Bed bugs: where do they come from and how to deal with them

No matter how much a person strives to create ideal living conditions, he is forced to periodically encounter one or another type of insect in everyday life. We already know how to quickly defeat some of them. But insects such as bedbugs continue to plague many people today. The visible consequences of proximity to small bloodsuckers include unpleasant itching at the site of the bite, which causes severe discomfort and suffering. Therefore, in this article we will discuss exactly how to get rid of bedbugs and avoid unpleasant consequences.

Appearance

Apartment types of bedbugs

Bedbugs are insects from the order Hemiptera, differing from each other in body shape, color, size, way of life and type of nutrition. Most representatives of the species are equipped with wings, but there are also those that move exclusively with the help of their paws. These include bed bugs, known as house pests that can make it difficult to sleep at night.

The bedbug lost its wings during evolution due to its parasitic lifestyle

The bedbug is the only species that can live in an apartment in Russia and the CIS countries. This parasite feeds exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded creatures, but mainly human.

Bedding, furniture, bed, linen - these are all the same type of bug. It’s just that at different stages of development the insect differs in size and color. The nature of the food is always the same, but he chooses very different places in the apartment: from a warm, cozy bed to dark crevices under the baseboards.

The parasite has three pairs of legs and short antennae. The belly is round, almost flat, colored light brown without patterns. The body of an adult reaches a length of 4.5 cm, but only in a hungry state. During and after eating, the appearance of the bug changes. The belly becomes oval, lengthens to 6.5 mm and seems to “inflate” with blood. The color darkens.

The bug's body lengthens and darkens while sucking blood.

It is enough for a bedbug to eat once every 5–7 days. One individual can drink an amount of blood significantly exceeding its own weight. In the absence of food sources, the parasite is capable of falling into a state of suspended animation. This explains the fact that in an apartment where no one has lived for a long time, bedbugs suddenly appear and begin to bite the new owners.

Useful materials

Read other articles about bedbugs:

• Find out the main reasons for the appearance of bloodsuckers in the apartment, namely bed parasites.
• What do house bugs look like and how to get rid of them using various methods?
• Find out why they are dangerous for humans? How to recognize their bites, especially in children, and how to properly treat the damaged areas?
• To effectively combat these insects, find out what species there are, how they reproduce and feed, where you can find their nests and can they live in clothes?
• Read more about folk remedies, in particular vinegar and temperature effects.
• Effective preventive measures.
• Study several review articles about modern means of control, in particular against bed bugs. Check out the list of products that are safe for people and pets, and also find out how to properly prepare your apartment before treatment.
• If you cannot cope with parasites on your own, we recommend turning to professionals. They have effective destruction technologies and will be able to help you in the shortest possible time.

Below is a list of drugs that have proven themselves (can be used independently):

• Powders and dusts: Clean House, Karbofos.
• Chalk Mashenka.
• Sprays: Tetrix, Get, Tsifoks, Forsyth, Fufanon, Cucaracha, Executioner.
• Aerosols: Raid, Raptor, Combat.

Where do bedbugs come from in the house and why are they dangerous?

It is a mistake to believe that bedbugs can only appear in old Soviet apartments that have not been renovated for several decades. Parasites can appear even in the cleanest room with new renovations and furniture. Since bedbugs have practically no natural enemies in a human home, and a food source is always nearby, they feel very comfortable here.

Apartments with perfect cleanliness and high-quality repairs can also have bedbugs

Bedbugs easily penetrate apartments on any floor. Thanks to their flat body, they crawl through narrow cracks and hide in the most difficult places for humans to reach. Bedbugs cannot fly or jump, but they can move very quickly. They climb to great heights and easily crawl along the outer walls of houses from one window to another. Bedbugs cover the distance between apartments quickly, so if they have appeared in the apartment of one of your neighbors, they will soon appear in yours too.

How do bedbugs get into the house?

