How to get rid of bed bugs: ways to combat blood-sucking pests

What is turpentine for bedbugs

Gum turpentine

Turpentine is a liquid combination of terpenoids and terpenes extracted from the resin of coniferous trees. In appearance it resembles a colorless liquid. The product is obtained by distillation of vegetable essential oils of coniferous tree varieties. Nowadays, turpentine implies a technical large-scale product from heterogeneous raw materials. Essential oil is a highly technical product obtained from high quality raw materials. For example, the vegetable oil used in turpentine can be obtained from juniper or mountain pine. There are many methods for obtaining this product, including:

• oleoresin method (from natural pine needles);
• extraction method (from wood chips and stumps);
• sulfate method (from resinous wood).

So, the main components of turpentine are terpenoids - pinene (beta and alpha), myrcene, delta-3-root, caryophyllene. The specific composition of this composition depends on the source of resin (spruce, pine, larch). Depending on the type of raw material (stumps, pine needles, wood). Processing technology also plays an important role. The most common source of resin is pine. To summarize: turpentine is a type of essential oil, its quality directly depends on the source of raw materials.

Examples of the component composition of turpentine

Creation of unsuitable climatic conditions

These insects are distinguished by their tenacity. When it gets cold in the house, bedbugs decide to postpone reproduction for a more opportune time - and go into suspended animation. They can spend about a year in a state of hibernation. And as soon as temperature conditions improve, the bloodsuckers will immediately awaken from sleep and begin to reproduce with the same intensity.

• Freezing. Exposure to low temperatures in order to eliminate creeping reptiles is relevant for the northern regions of the country. To kill linen insects, you need to freeze them for at least two days. Eggs, larvae and adults die when the air temperature remains at −30°C for a long time. At the same time, adults and nymphs die faster, and eggs, due to the presence of a dense shell, die more slowly. If you have such an opportunity, remove furniture and personal belongings from the house and leave them in the cold for a couple of days. If the manipulation does not harm the heating system, open the windows wide and let the house freeze. However, in their reviews, users do not rank this method among the effective ones due to difficulties with implementation.
• Heat. In the heat, bedbugs die faster. But for this you need to create real desert heat so that the air temperature is about 50°C. You can use a heat gun for this purpose. But renting such equipment costs money. You can process things in an automatic dryer. But this will not save furniture, carpets, baseboards and niches under windows from bedbugs. Another option for influencing nests is dousing them with boiling water. But where is the guarantee that you have found all the bedbug hiding places?

Essential components help fight bedbugs just as well as flora representatives. An oily liquid with a pronounced and extremely unpleasant aroma of lavender or rosemary for a bloodsucker will become a strong irritant for an uninvited guest. Essential oils of nettle and tea tree are no less effective. Therefore, choose the scent that you find most pleasant.

The fact remains: folk methods alone will not fix the problem. Especially if the house is infested with pests. Various measures must be used in combination. New generation modern insecticides are the best options available today. And the means, tested by time and generations, will consolidate the result and protect the house from repeated occupation by bedbugs.

This is interesting

The process of industrial production of resin is called tapping. It occurs in several stages:

• tree preparation;
• applying special wounds to the trunk - reworkings;
• collection of resin.

Comparative table: Composition of oleoresin turpentine produced in different countries

Important! The most favorable period for collecting ingredients begins in May and ends in September.

Prevention measures

To prevent bedbugs from appearing in your home, it is enough to take the following measures:

• Do not buy antiques without a preliminary, thorough inspection.
• Keep your home clean by performing regular cleanings.
• Avoid any crevices in the apartment where parasites can hide.
• Install fine mesh nets on ventilation systems to prevent insects from entering the house.

The rules are quite simple and achievable, so you shouldn’t ignore them if you don’t want to have such neighbors in your apartment. If bedbugs are discovered, you must not hesitate to destroy them, otherwise they will occupy the entire apartment and it will be very difficult to get rid of them. Under certain conditions, this is not difficult to do yourself, without a team of exterminators. Which substance to choose depends on the number of insects. If there are few of them, then you can get by with folk recipes and remedies. And if there are a lot of them, then it’s unlikely that they can be dealt with without chemicals.

Where do bedbugs hide in an apartment?

Panacea for house bugs?

With a wide variety of chemical remedies for bedbugs, which, one way or another, affect human health, it is best to opt for natural ones. Turpentine was very often used by our ancestors. It can be argued that when used correctly, it is not dangerous to human health.

