Each blood-sucking insect has its own nutritional characteristics. And bed bugs are no exception. There are quite a lot of specific details in how bedbugs bite and what consequences their bites cause, which not only earned these insects universal hatred, but also attracted the attention of scientists to them.
Bite Anatomy: Bedbug Feeding under the Microscope
The bed bug has a piercing-sucking apparatus specially adapted for feeding on blood, into which its two jaws have turned. This whole organ looks like a small pointed tube, strong enough to pierce human skin, but unable to pierce the skin of a dog. Therefore, bugs do not parasitize large domestic animals. And to the question of whether bedbugs bite, it is worth answering that they are more likely to prick.
The proboscis itself, outside the feeding process, is pressed by the insect to the lower part of the cephalothorax, making it invisible. Bed bugs and some of their relatives even have a special groove on the cephalothorax, which acts as a special sheath for an injection weapon.
During a bite, the bug pierces the skin with its proboscis and tries to get it to the blood vessel.When he succeeds (and thanks to the ability to feel the tremors of blood in the capillaries, he does it masterfully), the parasite sucks 1-1.5 microliters of blood.
There are two channels in the proboscis of the bug: one for the absorption of blood, and the second for the introduction of saliva into the wound, which acts as an anesthetic. As a result, adult bed bugs bite painlessly to their prey.
After receiving such a portion of blood, the insect moves a few centimeters along the body and repeats the entire operation again. So the parasite produces a series of 3-6 bites, during which it absorbs up to 7 µl of blood. This portion exceeds in its mass the weight of an adult insect almost twice, and it is enough for a week and a half of digestion and rest.
As a result, the bug feeds every 7-10 days. But how often bedbugs bite also depends on their number in the room - in a heavily infested apartment, a person can count more than 500 bites on the body in the morning.
Bed bug larvae feed more frequently and in smaller portions. The smallest of them need to be fed almost daily. Interestingly, when bitten, the larvae do not inject saliva into the wound, and the itching begins to be felt by a person even when the insect feeds.
In general, bedbugs that bite people are not always parasites. Large poisonous predatory bugs that feed on other insects are known. They have the same proboscis as their bed counterparts, with which they suck out the contents of their victims. With the same proboscis, they are able to bite a person in defense, which will cause severe irritation, sometimes inflammation and signs of general intoxication.Among tropical predators, species are known that represent a transitional stage between predators and parasites - in addition to feeding on other insects, they can eat the blood of large animals, including humans.
Signs of a bite: how to distinguish a bed bug bite from bites of other insects
Bed bug bites are often confused with other insect bites. If there are few bites, then they can be mistaken for mosquitoes. Although the way bed bugs bite, it is quite easy to give them away, and their bites are easy to distinguish from the bites of other insects. The main distinguishing features of bed bug bites are:
- a series of bites. Due to the fact that the bug sucks blood from several wounds, it leaves a kind of "path" of bites;
- numerous bites. Bedbugs live in unorganized clusters, and in one night a person is bitten by several insects at once;
- confinement to night time. Bed bugs are inactive during the day.
And further: We catch bedbugs and put deadly experiments on them - this is a must see!
Usually, after the bugs have profited on the skin area, irritation and itching appear at the bite sites, which usually disappear within a few hours. And only in rare cases, bedbug bites can be really dangerous.
How dangerous is a bug bite?
The most serious consequences of bed bug bites are possible allergic reactions. In the case of high susceptibility to enzymes introduced by the bug when bitten, anaphylactic shock can even be observed, but only a few such cases are known to history. In general, in terms of danger, a bug bite does not exceed a mosquito bite.
Bed bugs are not carriers of human pathogens.Although some studies have confirmed the presence of various pathogenic bacteria on the body and in the body of domestic bugs, there are no cases of infection with any diseases when bitten by bugs in the history of medicine.
In some cases, after being bitten by bed bugs, the victim may develop a skin rash that does not go away for a long time. However, much more often, and especially in women, insects crawling on the bed themselves cause mental trauma and fear of sleep. In addition, due to the inability to sleep, when bedbugs are constantly pestering, the victims have reduced working capacity and worsened their general well-being.
Sometimes bites may not heal for a long time, and after a few days they begin to fester, hurt, ichor oozes out of them. This is already a clear sign that an infection has entered the wound when combing. In this case, you must consult a doctor.
When and who do bedbugs bite more often?