There are practically no obstacles for the small flat body of the bug. The parasite enters the apartment as follows:

• through cracks in the doorway;
• open windows and doors;
• ventilation holes;
• joints of pipes and ceiling/floor;
• on clothes and shoes;
• with purchased furniture, especially used;
• on the paws of pets, etc.

Parasites often enter the house through ventilation holes.
There are many ways for bedbugs to enter an apartment. This could be an infested apartment or hotel, from where several bedbugs were brought into the house on clothes or in a bag, or purchased furniture, including completely new ones. A furniture warehouse often becomes a breeding ground for parasites. Over thousands of years, bedbugs have learned to instinctively “calculate” places that will sooner or later lead them to human habitation.

Why are bedbugs dangerous for humans?

For humans, bedbugs do not pose a potential danger, but they significantly reduce the quality of life in general. They are nocturnal, so they interfere with proper sleep. Bedbugs become active in the second half of the night, closer to the morning, as a result of which a person constantly does not get enough sleep. Red dots appear at the bite sites, which itch and take a long time to heal, and sometimes allergic reactions occur.

Bedbugs are not carriers of infectious diseases, unlike fleas and mosquitoes. And although the causative agents of many dangerous diseases were found in the body of this parasite, no cases of human infection were identified.

Young children suffer the most from bedbug bites. The fact is that children's skin is much more delicate and thinner than that of an adult, and the blood vessels are located closer to the surface of the body. In addition, children are more likely to experience allergic reactions to bedbug bites: blisters may appear, and in rare cases even angioedema. The wounds are painful, very itchy and take a long time to heal, and the child constantly tries to scratch them, which can lead to infection.

Children often develop blisters at the sites of bites.

Constant lack of sleep, itching and painful sensations prevent you from living fully. In particularly sensitive people, parasite bites can provoke neuroses, nightmares and fear of going to bed.

The bite of an adult is painless, which cannot be said about the larva. The fact is that the saliva of adult bedbugs contains a special anesthetic substance. It anesthetizes the bite, and the bloodsucker peacefully sucks blood until it is completely saturated.

Habitats of bedbugs in the apartment

Bed bugs do not form colonies with a clear structure, but always live in large clusters. The bedbugs contain adult individuals, larvae at all stages of development, as well as eggs. Nests can be found in a wide variety of places:

• in a bed, bed linen, mattress - on the underside, in the folds of the seams;
• in the cracks of parquet or laminate, the space under baseboards, places where linoleum lags behind the floor;
• behind and under furniture, at the joints of sofas and easy chairs. Under the upholstery and between furniture design parts;
• on the walls - behind the paintings, under the wallpaper in places where they lag;
• under ceiling plinths and panels, tension fabrics;
• in carpets and carpeting, under carpet if it is poorly glued to the floor;
• inside sockets and switches.

Bedbugs can find many secluded places in an apartment.
Bedbugs rarely infest pillows and blankets, although in particularly advanced cases this can happen. If all sanitation rules are ignored in the house and bed linen is rarely changed, then parasites can settle between pillowcases and pillows, as well as under the sheets. Killing a few insects is not enough - for complete destruction it is very important to find the nests.

Folk methods of struggle

A proven and effective remedy is a mixture of kerosene, turpentine and water. Add 20 ml of kerosene and 15 ml of turpentine to a glass of boiled water.

An ancient way to get rid of bedbugs is tobacco infusion. It's easy to prepare and works quickly. The tobacco is boiled for two hours and infused for two days. The resulting infusion is sprayed onto the home.

Valerian tincture acts in the same way as tobacco tincture.

We poison bedbugs

In winter, the sofa or bed is taken outside for a couple of hours, the room is well ventilated. Bed linen is washed at 90 degrees and ironed. Pillows and blankets must be frozen or dry cleaned.

An effective method is to place wormwood branches in the apartment. All insects are afraid of its smell. Tansy has the same effect.

Using a corrugated cardboard trap. Bedbugs love to hide in such material. The trimmings should be scattered around the house, especially in the bedroom. After a day or two, the cardboard is collected and burned. A new one is thrown into place. This method cannot destroy all bedbugs, but it can be used as an additional method.

