As a rule, it is rare to find bedbugs in an apartment before they bite someone: bedbugs are secretive insects and lead a strictly nocturnal lifestyle. Almost always, one of the family members, or even the whole family together, begins to suffer from constant bites, because of which they first sin on mosquitoes or allergies, and only then there is a suspicion of other blood-sucking insects, and in particular bed bugs .
At the same time, many people think something like this: “How so, it’s the 21st century in the yard, it can’t be that these were bedbugs. Yes, and our apartment is clean, where do they come from. It's probably an allergy." Do you know your situation?
In order to make sure that sleep disturbers and bite sources are really bedbugs, you first need to be able to detect bedbugs in the apartment. This is not always an easy task (especially for residents unprepared for the problem), but knowing where to look for insects and how to distinguish them from other unwanted human neighbors, this can be done quite quickly.
Important!
Most often, children are the first to suffer from bedbug bites. This does not mean that the bugs bite them selectively - it’s just that the attacks of the bugs cause the most pronounced reaction in children, and already one or two bites on the body that appear regularly are enough to suspect something. Adults usually begin to pay attention to more massive bites.
Only in rare cases is it possible to find bed bugs at home by chance - they catch your eye at night or when moving furniture. In this case, it is important to know how the bugs look in order to be able to correctly identify the parasites at the first meeting with them.
Signs of bed bugs in the apartment
Bed bugs, contrary to their name, do not live directly on the bed, but tend to arrange their nests as close as possible to people's nightly resting places. This allows you to always narrow the range of places for the primary search for parasites.
In addition, bedbugs prefer to stay in groups, and sometimes very numerous. Therefore, sometimes in order to detect bed bugs, it is enough to free beds and sofas from bed linen and capes and carefully examine the bedroom and children's room.
But even before the search for the insects themselves, their presence in the apartment can be determined by the following signs.
Bed bug bites
When bitten, bed bugs inject a special enzyme into the wound, which produces an anesthetic effect and prevents blood from clotting. This enzyme is somewhat similar to the substance that a mosquito uses when biting. After a certain time after the bite, the skin near it begins to itch, turns red, and swelling appears.
Bedbug bites are also characterized by the fact that they are arranged in chains of 2-4 punctures. This is a fairly characteristic feature by which they can be distinguished from the bites of other insects.
On a note
In heavily infested apartments, the number of bites can exceed 300-400 in one night.
And further: Since bedbugs drink blood, can they carry AIDS or hepatitis from one person to another? Let's figure it out...
The smell of bedbugs
A special gland on the body of the bugs secretes a secret that allows the parasites to find each other and communicate in the nests. This secret smells like low-quality cognac or fermented raspberries, and its aroma is clearly discerned in that area of \u200b\u200bfurniture where bugs are constantly present.
If the apartment is heavily infested with parasites, the smell of cognac is felt almost everywhere in it.
Traces of vital activity of parasites
Hard small grains of dark brown color, similar to tiny dots and having the smell of low-quality cognac, as well as the remnants of chitinous cover left after the molting of parasites, are another characteristic sign of the presence of bed bugs.
Traces of the night feast of bedbugs in the form of small droplets of blood are clearly visible on white bed linen.
In addition, to detect bedbugs directly on the bed, you need to spread a white sheet on the bed, go to bed, and turn on the light in the middle of the night and examine all the bedding.
If there are bedbugs in the apartment, they should show up on a sheet or blanket at this time.
Is it bedbugs?
The body structure of the bed bug is very characteristic and does not allow it to be confused with other domestic insects. Distinctive features of the bed bug are a flat and wide abdomen of a yellowish-brown or light red color (in well-fed parasites) with 6 legs and a small head with a proboscis.
Depending on the age and degree of saturation with blood, the bug can vary significantly in color and size.
On a note
Usually the size of the insect is 3-4 mm, but after abundant feeding, the body of the bug increases and can reach 9-10 mm in size, and the color changes from brick to dark brown.
From other insects that can be found in the apartment, bedbugs can also be distinguished by the following features:
- bed bugs differ from cockroach larvae in a more uniform color. The larvae of the black cockroach are much larger than the bugs, and the larvae of the red cockroach have a light brown spot on the cephalothorax;
- unlike adult cockroaches, bedbugs do not have wings;
- Bed bugs differ from domestic ants in their denser and wider body, large size, and strictly nocturnal lifestyle.
And further: The Get Express tool really killed all the bugs quickly - after 42 minutes only corpses were lying around
Finally, bugs differ from fleas and linen lice in size: if a flea and a louse rarely reach 2 mm in size, then an adult bug is almost twice as large. In addition, bedbugs are not able to jump. But people with poor eyesight may well confuse small larvae of bedbugs with linen lice.
Where to look for bed bugs: TOP 10 places for shelter parasites
You can find bed bugs in the apartment first of all in upholstered furniture on which people sleep.
Parasites prefer to settle between mattresses, in the corners of a wooden frame, on large seams, joints of bed parts.
In addition, the main habitats of bed bugs in the apartment include:
- Wardrobes.
- Bedside tables.
- Spaces under carpets on floors and behind carpets on walls.
- Parquet cracks.
- Cavities under loose-fitting linoleum and behind skirting boards.
- Spaces behind paintings and furniture leaning against the wall.
- Gaps between books on bookshelves.
- Holes of household electrical appliances (bugs can live even in sockets).
- Radiator slots.
- Flower pots.
Of course, many of these places are purely physically impossible to see. But, as a rule, first of all, bedbugs inhabit beds and sofas, the reverse side of carpets hanging on the wall, and only then settle in sockets, computer system units and baseboards.
On a note
In nature, bugs settle in the burrows of mammals and birds, crawling under the bedding of grass, wool or feathers. A separate characteristic habitat of bed bugs in nature are stones and heaps of bat droppings in caves - here the bugs parasitize on the bats themselves, and breed on the floors of the caves.
Review
“Even mosquitoes never fly into me on the sixteenth floor, and then it started to itch that at least spend the night on the street. It turned out that he brought bedbugs from one client in a broken system unit. So they first of all settled in my computer. I had to stock up on the Executioner, literally flooding the entire apartment twice. Well, I have somewhere to go - as I processed the premises, I fled to my parents for a week. Came and repeated. And he also helped that client get rid of bedbugs with the same tool.Alexander, Novorossiysk
Particularly difficult cases
Be that as it may, in some situations, bedbugs are especially difficult to detect. For example, when there is a suspicion that the bugs have settled behind the baseboards or in the parquet. In these cases, in order to detect parasites, they must either be caught at night on the bed (sooner or later they will still come out to feed), or use repellents and “smoke out” from the nests.
For example, you can take:
- decoction of wormwood or tansy
- diluted alcohol
- diluted vinegar essence or plain table vinegar (9%).
Then add some of these products to a bucket of water in such an amount that its smell is clearly felt, and thoroughly wet the parquet and baseboards with this water. Literally immediately, insects can begin to crawl out of there.
It will not be possible to completely remove and destroy bedbugs by such means, but it is quite possible to confirm their presence. In the future, when carrying out disinfestation, it will be necessary to process the infected areas of the apartment especially carefully.
All places in which bedbugs have been found at least once should be remembered.When the exterminators arrive at the premises, they will ask about such meetings, and this information will help to use insecticidal preparations as effectively as possible.
If bed bugs have infested a bed, sofa, or any other piece of furniture, before removing the parasites, this furniture should be freed and moved away from the walls to provide access to all its external surfaces and internal spaces. Such measures ensure that during the persecution, all bedbugs in the room will be destroyed.
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