Our homes are ecosystems for bugsand we don't even know it

Does the thought of a spider or centipede in your home horrify you? A new episode of CBC's The Nature of Things reveals there are more bugs in our homes than we realize and we just need to accept it.

Our homes are are like mini-ecosystems. For thousands of years from ancient caves to today's brick houses insects (as well as some non-insects) have learned to thrive in our homes.

We may see the odd spider, fruit fly or centipede, but there are many more critters happily sharing our space.

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A team of American entomologists wanted to understand just what could be found in the average home, so they've been entering homes around the world to undertake their study.

"It's this incredible new frontier and it's so unexplored, even though it's such a common and familiar place,"says MichelleTrautwein, one of the entomologists featured in The Nature of Things documentary.

'Take some deep breaths'

TheVettesefamily bravely offered their Toronto home to theentomologists to provide the Canadian perspective. The scientists were joined by a Canadian spider expert from the University of Torontoand a fly expert from the University ofGuelph.

They're like aliens living with us.- Roberto Verdecchia

Most might not want to know what creepy-crawlies are sharing their home and theVettesefamily was no different. But when friend and documentary filmmaker RobertoVerdecchiaapproached them, they agreed to lend their space to science.

"I thought, that sounds interesting. I think I can meditate, take some deep breaths and get through this," Cynamin Vettese told CBC News, laughing.

So out went theVettesesand in came the scientists, who created a pop-up laboratory. They brought in pincers, tubes and even an aspirator to suck up bugs with theirmouths. (It contains atiny filter inside the tube that keeps bugs from being swallowed.)

Great Wild Indoors Weevil Suction

8 years ago

Duration 0:53

It's harder than you might think to direct an insect that's about to be sucked up into a vacuum!

Theentomologists explored every nook and cranny of the Vettese family home: the corners of the basement, behind toilets, carpets and even books.

They found insects almost everywhere.

It's not that the house was unclean. Rather our homes are indoor biomes, where insects have learned to thrive. And amazingly, each room in a house can be thought of as its own ecosystem.

The critters in our homes

So what were the Vettese family living with? The pill bug (also known as the potato bug), the carpet beetle,the booklouse (which feeds on the mould and starch in book bindings), the cellar spider, and the ever-common house centipede.

That's just to name a few.

The Great Wild Indoors Spider vs. Centipede

8 years ago

Duration 0:54

A spider has its sights set on a house centipede for dinner, but the centipede has other plans.

Though Cynamin Vettese wasn't exactly thrilled to find out she's sharing her home with so many different critters 112 different types of species, which is typical for the average homeshe also found the results fascinating.

"I was shocked to hear about how many species they find in people's homes," Vettese said. "But isn't it interesting that these insects have adapted to live inside?"

Butshe added: "It's still better that I don't see them."

The centipede seemed to provoke the biggest reaction from the Vettese family and Verdecchia. It probably didn't help that the entomologists had trouble capturingtheirspecimen, as it scurried out of their handmade trapto seek refuge under a wooden plank against a wall.

The Great Wild Indoors How Flies Eat

8 years ago

Duration 0:49

Did you know flies can taste any food they land on by using tastebud-like receptors on their feet?

'I was never a bug guy'

For filmmaker Verdecchia, the decision to study indoor bugs started in his bathroom.

"I wasnever a bug guy," Verdecchia told CBC News. But one day he saw a spider and that got him thinking about the bigger picture. "I wondered, 'Why is it here? Is it going to live? Will it die?'"

He searched online for more information about insects in our homes and learned of Trautwein'sstudy.

While filming the documentary, Verdecchia said he gained a newfound respect for indoor critters. "They're like aliens living with us," he said.

Bug therapy

Verdicchia hopes the documentary will make people understand thebalance of life that exists in our homes.

It has worked for the Vettese family.

Their two children, aged nine and seven, were fascinated by the whole experience, asking the entomologists "a million and one questions," Vettese said.

The family was both amazed and "grossed out" by a microscopic view of a family of larvae that lived in a decaying peach. They became the common fruit fly.

Seeing the insects under a microscope, and through Verdecchia'slens, was an amazing experience. It's one that Vettese says has changed her: she's no longer as squeamish about indoor bugs.

"Knowledge is power,"Vettesesaid. "It's like therapy."

The episode, entitled The Great Wild Indoors, airs on The Nature of Things tonight at 8 p.m.