◉ Why do bedbugs not bite all people in the family: why do they bite some and not others, and can they bite only one person in the house?

Why bed bugs do not bite all people: some family members suffer more from parasites

It is believed that parasites attack selectively. This is explained by the fact that not all family members have bites in the morning. In fact, there is an explanation for this behavior. If you are wondering why bedbugs do not bite all people, you should keep in mind that there are no obstacles for a hungry parasite. They rush to the source of the smell that attracts them. This is carbon dioxide emitted by humans, as well as heat.

By and large, insects don’t care who becomes the victim. The answer to the question why bedbugs bite some and not others is simple: they prefer to choose those who are closest to the pests’ habitat.

In the case when there is only one nest in the room, and there are several sleeping places, then first of all, red spots will appear on people who sleep on the sofa/bed, where insects have gathered together.

The favorite place of bedbugs is the wrist

How long do bedbug bites last?

It’s worth getting to know your unpleasant neighbor – the house bug. We recognize the enemy by sight.

Bedbug under a microscope

Before us is a blood-sucking parasite. Dimensions: from 3 to 8 mm depending on blood saturation.

By the color of the bug you can determine when it last ate food . The scarlet parasite recently consumed blood. The black insect has become hungry and will soon go on a night hunt.

Method of feeding: bite of humans and warm-blooded animals. The insect's proboscis, which has the ability to pierce the body and suck blood, serves these purposes. The bug senses blood circulation in the body and human thermal radiation. There are a couple of channels inside the proboscis. The first is used to inject saliva, which anesthetizes the impact, the second channel is intended to absorb blood. The insect pierces the body and feels for the nearest blood vessel with its proboscis.

The proboscis with which the bug bites

Due to the anesthesia, the bite is not felt, so it is almost impossible to catch the parasite.

Signs of a bite

A person with sensitive skin usually notices the following signs indicating that a sofa or bed is infested with blood-sucking parasites:

microdamage track;
pain when touching the bite sites;
severe, incessant itching;
subtle red bite marks are possible (not always);
allergic dermatitis, rashes;
swelling and redness of the bitten area of the body.

Not only adults, but also bedbug larvae can bite. Moreover, if an adult bug feeds once every 5-7 days, then the larva must receive blood daily; when it bites, it does not inject saliva, and such a bite will be painful.

Favorite bite spots

Bed bugs have a piercing-sucking mouthpart. This means that it is not powerful enough to pierce tough, fairly dense, significant skin thickness. Insects prefer to choose places on the human body where it will be easier for them to get a portion of food. These include:

wrists;
shin;
neck;

shoulders;
hips;
back or stomach.

The bug bites the path. In the areas listed above, lines formed by red spots remain. Their quantity differs, which depends on the age of the insect and the degree of its saturation. In addition, pests attack exposed areas of the body. For this reason, in the warm season there are many more bites.

Bedbug bites

Bedbug bites on the leg

Bedbug bites: photos, symptoms, treatment

Photos of bedbug bites
Who gets bitten more?
How to identify and recognize?
Treatment of bedbug bites and their symptoms

Bedbugs are parasites, the thought of which already causes nervous scratching in some people. These parasites do not bring any benefit to humans, with the exception of only predatory varieties of bedbugs useful for agriculture.

Since the times of ancient people, they have huddled in the huts and houses of our ancestors, because these parasites have been parasitizing humans for thousands of years. However, does everyone know that only one single type of bedbug bites a person, which lives in houses and apartments, the so-called in lat. Cimex lectularius and popularly known as the bed bug or house bug.

How to identify and recognize bedbug bites on a person?

Let’s take a short dive into the reality of a client encountering bedbugs for the first time. You lived your life, slept peacefully, and then one night, you wake up. It’s not clear whether it’s from itching or bites. At best, you may wake up at your usual time; at worst, you will wake up in the middle of the night.

