10 Facts Everyone Should Know About Bed Bugs

This type of insects, such as bugs or hemipterans, is the most numerous order among pests and is widely distributed throughout the planet. There are about 50 thousand varieties of them in nature. Bedbugs especially breed and develop in tropical countries. The main part of bedbugs are terrestrial; they live in the soil, on various parts of plants, in forest litter, etc. What do forest bugs eat? Many experts have studied this issue and come to the conclusion that their food is the juice of all kinds of vegetation (depending on the type of insect). This group of bugs includes insects that harm agricultural and wild plants, for example, turtles and stink bugs.

Rare species of insects have chosen to live in the water element. These are swimmers, rowers, water striders, smoothies, and water scorpions. There are forest bugs that prefer to feed on the juice of other insects and their larvae. The main group is parasitic bedbugs. They attach themselves to the animal's body and live on it for a long time, feeding on its blood. Man is no exception; in houses and apartments you can find bed bugs that live in linen fabrics and feed on the blood and scales of human skin. We can talk for a long time about how bed bugs appear, but this certainly does not depend on the order in the house and the quality of sleeping accessories.

Why are bedbugs needed in nature?

Bedbugs are the name given to a large taxonomic division of insects - a suborder, uniting into it all representatives with a similar feeding method. Representatives of the suborder have a piercing-sucking mouthparts, with which they pierce the integument of the victim and feed on the liquid components of the body (blood, plant sap, etc.).

Appearance of a bug

Human parasites include the only type of insect – the bed bug. In addition to it, there are about 100 more species of blood-sucking representatives that parasitize animals, but pronounced synanthropy is characteristic only of Cimex lectularius. It is believed that bed bugs have accompanied humans since the times when people lived in caves.

Until the 19th century Bedbugs were credited with medicinal properties (for example, against hysteria), but now they are recognized as harmful parasites adjacent to humans.

Where do bedbugs come from in an apartment?

Bed bugs are sedentary insects that, unlike cockroaches, are unable to come and go through cracks or ventilation systems on a daily basis. They can crawl out of a neighboring apartment only if it is overcrowded. But in these situations, even the most careless owners begin to poison them.

Domestic bloodsuckers appear unexpectedly, live secretly, have the ability to hide in the smallest crevices and go without food for several weeks. When moving into an apartment where people have already lived, new owners often encounter insects that have already lived in it, rather than those that were introduced.

Bed bugs are dangerous to humans, as their bites can lead to allergic reactions and a number of diseases.

Sometimes bed bugs spread in new buildings.

They get there in many ways:

• are transferred with things from the old apartment;
• with clothes and bedding when traveling frequently;
• from public places or from work;
• with used furniture, books, clothes, etc. purchased somewhere.

Its small size and flat body allow the bug to penetrate a suitcase or bag, hide in the folds of clothing and thus move to a new place. Similarly, bed bugs accompanied humans throughout the entire period of coexistence with them.

Profession: exterminator

At first glance, it is not difficult to master the profession of an exterminator - therefore, by calling a specialist to your home, you may well get, for example, a student of the Department of Finance and Credit or a lover of thrash metal. In St. Petersburg, exterminators receive a little more than the city average salary (40 thousand rubles).

Anna: “You can, of course, learn a profession on your own, but it’s not serious. In Soviet times, in institutions that specialized in pest control, there were weekly classes and tests, and we studied new techniques. Now there is nothing like this anywhere. Anyone who needs work goes to exterminators. Ten years ago, you could only get a job at the organization where I work through an acquaintance - now exterminators are needed everywhere.

Working with chemicals is harmful to health: the liver and bronchi shrink, and allergic reactions are not uncommon. Previously, in normal organizations there were additional payments and additional leave for harmful activities, but now this is not the case.”