When choosing any insecticide, it is important to consider the number of bedbugs. If there are very few of them, then you can use traditional methods. Today there are many chemical preparations that include turpentine and camphor oil for bedbugs. Therefore, the insect problem can be solved by combining traditional methods and chemistry.

How to detect bedbugs

To detect bedbugs, you must first carefully check the mattress and bed on which you sleep, as these are the main nesting sites for them, because bedbugs feed on blood.

There is a quick way to determine the presence of bedbugs in the house:

1. One of the first signs that bedbugs have come to visit you is the appearance of bites on your body. The insect is consistent and leaves wounds in a chain one after another. One bloodsucker can cause about three to five wounds.
2. Blood stains on bed linen. They appear due to the fact that in a dream you can accidentally crush a bug that has drunk blood. This usually means that there are already a lot of insects in the apartment.
3. A smell that is similar to the aroma of raspberries or cognac. It appears indoors when there are a large number of insects.
4. Check your bedding carefully. Even if the insects themselves are not visible, discarded chitinous shells remain in their habitats.

Insect bites can cause a severe allergic reaction: they become inflamed, itchy, and may even cause a fever. Wounds quickly form on the body, which can easily become infected.

How else to detect bedbugs? See it with your own eyes. Look for them in their most likely habitats. They try to stay close to the power source, i.e. to a person. Therefore, first of all, it is worth checking the sleeping area - the seams of the mattress, sofa, upholstery. If no insects are found in these places, then look in other hidden corners: in baseboards, cracks or behind pieces of peeled wallpaper, paintings and carpets. Bedbugs are nocturnal creatures, so the likelihood of seeing them increases around 4-5 am when they are most active.

Evidence of bedbugs on your hands, on your bed, or in any other corner of your apartment. Now it's time to start the fight. You can try to get rid of the parasites yourself or immediately call an exterminator.

Preparing for room treatment

In the retail chain, turpentine is presented in containers of various capacities

• Move furniture, remove mattresses.
• Make sure there are as few hard-to-reach places in the house as possible.
• Carpets need to be taken outside so that direct sunlight kills all the living creatures hiding in them.
• Be sure to put all food items in the refrigerator.
• Before processing, it is recommended to do wet cleaning.
• It is advisable that there are no children or pets in the house at the time of spraying the drug.

Where do bed bugs come from?

Bedbugs can appear in an apartment for various reasons. The insect can be brought on shoes, with building materials, from any crowded places. Where else do bed bugs come from?

1. People often bring bedbugs with them from business trips when they spend the night in hotels. A bedbug could get on your clothes, even if you just came for a visit.
2. Have you bought clothes, furniture, equipment on Avito? The likelihood of getting a combo set with bedbugs increases.
3. We all feel sorry for homeless animals. However, petting a cute cat on the street can also turn into a protracted struggle with blood-sucking insects.
4. There are situations when you can confidently say: “This is not mine, they planted it on me”! After all, bedbugs can come in on their own through ventilation from neighbors. True, none of them admits this.

Recipes from Grandma's Chest

Proven recipes that our grandparents advise from generation to generation come to the rescue.

• take 100 ml of kerosene, 100 ml of turpentine, 25 g of naphthalene. Mix these ingredients, apply the resulting folk insecticide to the areas of greatest accumulation;
• 50 g of laundry soap, 50 g of ammonia, 100 ml of kerosene, 100 ml of turpentine;
• 10 ml of turpentine, 100 ml of water, 15 ml of kerosene, 40 g of green soap;
• 40 ml of turpentine, 20 g of phenol, 3 g of salicylic acid.
• After spraying, it is advisable to leave the room for 1 day.

Diagnosis and treatment of bite consequences

To understand that the wound is a consequence of a bug bite, you need to pay attention to the following:

• The bite points are located at some distance from each other, in the form of a “path”.
• Bedbugs do not bite every day, but every 7-10 days.
• Traces of blood can be seen in the center of the bite.
• The bite sites are constantly itching. To get rid of itching you will have to use pharmaceutical products.
• Allergic reactions may occur.
• As a rule, bites occur when a person is fast asleep.

After a bite, the wound can be treated:

• Aloe or plantain juice.
• St. John's wort tincture.
• Vinegar solution.
• Alcohol or vodka.
• Baking soda solution.
• The drug "Fenistil-gel".