The situation gets worse if the bites are on children or infants. A small child cannot say what they are from, and he will only cry all night long, and his parents will only guess about the true reasons for the redness on his body. In search of answers, you can go online, or, more often, contact your assigned doctor or therapist. In fact, the period of time from the moment of the first bite and the subsequent visit to the doctor to identify their causes takes from 1 to 3 weeks, during which time the bedbugs, from barely visible larvae, can completely turn into well-fed and satisfied adult bedbugs.

A selection of photographs of bedbug bites on adults and children

For this reason, it is important to recognize bite marks in time and there is nothing better than seeing his photographs of bedbug bites at least once. Bedbug bites are presented more clearly in the photographs on the page. This is what bedbug bites can look like not only on the body of an adult, but also on small children, because it is the baby who becomes the first victim of these bloodsuckers.

What will help identify a bug bite? Find out that the bites were caused by bedbugs, and not mosquitoes, fleas or other parasites? How to alleviate the consequences of a bite? All this will be discussed below.

What places and who are bitten by bed bugs the most?

Bedbugs give particular preference to people who have thin skin. These include women and children, and only in exceptional cases the male population. Bed bugs are attracted to particularly tender areas of the body; these are, as a rule, the thinnest parts of human flesh, the inside of the arms and legs, neck, and shoulders. Also, one of the reasons why bedbugs do not like the male population is intolerance to the smell of tobacco and alcohol.

How to identify, recognize and distinguish bedbug bites from other insects?

Traces from bedbug bites are distinguished by the fact that on the wound from the bite there is a whole series or, in other words, a “path” of bites and slightly swollen indentations. Bedbug bites on the human body are scattered over a large area; these are small red spots running sequentially one after another. Bedbugs “go” biting and leaving many traces, and this feature is their unique identifier and serves as a distinctive feature of bedbugs. Considering that mosquitoes are not active in the off-season in winter, and the bed bug bites regardless of the time of year, we can logically come to a conclusion. If you suddenly see bites on your body in winter, then there is a high probability that these are bedbugs. Bedbug bites in children have the same appearance as in an adult and are physically completely identical and have the same external signs.

Summarizing the above, we can identify a number of key points, based on which, we can clearly say that these bite marks belong to bedbugs.

The active phase of bedbugs occurs between one in the morning and five in the morning, which in turn imposes certain conditions that must be met when exterminating bedbugs, namely keeping the room closed for 24 hours so that all insects hidden during the day come out in search of food at night and thus the most over-intoxicated. Thus, you can see and identify bedbug bites on the body in the morning after waking up;
It should be noted that bedbugs do not leave only one bite, like mosquitoes or fleas, but a whole series. The most striking difference between bedbug bites and the bites of other insects is the many wounds, usually forming a path;
Sometimes people confuse bedbug bites with flea bites; to dot the i’s, you should pay attention to 2 facts: do insects jump after being bitten?
Do they bite you during the day?

If the answer is yes, i.e. if you are bitten during the daytime and the insects are difficult to catch because they manage to jump off, then there is only one answer - these are fleas, not bedbugs;

When a bug bites, there is no itching or pain. This is due to the anesthetic substances contained in the salivary fluids of the parasite, so bedbug bites are visible only in the morning; this is also a distinctive feature from mosquitoes and fleas;

bedbug bites on humans appear as small red spots;

the bitten area swells;

intense itching appears, which becomes stronger from scratching;

in one area, not one, but several bites are often found along a path;

awakening from bites occurs at night;

You may not see insects, but bite marks will still remain, which in turn leads to the incorrect judgment of vinegars as an allergy.

With allergies, which are often confused with wounds left by bedbugs, symptoms other than itching and redness often appear: fever, nasal congestion, tearfulness and others. However, it is still difficult to separate bedbug bites from allergies, so the best solution would be to contact a specialist - a therapist or dermatologist, so that if something happens, you can promptly begin treatment without waiting for serious consequences.

Treatment of bites and itching from bedbugs and their symptoms

There are no special types, methods and methods of treatment and rehabilitation that can relieve the consequences of bites from this pest. Bedbug bites go away on their own within 3 to 12 hours. Redness subsides and irritated skin syndrome stops. However, there are people in whom a bug bite can trigger an adverse reaction in the body - an allergy, the consequences of which disappear over a longer period - two to three days.

