House guests house pests : a natural history of animals in the home / Richard Jones.

Includes bibliography and index.

Preface -- Introduction -- The attractions of home : shelter, food and respite : it's the formula for success -- Shelter : stored supplies, in the warehouse, the cellar, the larder and the pantry -- Making a mess everywhere : maggots, dirt, filth and droppings everywhere -- Eating us out of house and home : warehouse, larder and pantry -- Eating the house and the home : woodworm, clothes moths and carpet beetles -- the end of civilisation as we know it -- They're after us : bloodsuckers -- Hangers on : forgotten friends, casual visitors and a rag-tag of other uninvited callers -- To live and let live? Or squish 'em? : how to deal with your own visitors -- Appendix: Rogues gallery and identification guide.

Today we live in snug, well-furnished houses surrounded by the trappings of a civilized life. But we are not alone--we suffer a constant stream of unwanted visitors. Our houses, our food, our belongings, our very existence are under constant attack from a host of invaders eager to take advantage of our shelter, our food stores and our tasty soft furnishings. From bats in the belfry to beetles in the cellar, moths in the wardrobe and mosquitoes in the bedroom, humans cannot escape the attentions of the animal kingdom. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but when it's our blood the bedbugs are after, when it's our cereal bowl that's littered with mouse droppings, and when it's our favorite chair that collapses due to woodworm in the legs, it really brings it home the fact that we and our homes are part of nature too.