Igor Belov: “Who in St. Petersburg today does not work as exterminators. After disinfestation activities were removed from compulsory licensing, many companies appeared. The majority are responsible organizations that comply with sanitary standards and rules in the field of disinfestation and receive methodological materials developed by domestic scientists. But there are also private traders - most often these are people who have worked in companies and gone into free swimming. I cannot comment on the quality of their work, the only thing is that they always charge a low price. Considering that low-income citizens often have sources of insect infestation, such soldiers of fortune always find their clients.

People go to exterminators because this is the market: everyone wants to realize themselves with maximum usefulness. Many people really enjoy working with people, helping them get rid of problems and receiving gratitude. Someone simply cannot find another job and, being in an eternal search, comes to the shores of pest control, which, due to its complexity and harmfulness, pays, although slightly, but above the city average.”

Appearance of bed bugs

The size of a bedbug does not exceed 5-8 mm. A hungry insect has a flattened round body with a large abdominal part, a medium-sized cephalothorax and relatively short legs located in the front of the body. The color of the parasite is brown. It is quite difficult to crush a hungry bug, either accidentally or intentionally: its chitinous cover is durable, and the shape of its body allows it to withstand pressure without much damage.

Bed insects do not have wings. Nymph larvae differ from adults only in size. The young resemble small bugs, about 2 mm in size, white and then light brown in color, with short legs and antennae.

Stages of bed bug development

A saturated bug swells and becomes more vulnerable; it can be crushed even by accident. In this case, the contents of the intestines (blood sucked from a person) leaves a characteristic mark on sheets and other textiles.

The appearance of bloody spots on the bed may be a sign of the presence of parasites.

Reproduction

The process of maturation, as well as the development of bedbugs, occurs as an incomplete transformation - an egg appears, then a larva (goes through 5 stages), then an adult (imago) appears. It is noteworthy that the larva is also similar in appearance to the adult, but smaller in size.

Every day the female lays from 1 to 15 eggs and adapts them with her gland secretions to the surface (wallpaper, furniture, cracks).

This secretion has a very unpleasant odor, which is why places where insects gather smell so bad. This special liquid repels other types of insects from the home of bedbugs. For an egg to mature, it will take 30 days under favorable conditions, and 50 days under unfavorable conditions. Adult bedbugs range in size from 0.5 mm to 1.5 cm.

How to detect furniture bugs?

The main sign of bedbugs appearing in the house is a sheet stained with small blood spots and the presence of itchy bites on the body. It is difficult to detect an insect during the day; bedbugs most often come out of their hiding places at night, when the victim is lying in bed. But individuals living in furniture can bite a calmly lying or sitting person even during the day.

The main signs of the presence of bedbugs in an apartment.

The bite is not too sensitive, but the itching often interrupts a person's night's sleep. In the morning, characteristic bite marks can be found on the body: a chain of several bloody puncture points. Sometimes you can find a crushed dead insect on the bed.

An indirect sign of the presence of bedbugs is an unpleasant odor reminiscent of almonds (or cognac aroma). In the folds of the mattress and on the light upholstery of the sofa, one can also see dark dots left by several individuals hiding there before the cleaning began. If there is at least one similar sign, it is worth looking for the habitats of parasites and starting to destroy them.

Where are they hiding?

Particular attention should be paid to the furniture on which home owners sleep or often sit: sofas, armchairs, beds, etc. Bedbugs do not move long distances in search of victims, and you need to look for them near those places where bite marks or blood are most often found spots.

Need to inspect:

• seams and decorative folds on upholstered furniture;
• joints of backrests and seats;
• gaps between the seat and armrest;
• the underside of the mattress on the bed, seats and pillows on the sofa and similar places;
• removable covers on furniture cushions;
• in a sofa bed with drawers for linen - slots in the lower compartment, a soft base and a wooden frame for the pull-out part (bugs rarely live in metal parts);
• on a wooden bed - all the joints of its frame.

