What do bedbugs look like? Appearance of a bed bug.

Reasons for and ways to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment

Bed bugs in apartments in cities such as Moscow and many other cities around the world are now not something unusual. Bedbugs are found in apartments, cabins, dormitories, hostels, hotels and furniture warehouses. They are widely distributed throughout the world and suffer from them both in the poorest countries and complete unsanitary conditions, and in the fashionable hotels of the best resorts in the world.

Bedbugs in an apartment and how to get rid of them are the most popular insect problem in the world, followed only by cockroaches in apartments. In order to competently destroy and get rid of bedbugs in an apartment, you need to know where and how to look for them, and what they are.

Differences between bedbugs and fleas

The only thing these pests have in common is their dark brown color. Bedbugs are much larger in size than fleas, their bodies are flat and wide. Fleas are short in length. Their body is narrow and oblong. Such parasites can jump high due to their long hind legs and appear during daylight hours.

Another difference between bedbugs and fleas is their habitat.

The last of these insects can stay outside for a long time if there is a food source nearby - animals. Bedbugs live only in an apartment or house - closer to humans.

Types and differences of insects.

Where to look and how to find bedbugs in an apartment

Bed bugs, or house bugs as they are also called, are synanthropic parasitic insects that feed exclusively on human blood. Accordingly, in an apartment, bedbugs choose places closest to humans. As a rule, these are sofas, beds, armchairs and mattresses. Bedbugs are nocturnal insects and feed at low levels of infestation at night. Therefore, during the day, when a person is in the apartment and is awake, bedbugs are extremely difficult to detect. Bedbugs usually live in an apartment for at least a couple of weeks before a person realizes that bedbugs have settled in his apartment. Where can you most often find bedbugs in an apartment:

where to look for bedbugs in an apartment

• Sofas and beds. Look in linen boxes under sofas and beds. In the cracks and folds of the upholstery, in secluded places in the bed structure. If the mattress is white, then the most obvious sign of bedbugs in the apartment is the appearance of black dots and blood stains on the mattress. The black dots are a “cyst” of bedbug feces. And the blood stains are a crushed sucking insect.
• Bedbugs in apartments also like to settle behind wall decorative elements. Look, there are black dots, live bugs and larvae behind wall lamps, paintings, in corners and joints of walls and ceilings.
• Sockets and wallpaper. Bedbugs in apartments often hide in bedside sockets and in the joints of wallpaper.
• Behind the baseboards, in medium and severe situations, bedbugs in the apartment go behind the baseboards and under the floor. In the cracks of old parquet or laminate. In such a situation, getting rid of them is quite problematic.

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If you find at least one of the above signs, then immediately contact the pest control service in Moscow. The sooner you contact our specialized service for exterminating bedbugs in an apartment in Moscow, the easier and faster you can get rid of them.

Bed bugs: features

Bedbugs are insects that can quickly reproduce and occupy new places. If at least one female gets into a dwelling, even by accident, then after a while a whole colony of hundreds of bloodsuckers may appear in the apartment.

The fact is that fertilized eggs in a female can persist for several months. Finding herself in comfortable conditions, she lays them and after some time young offspring are born. At one time, the female lays up to 6 eggs, and during her life she manages to lay up to 500 such eggs.

Another month after birth, the offspring themselves can give birth to offspring. Therefore, the number of parasites always increases, and significantly. Bed bugs settle near the places where people rest. These are the back walls of sofas, beds, mattresses, as well as seams or folds of clothing. When there are too many of them, they can be found in other places. They easily settle inside household appliances, behind cabinets and in various crevices, behind pictures and in books.

Under favorable conditions, when their numbers reach too large, they have to look for new victims, so they begin to migrate in search of new territories. In such cases, they easily move to neighboring apartments.

Remove bedbugs at home in 1 day without harm to children

Where do the reasons for the appearance of bedbugs in the apartment come from?

Bed bugs in an apartment do not come out of thin air and do not appear out of nowhere. There are a number of reasons why you might have them in your apartment. We will look at the main reasons for the appearance of bedbugs in an apartment.

