Bed bugs (aka bed bugs)

Bed bugs are just one of the popular names for bed bugs, unpleasant parasites that spoil the quality of human life and can turn even the most well-kept apartment into an uninhabitable place.

Not a single room is insured against the appearance of these blood-sucking insects, even the newest and cleanest. And the very common name "furniture" was given to insects because most often they settle as close to the victim as possible - in sofas and beds.

As you can see in the photo, furniture bugs have a very small body size - from 3 mm in a hungry state to 8 mm in a full one:

However, at the same time, they are able to deliver a lot of trouble to a person, feeding on his blood at night and leaving itchy wounds.

The laying of eggs of furniture bugs can most often be found under the bed, as well as in other dark secluded places - behind cabinets, paintings, under the windowsill. The photo shows a typical laying of bedbug eggs in furniture:

 

The appearance of the bug and its differences from other domestic insects

The furniture bug has a flattened body and a dark color - from dirty yellow to dark brown. A special proboscis extends from the front of the head (see Fig.in the photo), which is divided into two separate channels: a wider one for blood absorption, and a narrower one for releasing saliva into the wound. This proboscis is, in fact, the elongated jaws of an insect, which have turned into a specialized tool for feeding on blood:

Bedbugs have special glands on the surface of the back. These glands secrete a special secret that produces a characteristic odor for bedbugs. The larvae have the same glands.

To identify traces of bedbugs on furniture and find their masonry, you need to imagine what the eggs and larvae of parasites look like.

Bedbug eggs are curved and oblong, whitish in color. There is a cap on one end. The larvae from them can hatch both in a few days and in almost a month. It all depends on the environmental conditions, their comfort. It is not difficult to recognize that it was the furniture bug that left the eggs: usually the eggs are found in places where bugs accumulate, among excrement and skins from molting larvae (see photo):

Bedbug larvae look almost the same as adults. They are distinguished only by their smaller size and lighter coloration. They also feed on blood, but so far they do not have a special substance in saliva that adult bugs have. Therefore, the bite of the larva is painful and can be felt immediately.

The photographs below show the larvae of bedbugs of different ages:

The photo of an adult shows that the furniture bug is not at all like other domestic insects, such as cockroaches or fleas. It has no wings, and segments can be clearly traced on the abdomen. The bug seems to be divided by transverse stripes:

Unlike a bug, a flea has longer limbs, and its upper chitinous cover is equipped with antennae and some kind of spikes. The flea larva is very different from the adult, having a worm-like appearance without limbs.

And further: Where the hell did the bugs come from in the apartment and what to do in such a situation

Distinguishing a bedbug from a cockroach is also quite simple. The cockroach has wings, it has a more oblong body, long antennae are located on the head. In addition, at the end of the body of cockroaches there are elongated outgrowths that bugs do not have.

Often people confuse ticks and bedbugs, which is not surprising, because there are still some similarities between them. Ticks are usually very small in size (up to 1 mm), but increase in size as food is taken. But at the same time, ticks belong to the class of arachnids, therefore they have 8 legs. Bed bugs, like other insects, have 6 legs. You can see the differences in the photo:

 

How furniture bugs infect an apartment, how they multiply and bite

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to prevent the appearance of bedbugs in the house by 100%, since these insects settle even in clean and well-groomed rooms. They enter the room in different ways:

• moving from neighboring apartments - for this, an adult bug will need at most one night
• They come with furniture, usually old, but sometimes only assembled. There are cases when bedbugs in IKEA furniture penetrated into the apartment. But this is rather an exception.
• Penetrate with visitors to the premises - guests, workers, tenants.
• They get on clothes. It is enough for the owner of the apartment to spend the night in an infected hotel or train and bring home one female in a shirt pocket or on a sock, and in a few months the apartment will turn into a bedbug.
• They penetrate with small animals - rodents and birds, from which they can also drink blood.

After getting into the apartment, the bugs usually settle in sofas, beds, wardrobes and behind baseboards. Bed bugs usually settle in furniture where the furniture itself has many slots and holes.

The furniture bug reproduces quite actively, and the larvae can be without food for a long time and remain viable.