Bedbugs bite almost always at night and in the early morning. Special studies were conducted to answer the question of whether bedbugs bite during the day, and it turned out that the peak of parasite activity falls on the pre-morning hours - from 3 to 7 in the morning. During the light part of the day, insects hide in shelters.
By itself, the light is, although not strong, but a repellent factor for bedbugs. In principle, they can also feed in the light, especially in the morning, but during this period the frequency and number of bites decreases, and the insects try to hide in their shelters.
When asked if bedbugs bite everyone, one can unequivocally say: yes, all people. And conventional wisdom that men are less concerned about them, and even more so that they selectively bite carriers of a certain blood type, are erroneous. And that's why.
Men, due to denser skin, do not always feel bedbug bites, especially if there are few of them. In addition, bed bugs are most attracted to the smell of blood. In women, with their thin skin, the smell of blood from the vessels spreads further and faster, and the parasites first of all feel it.
There is no connection between the frequency of bites and the blood group: there are simply more carriers of the first and second groups in general, and therefore the wrong impression may be created that they are more likely to suffer from bedbugs.
The areas of skin where bed bugs bite are most often found on the back, legs, and arms. It is they who usually remain open in a dream. It is easy for insects to get under clothes, but they prefer exactly bare areas of the body. And if bedbug bites have already appeared on the body, it makes sense to treat them for speedy healing and easing itching.
Treatment of bedbug bites
Bedbug bites should be treated only in cases where the rashes and local inflammations that have appeared in their place do not disappear within two to three days, or cause too pronounced pain. Then they should be processed:
- any alcohol-containing drug or tincture to relieve pain;
- take a choice of Suprastin, Diazolin, Diphenhydramine or any other antihistamine drug. This will help relieve inflammation;
- wash the bitten parts of the body with warm water and soap;
- treat bites with any soothing ointment or natural oils: fir, tea tree oil, sea buckthorn.
In no case should you comb the bites. The wounds themselves will open at the same time, and there will be a risk of infection inside. With the development of a generalized allergic reaction, you should use anti-allergens that have already been taken and familiar to each person and consult a doctor.
How to protect yourself from bed bug bites?
The most reliable way to protect yourself from bedbugs is to completely disinfest your home. Today, the industry produces a large number of chemicals for such a procedure, but disinfestation by special professional teams will be even more reliable and effective.
It is important to understand that bedbugs are mobile creatures. Expelling them from your apartment will not give a full guarantee that they will never appear in it again: from neighbors through ventilation, and in the summer, along the outer walls of the house, they can easily move into the apartment again. Therefore, it is better to start pest control in an organized manner for several apartments.
Separately, it should be said about travelers. About what to do if bedbugs bite in cheap hotels, almost every guidebook says.Nevertheless, it is these insects that continue to confidently spoil the most romantic evenings on independent trips.
To avoid unpleasant entomological excesses, you should first of all carefully examine the room in which you plan to spend the night. In principle, if bedbugs or their eggs are not found in the bed and mattress, then it will already be possible to spend the night in such a room. To guarantee protection from bites, it will be enough to put the legs of the bed in basins or mugs of water - this will be an insurmountable barrier to parasites. It will also be good for reliability to spray abundantly with deodorant before going to bed: for one night, such a measure will scare away most of the not particularly hungry insects. However, when staying overnight for more than three days, hungry bugs will neglect their squeamishness to strong odors and will come to feed all together. Therefore, the best way to protect yourself from bedbugs while traveling is to choose not the cheapest and dirtiest hotels and hotels.
How the bug bites: close-up video
How to get rid of bed bugs once and for all
Thank you for the comprehensive information! :) On your site I found everything I wanted to know about! We recently had bed bugs in our apartment. I practically don’t sleep at night, but my husband doesn’t care! What they didn't poison. And with ointments, and gels, and liquid substances, it helps, of course, but for a maximum of three days! advise?
Ordinary diflofos or a device that is inserted into an outlet (such as a Raptor from mosquitoes), but it is valid for 14 days.
I do not know what to do. Every night and sometimes during the day I am bitten by some insects invisible to the eye, an allergy develops on the bites, it itches terribly. Now I am pregnant, and anti-allergic can not be taken. They only bite me, not my husband. I looked at the photo of the bites, very similar to bedbugs, but I examined the bed and did not see any insects.
Let me know what helped you, I have the same situation. Rewashed and ironed everything. Everything was sorted out, but at the same time there are no traces, but at the same time they gnaw at me almost every night, but no one else.
Buy Agita powder at the veterinary, an odorless drug at all from the word at all. And it helps after 10 minutes. I personally checked it. And good nights to you.