• The most common reason for bedbugs to appear in an apartment is if neighbors have them. If your neighbors have bedbugs and they don’t fight them, then sooner or later bedbugs will appear in your apartment. The migration of bedbugs from neighbors is a fairly common phenomenon. In such a situation, you should exterminate bedbugs in your apartment before the situation becomes critical with the application of gel barriers that will prevent bedbugs from entering the apartment from neighbors.
• Bedbugs can be brought into the apartment from guests (if there are any there), or guests brought them to you. Bedbugs can appear in an apartment after visits from guests, acquaintances, relatives, utility workers, craftsmen, etc. A person may not be unaware that they have infested them, and unwittingly spread bedbugs on their clothes and in their bags.
• Bed bugs also often appear in an apartment during a trip or after a trip, especially if you had to stay overnight in dubious hostels or hotels. You can bring bedbugs into the apartment along with personal belongings from such a trip.
• Bed bugs can also appear in an apartment with new furniture. Many furniture warehouses in Moscow are infested with bed bugs. Also, buying used furniture can cause bedbugs to appear in the apartment.
• You can also receive bedbugs with the parcel. Especially from Asian countries.

Whatever the reason for the appearance of bedbugs in the apartment and wherever they come from. Either way, you definitely need to get rid of them.

Feeding of bedbugs depending on the type of parasite

There are about ten thousand species of bedbugs in nature, and the difference between them will also be in their diet. Therefore, it is worth considering the main species that can be found in nature and what bedbugs feed on besides blood:

• water bugs. Few people know, but the well-known water striders are also bedbugs. These animals are true predators and feed on the eggs of small fish, mosquitoes and other insects. Water bugs also include the smoothie, which is the largest representative of the bugs (1.5 cm). Such sizes allow the parasite to feed not only on invertebrates, but also on small fish and various insects;
• land bugs. Vegetarians predominate among land bugs. But even such a diet often brings losses to agriculture. A striking representative of land bugs is the turtle bug. This parasite received this name due to the fact that the outer shell resembles that of a turtle. The parasites try exquisite varieties of plants and cereals. They pierce the stem of the plant and introduce their enzymes inside, thereby completely changing the composition of the plant. Subsequently, infected plants are of very low quality and practically not suitable for consumption;
• shield family. This family has about 4,000 species of parasites that primarily feed on plants. A characteristic feature of these bedbugs is the shape of their back, which resembles a shield. Prominent representatives of this species are: green wood bug (feeds on berries and young shoots of grass), cruciferous bugs (attempts to eat plants of the cruciferous family (cabbage, rapeseed)), Italian bug (prefers to eat dill).

Who eats bedbugs

People who have encountered parasites often wonder whether there are insects in nature that feed on bedbugs. In fact, such insects exist, and they are seven-spotted ladybugs, which are predators. There are quite a lot of such insects in Russia and they mainly try small arthropods that move quite slowly and live in colonies. Bed bugs also belong to this type. The diet of ladybugs consists not only of bedbugs, but also their larvae, so these insects bring double benefits to humanity.

As a result, we can say that bedbugs do not have a single diet. The most dangerous bed bug for humans, since its main diet is human blood

How to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment yourself

Bedbugs in an apartment, as mentioned above, are currently not something out of the ordinary. Many thousands of people face this problem every day, not only in Moscow, but throughout the world. Bedbugs in megacities, as a result of exposure to technogenic factors and constant persecution, over time acquired the most stable resistance (immunity) to insecticides than bedbugs in the outback, where in some remote regions they are still successfully poisoned using folk remedies.

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In order to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment, there are several most popular methods. Let's briefly look at everything in order of decreasing effectiveness and dwell on the most effective way to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment in more detail:

Independent use of household insecticides in order to get rid of bedbugs in the apartment. If you decide to get rid of bedbugs in your apartment using means that you “read about on the Internet” or on the advice of friends, then we strongly recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the list of insecticides not recommended for use by the Research Institute of Disinfectology.