Favorite habitats of bed bugs in the apartment.
Dark spots on fabric or wood - traces of excrement - can help in detecting bedbugs. They are located in large numbers around the crack where insects hide. You can also see larvae in the seams of upholstered furniture - small light grains about 2 mm long. During growth, the larvae change their shell several times, shedding the old cover. The presence of dry shells will also help to detect a bedbug colony - they resemble dead bugs.

Control of blood-sucking pests

It is unrealistic to leave your home in the hope that the insects will die from exhaustion. You will have to be absent for at least six months, and this is not a guarantee of their destruction. A more reliable way to get rid of bed bugs, other than insecticides, has not yet been invented. Folk remedies can only be auxiliary or preventive.

The best thing you can do if you find a parasite in your home is to seek the services of a bedbug exterminator. Modern technologies (cold fog, hot fog) will not leave a single chance for bloodthirsty insects. Powerful chemicals will completely exterminate the population of laundry pests without the risk of them becoming addicted to the poison.

Danger to humans

The greatest danger to humans is an allergic reaction. It occurs due to enzymes injected into the wound, and microparticles of chitin and excrement rising into the air with dust. Often an allergic reaction occurs even in people who are not prone to it.

Allergic reaction to a bedbug bite in a child.

Like all bloodsuckers, house bugs are capable of carrying serious diseases:

• typhus;
• tuberculosis;
• yellow fever;
• pseudotuberculosis;
• tularemia, etc.

Infection of an insect can occur from a previous owner, and, moving to a new one, the bug is capable of infecting it during its life.

If a private home is inhabited by rodents, with which bed parasites sometimes also come into contact, then the list of diseases will be even wider.

How to avoid bringing bedbugs from an infested apartment?

If you often travel and go on business trips, living for several days in rented apartments or hotels, then when you move in, you should immediately bring your things into the bathroom. Blood-sucking parasites do not live there and will not be able to get into the suitcase. It is advisable to inspect the rest of the room for traces of bedbugs.

If they are found, treat everything with any insect repellent (Raid, Raptor, etc.).

In a dangerous apartment, it is advisable to leave bags with things locked. If you use your own bed linen, it is advisable to wash it at high temperature before leaving or pack it separately in a sealed bag so that it can be processed at home.

If you have doubts about the cleanliness of a room where you have to enter for a short time, you should refrain from sitting on upholstered furniture.

How to destroy?

If bedbugs do come from somewhere, or at least there are suspicions of their presence in the apartment, then the fight can be carried out in different ways. The most common and accessible means are industrial aerosols. But sometimes their use is impossible for some reason and you have to use ancient folk methods or resort to the services of professionals.

Folk methods of struggle

Traditional methods of getting rid of bedbugs include not only the use of repellents. Help to destroy bedbugs:

1. Thermal impact. Bedbugs die at high and low temperatures, so in hard-to-reach places (on furniture and mattresses) they are destroyed in 2 ways. In the first case, you will need a steam generator, which is used to clean upholstery. The steam will kill the insects that inhabit textile items. Linen and clothes can be washed or boiled. Cold is considered an alternative to steam: to prevent the introduction of bedbugs with used furniture, the purchase can be left in the cold (-10°C and below) for 24 hours in winter. This is enough to kill larvae, eggs and adults.
2. Scaring away. The smells of strong-smelling plants will prevent bedbugs from settling in your bed or sofa. You can use lavender, wormwood, tansy and other aromatic herbs. They will have to be updated frequently, and this method is not very effective.
3. Destruction by volatile substances. Traditionally, kerosene and turpentine are used to bait bedbugs. The vapors of these substances can quickly destroy larvae and adult bloodsuckers, but are ineffective against their eggs. The bugs will appear again, and the treatment will have to be repeated several times.
4. Mechanical method. It involves manually collecting detected insects. But in hard-to-reach crevices, bedbugs cannot be killed using this method.

