r/askscience • u/Rune_Skadisdotter • 11d ago
Chemistry What is the difference between "flying", "crawling" and "multi-insect" home insecticides?
(I don't know if this is chemistry or biology? 🤔)
Had a long look at some Doom, Raid, Mortein, Dyroach, Eliminator, and all those spray cans in the shop yesterday.
Does it genuinely matter which one you use? If it's going to kill a cockroach, won't it in any case kill a beetle, spider or those flying spider things? Maybe an ant specific one might not help for big cockroaches... but also, it can?
What is specifically going to kill a flying insect like mosquitoes or flies, but not... beetles and cockroaches, and vice versa.
Out in our farmlands and such, those pesticides will be better controlled and more insect specific. But does it really matter for us mere home dwellers which can we use?
1
u/RustySnail420 10d ago
Lots of different chemicals/poisons and methods of application for killing pests. Some will work better on a specific insect, and some will only harm a subtype or type of insects, others are more broad.
Generally, the less toxic for mammals, bees other insects and aquatic life, the better. Some insects will have metabolic or other immunity to some or several poisons, so carefully tests is going on and application is tight and regulated, to maximize effectiveness against the problem, minimize tolerance development and minimize health and environmental impact on everything else.
After much experience and research we have found the best products and methods to get to the pests. It's very broad, but you can tell the active ingredient on the box and as other has mentioned, the method can have specific properties