In this list, to your surprise, you can find such means for exterminating bedbugs in an apartment as: “Executioner”, “Troapsil” and many other advertised means. Use of these drugs is at your own risk.

You can also get rid of bedbugs in an apartment using various physical measures . Freezing or steaming with a jet of hot steam. But we want to note that these methods of getting rid of bedbugs in an apartment will be effective only with a slight degree of infestation

Freezing

You can freeze bedbugs only in those rooms that are not afraid of long-term cooling, and in regions where winter temperatures stay below minus 15°C for quite a long time. In this case, freezing must be repeated at least twice: this guarantees that the repeated procedure will kill the bugs that hatch from the eggs that survived the first freezing.

Using a steamer

Exposure to steam leads to the death of both the insects themselves and their nymphs. Raising the temperature in a hot room in the sun has a similar effect on bedbugs. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to expose all the furniture from the apartment to the sun and “fry” the bloodsuckers; besides, they will still remain in cracks, behind baseboards and in other secluded places.

How to recognize bedbugs.

Each of us in the spring, in parks or in the forest, has probably seen a lot of soldier bugs. But there are still differences between these insects and bed bugs, just as there are differences with other beetles that live near people.

The way house bugs really sets them apart from other types of insects. Let's look at the main features by which bedbugs can be recognized.

1. Lack of wings. Leading a purely parasitic lifestyle, bed bugs, in the process of evolution, have long lost their wings. In their place, only rudimentary processes remained, which insects have not used for a long time. Small (young) cockroaches also look a bit like bedbugs. But cockroaches, even young individuals, have two small processes on their abdomen, very similar to antennae. Bed bugs do not have them. Yes, they cannot fly, but they plan and move perfectly.

2. Number of legs. Bedbugs are often confused with small spiders and ticks. In order not to confuse and remember what bed bugs look like, when you find an insect, it is enough to count its legs. Ticks and all arachnids have 4 pairs of legs, and bed bugs have 3 pairs.

3. Flattened body. Not a single “domestic” insect has such a flattened body as a bed bug. Bedbugs, species that live in people's homes, acquire a hemispherical shape only after saturation. That's when they become vulnerable and can be crushed by their prey.

Traditional ways to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment.

Some ways to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment using wormwood, vinegar or lemon go back to our ancestors. When professional insecticides had not yet been invented. But the bedbugs also had no resistance or immunity to the agents at all. And so in Rus' they burned a hut if there were bedbugs in it.

Spells and prayers for bedbugs.

The most crazy and ridiculous way to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment is a conspiracy. It goes without saying that Christian prayers for bedbugs have never existed and do not exist. And everything that you found on the Internet as the “Conspiracy for bedbugs” and “Prayer for bedbugs” is nothing more than fiction and a clearly ineffective way to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment. Although you can try, sooner or later you will contact our pest control service and ask to get rid of bedbugs in your apartment.

No one today knows 100% of the strategy on how to get rid of bed bugs in an apartment on your own, while spending little money and time. If your premises are infested, it is better not to waste time and energy, but to immediately contact a bedbug removal service.

Lifespan of insects

The problem of parasites appearing in the house becomes urgent when people find out how long bedbugs live in the sofa. After all, given comfortable living conditions, life expectancy is about a year. In a cool room this period even increases.

You should not leave your apartment if you suddenly discover that there are bedbugs living in it. There is no need to hope that bloodsuckers will go without food and soon disappear. It is necessary to start fighting them as quickly as possible and only then will you be able to get rid of bedbugs and live and sleep peacefully.

The best method to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment

And since we have already figured it out, the wisest, most rational and effective way to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment is to contact our company, professional exterminators who know all the nuances of the life of bedbugs in an apartment and all the ways to destroy them.

Contacting our disinfection service is the most effective and modern way to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment, especially in cities such as Moscow. Our sanitary service specialists use products to kill bedbugs in apartments that are not available for purchase to the general public who have not been trained in the field of disinfection. Also, getting rid of bedbugs in an apartment with the help of a professional exterminator is much faster and more profitable than resorting to independent methods.

