Bed bugs are one of the varieties of parasitic insects that live in places where people or warm-blooded animals live and feed on their blood. The appearance of such parasites in the home is an unpleasant and dangerous moment for the health of the whole family. Therefore, you need to know what bed bugs look like, where these insects come from, as well as methods to combat them - for example, you can order the destruction of bugs from .
What bed bugs look like
How to detect if there are bed bugs in the house. Where these insects come from undoubtedly worries many people today. In order to understand these issues, you need to start with what this parasite looks like.
Bed bugs have a very flattened body structure, the length of which is from 3 to 8.5 mm. In this case, the body changes shape and size depending on how much blood the insect absorbed at the time of measurement. Female bed bugs, as a rule, are larger than males.
The color of the bug can be from dull yellow to dark brown. Among these parasites, unlike other insects, there are no albinos. If the bed bug is colorless, then there is only one reason for this. He was just born and did not have time to pump blood. As soon as the bug receives the first portion of food, it changes its color to a darker one. And after the first molt, it gets even darker.
Bedbugs suck blood with the help of a special proboscis, which they are endowed with. They insect can easily pierce human skin or animal skin. And the bug’s jaw has two channels, one of which serves to receive blood, and the other to secrete a substance that anesthetizes the victim at the time of the bite. Due to this, the bug often has time to hide at the moment when the person or animal feels the pain from his attack.
Lifestyle and nutrition of bugs
To better understand why bed bugs start in the house, where these parasites come from, you need to consider their features and lifestyle.
Bed bugs feed only on human blood or warm-blooded animals, birds. Their lifestyle is nocturnal. At about 3-8 in the morning, bed bugs crawl out of their shelters and attack the victim. In the afternoon, parasites hide in crevices, under various objects. Unlike many other insects, bugs do not have nests or holes.
A feature of these parasites is that they can fall into suspended animation at low temperatures and completely leave it at 12 degrees. Therefore, the bug is difficult to destroy.
How do bedbugs breed?
In order to understand where bed bugs in an apartment come from, it is also worth understanding their nature, and considering methods of their reproduction.
Often, when bed bugs appear, people destroy them using various methods, but after some time they again encounter their presence. And this is due to the fact that in four weeks the parasites will hatch from eggs left by previously destroyed females.
The eggs are laid by the insects of the female on a common base and glued to it with a special substance that the parasites are able to secrete. Thus, a kind of cluster is obtained.
Bedbug eggs are translucent, shiny, tiny-sized cylinders that are slightly inclined to one side. Below they are flattened and glued to a common base. The upper part has something like a cap, which opens during the appearance of small parasites.
It is difficult for a person to examine bed bugs eggs without special devices (magnifier, microscope). Often they merge with the stitches of the bed mattress and are almost invisible, since they are the same size with them.
Bed Bug Distribution History
If we consider the history of the spread of these parasites, then initially bed bugs were recorded in caves of the Middle East. They didn’t know exactly where these insects came from, and even now no one can say for sure.
In ancient Greece, bed bugs were assigned healing ability. Pliny even wrote in his writings about this. But subsequently, these theories were refuted.
The first mention of bed bugs in Europe can be seen around the 11th century in Germany. And bedbugs were brought to Eurasia in the 16th century from the Eurasian continent. Well and later, the bedbug settled on the lands of Asia, around the 60s of the 19th century.
Bedbug habitats
Where bed bugs come from is also easy to understand if you know their habitat. And these are most often:
- places in the immediate vicinity with the victim's berth (beds, sofas, niches near the cages and aviaries of pets);
- in places rarely checked, and objects that are rarely used by a person (under carpets, under baseboards, under lamps and sconces, in niches and shelves with books).
In general, bed bugs are always hiding from people in secluded places. But these parasites can not penetrate the fitting clothing of a person, and are also not able to climb a smooth surface (glass or plastic).
Where do bed bugs come from?
There is no single correct answer to the question of where bugs appear in the apartment. But we can safely say that there are several reasons for the appearance of these insects in the home. The main ones include:
- Independent movement of parasites from one home to another.
- The transfer of insects by a person from a public place to an apartment (house).
Bed bugs can travel long distances, and very quickly (up to one meter per minute), and since they constantly need food, like any other living creature, in case of its absence, the parasites go in search of food. Therefore, often insects come from the apartments of residents who temporarily or permanently leave their home.