How to find out if there are bedbugs in your house

There are several signs that suggest the presence of bedbugs in an apartment:

• bites on the body after sleep;
• traces of droppings on the sheets in the form of black dots;
• blood stains if a well-fed insect was accidentally crushed during sleep.

Finding black traces of excrement on the sheets and mattress is one of the first signs of bedbugs in the house.
It is not difficult to identify bedbugs. Most often they prefer bedrooms. Having found a nest, you will see the entire bedbug family there: brown adults, larvae of different sizes, painted in light colors, as well as a large number of small white eggs.

What do bedbugs look like at different stages of development?

During its life, one bug goes through an incomplete stage of transformation. Small white eggs 1–1.5 mm long hatch into nymphs - small copies of adult insects no more than 1.5 mm long. They differ from the adult parasite in their tiny size, light color and translucent body.

The full development cycle of bedbugs from egg to adult takes from one to three months

The nymph's development process takes 5 weeks, and during this time it molts exactly 5 times. Like adults, nymphs feed on blood, but their bodies are painted scarlet. With each molt they increase in size and darken.

In the bedbug you can see the whole family: nymphs at all stages of development and adults after a hearty meal, as well as white eggs with unhatched parasites

How to identify bedbug nests

After bites appear or droppings are found on the bed, do the following:

1. Carefully inspect your sleeping area.
2. Lift the mattress and look under it - there should be no black spots from droppings and, of course, bedbugs themselves.
3. Examine the seams of the mattress.
4. If there is wallpaper in the room, then inspect the places where it lags behind the walls.
5. Look under the linoleum where you can do this.
6. Inspect the cracks in the corners of the baseboards. To do this, you can use a flashlight.
7. Examine outlets and switches. It is best to do this in the early morning, when bedbugs are most active. You can often see black droppings.
8. Inspect the upholstered furniture from the inside. Bedbug nests are often found at the joints between upholstery and wooden bases.
9. Look under the furniture. You can use a regular broom and sweep the floor. If there are bedbugs in your house, you will probably find them in the dust.
10. Move aside cabinets and chests of drawers. Inspect the backs of the furniture and the walls themselves.
11. Lift the rugs off the floor and examine the underside.
12. Take a good sniff during the inspection. Bed bugs emit a sweetish smell of cognac, so in places where they accumulate you will feel this characteristic aroma.

Bed bugs are most difficult to identify in their early stages. If they have managed to multiply and thoroughly settle in the apartment, finding them will not be difficult.

In the bedbugs you can see individuals at all stages of development

This knowledge will be useful if you are going to rent housing from the owners or buy an apartment that was previously inhabited by other people. It also doesn't hurt to chat with your neighbors. If bedbugs have ever lived in their apartments, then it is likely that the parasites could move into your home.

Photo gallery: favorite places of bedbugs

In cases of severe infestation, bedbugs can also appear in the carpet pile

At the junctions of the upholstered part of the sofa and its wooden structure, you can often find a bedbug nest

Around the outlet where bedbugs have infested, you can often notice traces of droppings

Bedbugs often get inside the mattress

In advanced cases, in places where wallpaper is peeling off and near ceiling skirting boards, whole hordes of bedbugs can be seen with the naked eye.

Parasites often hide under the folds of the outer seams of the mattress

Preventing the appearance of bedbugs in the house

To prevent bedbugs from ever infesting your home, take the following measures:

1. Block the entry points for parasites: seal cracks in the floor and baseboards, lay an insulating gasket in the doorway, etc.
2. Get rid of old furniture that was inherited from your grandmother or old owners.
3. Replace mattresses at least every 5 years.
4. Periodically inspect the premises for the appearance of bedbugs.
5. Clean your apartment thoroughly with a vacuum cleaner more often.
6. Add essential oils, ammonia, and vinegar to the water for washing floors.
7. Buy a steam mop.

Cost of the procedure

The price of bedbug treatment depends on the size of the population and the structure. The average is:

Treatment for bedbugs