Our bedbug control company offers the destruction of bedbugs in the apartment using special ULV fog generators and the method of manual pneumatic spraying. Specialists treat, precisely, all the necessary places in the apartment where there are signs of bedbugs and their traces, which prevents the working solution from getting on household items that do not need to be treated. This makes it much safer to perform pest control against bedbugs in an apartment. The effectiveness and duration of the result depends on the correct implementation of the process of exterminating bedbugs in an apartment.

killing bedbugs with cold fog

killing bedbugs with cold fog

Ways to combat the use of drugs

You can get the required result only if the apartment is properly treated against bedbugs, taking into account the properties of the selected products. When parasites are destroyed with chemicals, work is carried out wearing protective equipment: closed clothing, a hat and a respirator.

Destruction of bedbugs using a chemical agent.

Chemicals

To combat parasites in an apartment or private house, organophosphorus insecticides and pyrethroids are used. Common products: Get, Combat, Karbofos, Dichlorvos, etc. The principle of action of insecticides is based on damage to the nervous system of parasites. You can treat your apartment against pests using a spray, aerosol, or solution.

Heat treatment

Available pest control products:

• boiling;
• processing in a washing machine;
• exposure to cold;
• use of a steam generator.

Bedbugs die in a matter of seconds if they are exposed to hot steam or boiling water (temperature more than +55°C). When the temperature drops lower, the rate of parasite death decreases.

Folk remedies

They use turpentine, kerosene, vinegar, ammonia, decoction and tincture of wormwood and other bitter herbs against parasites. However, the death of pests occurs only through direct contact with an aggressive agent. If you treat surfaces throughout the apartment, the insects will not die, but they can be repelled in this way. The disadvantage of this method is the strong smell. It will be impossible to stay at home after applying pest control.

Bedbug Traps

This method is used as an auxiliary measure. A common type of trap for parasites: the legs of the bed are placed in a container of water. The insects will try to get close to the person, but will fall into the liquid. There are also sticky bedbug traps for apartments. They are installed in areas where parasites are more common. Less commonly used is a device that emits carbon dioxide. This is due to the high price.

How much does it cost to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment? Prices

Disinfestation by specialists is the fastest and most guaranteed method of getting rid of bed bugs in an apartment and their larvae, which are very difficult to kill at home. It is not recommended to clean for 2-3 days after disinfection against bedbugs. This time is given for the complete destruction of all parasites. Prices for getting rid of bedbugs in an apartment in Moscow are more than affordable; everyone can find an acceptable cost for exterminating bedbugs in an apartment. Now you know what to do if there are bedbugs in your apartment and how to get rid of them.

Bedbug habitats

Where bedbugs live in the house
To achieve complete destruction of parasites, you need to know the places where bedbugs can live. Pests can settle in the cracks of a sofa, bed, under upholstery fabric or mattress. An attractive habitat for them can also be a window sill, wardrobe, cabinet, heating radiators, a cavity under the baseboard or a hole for an electrical outlet.

Many people wonder whether bedbugs live in the refrigerator. Any household appliance, like furniture, is an ideal breeding ground for bloodsuckers. They feel great in a computer system unit, an old radio or TV. It is this nuance that should be taken into account when purchasing used equipment and furniture.

No less frequently asked questions are whether bedbugs live on the human body, and also whether they can live in human hair. The answer to both questions will be negative. Pests spend only a few minutes on the body of their victim, catching the even breathing of a sleeping person in order to get enough of his blood. Pests usually do not attack waking people. In this case, the instinct of self-preservation is triggered.

It is also noteworthy that bedbugs do not inflict their bites on the head or other hairy parts of the body. Most often, the limbs, neck or back area are susceptible to insect attacks. Places with hair make it difficult for bloodsuckers to move, which limits the ability to quickly retreat in case of danger.

Bedbug bites