For mating, bedbugs use the method of traumatic insemination, in which the male pierces the integument of the female's body with his genital organ and injects sperm into specially designed organs. The photo below shows this process:

On a note

A similar method of insemination is characteristic only of bed bugs. Moreover, it is thanks to him that insects have a unique Berlese organ, in which the female retains the reproductive products of the male.

It is noteworthy that the germ cells can remain in the body of the female for a long time and come out only when the conditions are the best. During her life, a female bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs.

Furniture bugs are predominantly nocturnal, and spend the day in shelters. At night, they crawl out of the shelter, find open areas of the human body and actively feed. The photo below shows a bug larva drinking blood:

The bug feels the location of the capillaries due to tremors of blood, so it immediately inserts the proboscis into the blood vessel. Simultaneously with feeding, the insect injects a dose of an anesthetic that prevents a person from waking up from a bite.

The parasite then moves on and makes a few more bites. After such a night hunt, the bug will digest food for about 8 days, which is twice its own weight.

It is worth noting that bedbug larvae need to eat much more often, sometimes they do it every night.

In the photo you can see in more detail how a furniture bug bites a person:

And further: Deadly methods of destruction of bedbugs that really work in practice

 

How to deal with furniture bugs

Getting rid of furniture bugs is a rather time-consuming, but solvable task. Due to their small size and the ability to hide in hard-to-reach places, bedbugs are difficult to mechanically destroy.

The most common insecticides for home use. They can make the destruction of bedbugs on their own and quite effectively. However, this requires some preparation of the apartment and at least one day of work.

Calling pest control services is no less effective.Specialists usually know many subtleties of dealing with bed bugs, and therefore their work is usually more reliable. But at the same time - and more expensive.

There are also folk methods of dealing with parasites:

• freezing the room. Bedbugs are afraid of low temperatures and therefore many people try to take furniture outside (or onto a balcony) in the winter. Unfortunately, this method is ineffective, since the bugs die at a temperature of about minus 22 degrees Celsius. Most often, the bugs simply fall into a kind of hibernation, and when they return to the heat, they come to life. Only residents of the northern regions of the country can use this method.
• Evaporation of insects. Furniture bugs and their larvae die at temperatures above 50 degrees. However, it is inconvenient to water furniture with boiling water, and the steam condenses on the surface and usually does not reach the cracks with egg clutches.

Usually, folk remedies only help to reduce the number of bedbugs in the house, but they will not help to completely destroy them. Therefore, in 90% of cases, apartment owners prefer the use of chemical insecticides.

 

Preparations for the destruction of furniture bugs

Most modern means of combating bedbugs are very effective, to a certain extent safe for humans and capable of destroying insects in just a few hours.

Among these funds, we note the following:

• The executioner is a concentrated preparation that must be dissolved in water before use. It is low-toxic for people and animals, however, for safety reasons, all residents and pets must be removed from the premises for a while. The active substance of the Hangman decomposes in the fresh air, so the treatment is carried out with the windows closed.
• Insecticide is available in the form of a spray, it is very economical and effective.One bottle is enough to process a large three-room apartment. This drug is quite toxic and requires strict adherence to safety measures.
• Karbofos - is used to destroy not only bedbugs, but also garden pests. The agent is moderately active, but it must be used with caution - isolate people and animals, use personal protective equipment. Quite effectively destroys both eggs with larvae and adults.
• Fufanon is a preparation in the form of a concentrate that should be diluted with water. Processing is also carried out with extreme caution, insects die within 1 day.
• Masha - the drug is produced in the form of a chalk and is very convenient for use, low toxicity. Mashenka needs to process the places of the alleged nests and the movement of insects. Well proven in the fight against furniture bugs.

The fight against bedbugs can be long and difficult, especially in advanced cases. Therefore, it is very important to prevent the mass settlement of insects in the apartment, starting to destroy them as early as possible.

If the whole house is inhabited by parasites, you need to interact with neighbors and take comprehensive measures - call an exterminator or poison bedbugs together.

In order to prevent the penetration of bedbugs into the apartment, potentially dangerous places (around windows, window sills, walls near the ventilation opening) should be periodically treated with insecticides.

Remember: it is much easier to prevent the appearance of parasites than to exterminate them later.

 

What are bed bugs and how to identify their presence in the apartment

 

Interesting video: what bugs look like and how they bite