Household products

Household chemicals include preparations with cypermethrin and related substances, karbofos, and other pesticides intended for treating residential premises. When choosing, you need to pay attention to what species the drug is recommended for: it is better to poison bedbugs with means for crawling parasites.

Among the available household chemicals, the most effective are:

1. Aerosols. Preparations such as Raptor, Raid, Combat Dichlorvos and the like are specially designed to combat various insects. The peculiarity of the application - spraying - allows microdroplets to penetrate even the narrowest cracks, overtaking bloodsuckers even in their shelters. After treatment, parasites sometimes begin to crawl out in large numbers into open areas.
2. Solid drugs. Used in 2 varieties: chalk and powder for dusting. Chalk (Mashenka, Brownie, etc.) allows you to create a toxic barrier, upon crossing which the insect will already be poisoned. Returning to the colony, the bug will bring poison to the shelter, contributing to the death of the larvae. The chalk will not affect the eggs, but the bugs will stop appearing, because they will die at the first contact with the chalk strip. Powders are used to pollinate any surfaces inside and outside furniture.
3. Solutions. Chemical solutions are prepared strictly according to the instructions. You can use garden preparations (FAS, Karbofos, Fufanon, etc.) and special household products (Executioner, Bedbug beetle, etc.). Spray with solutions and moisten the places where traces of bedbugs are found. The drugs exhibit toxicity within several days or weeks, and treatment is repeated if necessary.
4. Gels. The thick form contributes to the long-term preservation of the toxic mark on wooden surfaces. But household gels (Foxide, Get, etc.) stain textile surfaces and have a limited range of applications.

Professional preparations

Among the professional preparations intended for disinfestation are highly concentrated solutions based on the same toxic substances as household chemicals. You can use them yourself, using only the dosages recommended by the manufacturer for preparing the working solution.

Treatment is carried out using spray bottles or garden sprayers, observing safety precautions (protecting the mouth and nose from inhaling the spray).

Products such as Cifox, Sinuzan, Forsyth, etc. should not be purchased in large packages. For 1 liter of solution, 2-5 mg of emulsion is enough, so for home needs it is enough to purchase a package of 50-100 ml. During disinsection, remove everyone who is not involved in the work from the premises for 5-6 hours. After treatment, the apartment must be ventilated to remove odors and toxic fumes.

What are bloodsuckers afraid of?

Nature has blessed bed bugs with good adaptability. They lead a secretive lifestyle; in the absence of food, they fall into suspended animation, in which they can remain for about a year; the eggs are reliably protected by a shell, which preserves the population. However, parasites also have vulnerabilities:

• Bedbugs do not like the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, scientists from the United States came to this conclusion and created a means for exterminating small bloodsuckers based on fungal spores. To conduct the experiment, a sheet treated with a solution of spores was used. After walking along it for only an hour, five days later all the individuals died of mycosis. The experimental insects infected other relatives because they carried spores of a fungus that was fatal to bedbugs on their legs.
• At a temperature of +50°C, instant death of the bug occurs at any stage of development. This feature is often used to control bed bugs. Small pieces of furniture and clothes are taken out into the sun on a hot day and “fried” for several hours. At home, irons and hot water are used. Treatment with a steam generator is very effective and less labor-intensive.

  
  Death temperature

• Low temperatures of minus 18°C ​​also destroy bloodsuckers.
• Strong pungent odors of wormwood, tansy, wild rosemary, vinegar, turpentine, paints and perfumes repel bed guests.
• Bedbugs don't like dampness. Once on a wet surface, they begin to crawl, as if on tiptoe, afraid to get their abdomen wet.

On a note!

Entomologists used the fear of dampness bugs to collect experimental specimens. If a large accumulation of parasites is detected on the wall, a wet rag is spread on the floor. With a sharp movement using cardboard, the individuals are shaken off onto the floor. When caught on a wet rag, bedbugs behave as if paralyzed and can be slowly and carefully placed in a jar.