Thanks for the accurate information, it helped a lot) And then these vampires have already overcome)
And what is it, the exact information, tell me? It is very important!
Doing it on your own is a waste of time and money. We called odnushka twice to get rid of + bought dust and scattered everywhere.If you have nearby neighbors from neighboring countries - wait for the "guests", they will come to you soon - checked!
Are they really not dangerous?
We had bedbugs. Today the last ones were destroyed.
What drug did you use?
Bought a Raptor. We thought it would help, but did not help ((We will buy "GET" - I think that we will get rid of them.
And can one bite remain after a bug?
From bugs there is no 1 bite, they bite in many paths
I myself saw several bedbugs in the apartment, but I only have 3-4 random bites.
My sister and I could not understand for a month what was biting us, then we thought it was an allergy. Went to see a doctor. We were told that it was an allergy, they prescribed a lot of expensive ointments (well, of course, our parents were in a hurry to spend the money), smeared with ointment, drank zyrtec. And we have already calmed down, but the bites did not go away, on the contrary, new ones appeared. And then one wonderful day I got up at 4 in the morning to walk the dog, turn on the light, and they were all over the sofa (we thought for a long time how they curled, because our family is clean, no one pigs). But there were different guests in our house, because. Our entrance is ugly, they run around on their own. Parents thought of filling everything with dichlorvos (everyone was destroyed, the leather sofa was in the trash). A week passed, everything seemed to be in order, but the bites, similar to bedbugs, began again. But they are no longer in the house. Tell me what to do?
I am horrified by them, I am writing to you: if you take them out right away, then in all apartments, and if only in yours, then there will be no sense. This will scare them away for a month or two and that's it.
I advise you to check in all apartments, and if you have your own house, open the floor ((This is terrible.
Someone has been biting me all summer! Single bites, form a hard bump, very itchy. Can bed bugs bite like that? Then I found a bug on the couch, a month later another one, they rummaged through the whole house, they didn’t find anything. Just in case, poisoned with karbofos. Tell me, is it possible to confuse a bug with any other insect?
It is difficult to confuse, maybe he crawled from the neighbors.
Damn, where they came from, I do not know. My husband and I bought a baby crib and after that it all started, terrible.
In our SES you can buy a remedy, "Kukaracha" is called. They took them out a few years ago. Helped. They also say that Tubazid tablets help. This is an anti-tuberculosis drug.
About a month ago, bites began after midnight, accompanied by wild itching. And these nits are not similar to those presented on this site. Solitary bumps on the soft parts of the arms and legs. Another rather interesting fact: they only bite me alone, but they don’t touch my wife, she says that she has a nervous allergy, but I know that this creature exists. And when I catch it and take a picture, I will definitely post it on this site!
Hahaha))
The same bullshit. 6 people live, but only me bites. And bites singly or a couple of times, and far from the path. Once bitten on the calf and elbow. Long path. But I still caught a couple of creatures on the curtain.
Some creatures appeared on the bed, I have no strength, they prick both day and night ((Elongated and like grains, white and black, they don’t look like bedbugs ... Tell me, who is this and how to fight?
Tired of these parasites.How to sleep in general? They bite me. The husband is not touched. In general, horror
Tell me what should we do? We live in a hostel and do not know what to do with them. No matter what you try, it's still the same. Maybe you can give us some advice?
Strange thing, at night it itches a lot, even with blisters, but no bites are visible and passes in an hour. And tonight it crawls right over the clothes, a dog, but it looks hungry - crushed and no smell, traces of blood. Worked with Raptor.
By the way, until the neighbor behind the wall died (God rest his soul), the battle with bedbugs took place weekly. In the bed frame, on the wall under the fallen wallpaper, in books on the shelves (in short, I met it all over the wall, even during the day). After the sad event, he drew a small “Mashenka” under the shelves and these creatures ceased to bother.
No pity for these creatures. I am a compassionate girl, I treat all animals incredibly gently and calmly. But for bedbugs - maximum hatred. I practice all my latent sadistic tendencies on them. As I find an adult (already saturated with blood), I catch and start my experiments. I pierced them with a gypsy needle, and tore out their paws with tweezers, in short, I splash out all the hatred on these creatures. Basically, they're like zombies. You “poke” their body as much as you want - it doesn’t matter. They even survived with torn paws. Until you smear your head, everything is meaningless. Seriously, I'm always for the protection of animal rights, but these creatures are not a bit sorry.