To prevent allergies to bedbug bites, it is necessary to use antihistamines such as Suprastin, Cetrin, Tavegil, Diazolin and others. To remove toxins, it will not hurt to use activated carbon.

Precautionary measures

When working with sulfate turpentine, it is important to know how the product affects your health. Please note that this product is moderately toxic. If ingested, it can be fatal. Even 15 ml of turpentine entering the body causes death. Upon contact with the skin, dermatitis occurs, and if it comes into contact with the mucous membrane of the eye, it is severely damaged. When inhaled, the respiratory and nervous systems are affected.

Important! Sulfate turpentine is much more toxic than other turpentines.

This insecticide should be kept out of the reach of children. It should also be remembered that it is highly flammable near fire.

When starting to process the premises, you must wear a protective suit, rubber gloves, goggles, and a mask. If the product gets into your eyes, you need to take immediate action - rinse them immediately with running water. If turpentine gets on the skin, you can use laundry soap when washing.

Why do bedbugs appear in the house?

First of all, bedbugs appear in the home where there is unsanitary conditions. Despite this, these bloodsuckers can appear in places where it is clean, cozy and warm. This is due to the fact that bedbugs can enter any apartment in various ways. To avoid bringing such parasites into your home, it is enough to take into account a number of factors. For example:

• Bedbugs can appear if you purchase new furniture at a furniture store. Particular attention should be paid to purchasing used furniture. In this case, the parasites will easily move to new residents.
• They can simply enter through cracks from a neighboring apartment or simply from the street.
• When buying old antiques, there is a high probability that bedbugs may appear in the apartment along with them.
• When buying things at a flea market, everyone runs the risk of bringing these parasites home with them, especially since it is not so easy to detect them in used items.
• You can just as easily bring them back from a trip. As a rule, bedbugs are a must in inexpensive hotels. Therefore, after visiting one of these hotels, it is easy to bring home these blood-sucking insects.

Pros and cons of turpentine

Turpentine consists of natural ingredients, but is still toxic

• Bedbugs often adapt to the insecticides used, so their immunity becomes stronger and stronger. However, the pungent smell of turpentine does not lose its miraculous power - arthropods are afraid and run away. This product only repels, but does not kill them.
• Leaves oil stains on upholstered furniture. Therefore, it is not advisable to treat sofas and armchairs with it. Bed bugs are known to lay eggs in fabric upholstery where it is warm and dark.
• During treatment, the concentration of a pungent odor may make a person feel ill.
• Items that are not hidden in plastic bags can absorb the smell of turpentine.
• The drug is highly flammable and therefore poses a double hazard.
• Short period of action, whereas chemicals can work passively for about 2 months.
• Hazardous for pets and children.
• The advantage of traditional methods when using turpentine is its low cost. You can save a lot without calling a specialized service.
• Less harmful compared to chemicals.
• Can be used regularly for preventative purposes, especially when it is known that your neighbors have bedbugs.

Having weighed all the pros and cons, only you can make the only right decision for yourself whether turpentine is suitable for treating your premises. It is important to take into account the fact that bloodsucking insects scatter, but do not die when exposed to an “odorous” insecticide.

Features of the fight against bedbugs using folk remedies

Folk remedies that help get rid of bedbugs have been time-tested. Some of them have proven to be quite effective, others are less effective.

Professional exterminators believe that the use of traditional methods to combat bedbugs is entertainment for the thrifty, and can only be used in cases where there are not very many insects. If the colony of bedbugs is extensive, then it is better to use folk remedies in combination with specialized drugs.

Folk remedies have a deterrent effect. Insects will not die from their influence, but will leave their habitats.

The advantages of using folk remedies include:

1. Cheapness. The components for preparing traditional medicines are inexpensive.
2. Safety of most folk remedies. Since there are no toxic substances in the composition, the products are safe for people and animals. They can even be used in apartments where children live.
3. It is not necessary to leave the premises after treatment.
4. In most cases, bedbugs do not get used to folk remedies, which means treatment can be carried out several times with the same substance.

Folk remedies have the following disadvantages:

1. Not effective against insect larvae.
2. They don't kill bedbugs, they just repel them.
3. Difficulty of processing. Folk remedies must be carefully applied to possible habitats of bedbugs.
4. Short-term impact effect.
5. There is a chance that the parasites will return after the substance wears off.

Video: where do bedbugs live and why are they dangerous?