It should be noted that since the bug is not a warm-blooded insect and does not need to maintain its own body temperature, it can do without food from several months to six months.
Sometimes bed parasites, in order to survive in hungry times, can eat the dried blood of another dead bug.
As for the second reason why bedbugs appear in the apartment, there can be a lot of special cases. One of the most common - a person brings bugs on his clothes from such public places as the market, someone else's infected apartment, a rest room at work or a dressing room.
It is worth noting that the presence of these parasites in the house does not at all indicate unsanitary conditions in it. Since bedbugs absolutely do not care under what conditions they live and breed.
It is not known for certain why the bugs start. The main reasons for the appearance, the living conditions of bed bugs, as can be seen, can be different. The main thing is to timely detect their presence in the home and eliminate the problem, until the colonies of the parasites have grown in dangerously large numbers.
How to detect bugs yourself
The first parameter by which it is possible to determine the presence of bed bugs in an apartment is, of course, bites. As a rule, a person experiences pain and sees marks on his body. But many people do not feel the bites of bed bugs due to the low pain threshold. But this does not mean at all that there are no parasites in the house and no harm is done to human health. Therefore, in order to recognize whether there are bed bugs in the home, signs of the appearance of bugs, in addition to the sensation of direct contact with them, every person needs to know.
These signs include:
- the presence of flocks of bedbugs in hard-to-reach places (under a mattress, baseboard, in crevices, under lamps and baguettes, under any items rarely used by humans);
- a specific smell in the room (the smell of rotten raspberries or the smell of almonds);
- the distribution of waste products of bed bugs (small specks collected in piles, feces, larvae, husks from bedbug eggs).
How to detect bugs with someone else's help
If it is not possible to independently detect the presence of bed bugs, then a person can resort to outside help. For example, attract specially trained dogs that can easily cope with this task.
This method is often used by US citizens. There dogs are certified and very seriously trained in the search for bed bugs.
What do bedbug bites look like?
Bedbug bites are the main reason why these insects are detected by humans. As a rule, they do not look like single wounds, but like a path of red dots along blood vessels. In this case, the distance between the bites can be several centimeters.
If there is a large amount of these parasites in the room, then a person or animal living in it can experience up to five hundred bites per night.
For some people, from the attack of bed bugs there are no traces on the body, for others, on the contrary, the bite site can be swollen with a huge blister and not stop scratching until several weeks.
How dangerous are bugs to humans
Bed bugs , like other blood-sucking insects, are carriers of infectious diseases, which poses a major threat to human health. Bedbugs can even tolerate such terrible diseases as smallpox, tuberculosis, hepatitis, typhoid fever, anthrax and many others.
In addition, the bites of bed bugs bring their victim pain, a feeling of itching, discomfort, which leads to constant lack of sleep and irritability.
Many people have an allergic reaction to feces of bed bugs. It is usually expressed in skin rash or chronic rhinitis.
From the foregoing, it is easy to understand how harmful bed bugs are at home. Destruction of bugs in this regard is a prerequisite for a healthy and quiet living of the whole family and pets, including.
Methods for killing bugs
Bed bugs can be in utility rooms, warehouses, bed bugs in an apartment, bed bugs at home. Where bugs come from, how to detect and destroy them, prompt, of course, specializing in this company. But if a person decided to independently get rid of these parasites, then he must take into account the following:
- Bed bugs are well susceptible to high temperatures. To destroy them, it is necessary to etch for at least half an hour with dry heat, with a temperature of more than 48 ° C. Things and toys can be processed for 10-20 minutes in a dryer at high temperatures.
- Bed bugs can be killed by steam.
- Chemistry (pyrethroids and insecticides) will help get rid of bugs. It is recommended to alternate their use.
- With the help of a vacuum cleaner, only adults are removed, while the eggs remain firmly glued to the base.
Today there is accessible and understandable information on where bugs appear, how to get rid of these parasites and how to recognize their presence in the room. But still, it is better to pre-warn their appearance in the house. Carry out a kind of prevention: frequent airing of the apartment, especially in winter, timely sealing of cracked skirting boards, clogging of cracks and holes leading to corridors or neighboring apartments, as well as constant wet cleaning using chemicals, especially in places rarely used.