighting ants, you first need to find their paths. They are easy to spot, as insects usually move along a chain. Lines are drawn along these paths. As a result, a large number of insects will become infected at once. Additionally, the drug is applied in places where ants can appear: baseboards, back surfaces of furniture, household appliances, internal shelves in closets. You need to wear gloves when working with chalk. There is no need to protect the respiratory tract and mucous membranes, since the product does not emit volatile compounds.
2. Preparation of the mixture. The bar should be left in warm water and until completely dissolved. The resulting liquid is used for processing. It is applied with a spray or brush. When using the solution, you must be careful. So, if you plan to spray the product, wear a gauze bandage or a respirator. A suspension of the toxic substance may enter the respiratory tract. In addition, the treatment of the room is carried out in buried clothes, which will protect the skin.
3. The chalk is ground to a powder and scattered over surfaces where ants may be found: floors, baseboards, the area near the trash can. The disadvantage of this method is that it cannot be used for processing vertical surfaces.

Chalk Mashenka is often used for prevention. Thanks to its prolonged action, the product provides good results over several weeks. To protect the room from repeated invasion, lines are drawn in areas where insects may appear: ventilation ducts, window and door blocks, pipe joints, cracks in the floor, baseboards. The stripes need to be updated periodically.

Analogs

The prototype is a Chinese pencil. As the domestic version of the insecticide became popular, similar products began to be produced that are not inferior in effectiveness, but differ in composition.

The most popular crayons: table

Flaws

No matter how good the drug is, it has some disadvantages:

• short validity period - strips must be regularly updated so that they do not lose effectiveness;
• an insufficient effect is possible if the apartment is heavily infested;
• Inhalation of insecticide particles by animals may result in poisoning.

When applying chalk, you should wear a medical mask or respirator and gloves. After work, wash your hands thoroughly with soap.

Reviews

“We brought cockroaches into a new house with things when we moved. It didn’t help much in the summer, but in the winter, along with the cold, we managed. The cockroaches did not disappear immediately. At first they became somewhat sluggish and “pale”, and then disappeared completely.”

“Using the Mashenka chalk we got rid of cockroaches in the apartment and ants in the country house. Now we keep a few pieces in the pantry, as a reserve.”

“An old and proven remedy was recommended by a neighbor. Not immediately, but within a week there was no trace left of the insects.”

“As soon as we got rid of the bedbugs, cockroaches crawled in from the neighbors. Exterminators were called, but the effect was temporary. As soon as they started appearing again, we used Mashenka chalk for cockroaches, and surprisingly, it helped. Now we renew the lines at the baseboards every few months and don’t worry about pests.”

Insect control should always be approached comprehensively. Sometimes even the help of specialists is not effective, and repeated treatments are required, which cost a lot of money. Chalk "Mashenka" is an accessible, cheap, but effective means of getting rid of unwanted pests.

An integrated approach to combat

If you lose the battle over and over again, and the insects begin a new attack, then do not despair. This happens especially often if the house has wooden floors in which fleas have settled. Victory will still be yours. And a simple flea chalk “Mashenka” will help. Reviews suggest that in this case a number of measures will have to be carried out, which will ultimately lead to the final cleansing of the house:

It is necessary to remove rugs and carpets and take them to dry cleaning. Empty the cabinets of things and thoroughly treat the inside with a chalk solution. If it’s winter outside, then take all your things out into the cold. Now we need to tackle the upholstered furniture. Sofas and beds, an armchair, must be disassembled as much as possible and thoroughly rubbed with chalk or sprayed with crushed stone. The “Mashenka” flea chalk works great, you just need to make sure that the insects come into contact with the insecticide and do not pass by. Take another look at where insects might be hiding in your room. Wallpaper that is coming off the wall, paintings, bookcases and drawers with writing instruments - all this must be taken into account. The baseboards around the perimeter of the entire room should be thoroughly rubbed with chalk.

Moreover, one strip needs to be run along the baseboard, and the second a little higher, along the wall. Pay special attention to cracks in the baseboard. These places are carefully treated by pouring a chalk solution into them.

We must not forget about the most favorite places for cockroaches. This is a garbage bin, a place for washing dishes, refrigerators and a dining area, the space behind the stove.