To relieve pain and irritation from the bite of this insect, you can wipe the bitten skin with a cotton swab in alcohol or wash with soap and water. You can reduce the itching from a bite by covering the bite site with a specially designed ointment, and also resort to taking antihistamines.

If the site of the bite begins to change for the worse, the itching does not go away, and discharge (greenish, yellowish, whitish) begins to appear from the wound, then without wasting time, you should immediately contact the nearest dermatology department!

Selection of a potential victim. Who do bed parasites prey on?

Nature has defined several rules that form the basis for the life activity of insects. Thanks to this, bedbugs remain alive after biting the owner and can leave him without hindrance.

Definition of a victim

The insect makes a choice taking into account factors:

thin outer coverings of the human body: insects smell because they have a highly developed sense of smell;
low hairiness of the skin or absence of hair, which facilitates the process of puncturing the skin, and at the same time makes it safe for the parasite to leave the human body;
a person sleeps without clothes or blankets: the bloodsucker attacks those who have the habit of sleeping without unnecessary things.

Bedbugs are mainly active at night

Features of vital activity and lifestyle of parasites

Bed parasites emerge from hiding at night. During the daytime, such pests rest. In fact, sleep for them means being at peace. At this time they do not feed and do not crawl out of their shelters. Bedbugs feel safe when they are in a nest. In addition, they have some degree of photophobia. They do not tolerate not only solar radiation, but also artificial light. But this is not a strict condition for the existence of insects.

If they feel hungry, they are able to emerge from the nest during the daytime, but this does not happen often.

Do bedbugs bite after sanitization?

Exposure to pesticides does not always kill parasites. Modern insects have a persistent immune response to many insecticides. It is passed on to the next generation. This creates a number of difficulties in the fight against bedbugs and choosing the appropriate chemical composition.

It is difficult, even for a professional, to determine the degree of resistance of an insect colony to specific pesticides. Therefore, it is problematic to predict the reaction to disinfection. Some parasites become more aggressive after treatment and bite even harder. The result will become noticeable only on the fourth or fifth day after sanitization.

If after a week the attacks of bedbugs at night do not stop, repeated sanitation with a different composition is necessary.

What causes selectivity?

There are several reasons why parasites bite only some individuals. Among them, not only external but also internal factors are noted. To predict an attack on a person, you should learn more about the preferences of pests.

The first symptom of a bite is irritation and itching

Which people are at risk?

Bloodsuckers have no special criteria when choosing a victim. If you are wondering who is not bitten by bedbugs, you need to consider 2 factors:

the composition of the air exhaled by humans (insects focus on the carbon dioxide content);
the thickness of the outer integument.

So, if several people act as potential victims at once, they will have different smells. For this reason, the pest will choose the one with thinner skin. Such people are at risk.

But despite this, it is still difficult to predict who the bedbug will choose.

Does the gender of the victim matter?

It is believed that bed parasites do not bite men, but only attack women and children. In fact, this is a misconception. For bedbugs, it doesn’t matter who becomes the owner, the main thing is that there is an opportunity to safely approach to get a portion of blood.

At the same time, the insect does not recognize the external sexual characteristics of a person. Moreover, bed parasites do not have the physical ability to do this: firstly, there is no awareness, so there is no understanding of such features, and secondly, the organs of vision are underdeveloped, which means insects also cannot study the structure of the human body.

They navigate through their senses, so smell, not gender, plays a role when the pest approaches people.

Bedbugs bite those close to their habitat

Age does not matter

There are no age restrictions when choosing a food source for insects. They can feed on the blood of people whose body odor suits them. It happens that bites are more often found in infants. Probable reasons:

the nest is in the crib, insects can get to the child faster;
thin skin;
the smell is more attractive.

Blood type as one of the factors determining the choice of victim for bedbugs

The likelihood of an attack on people with different compositions of biological fluid is the same. Blood itself is important to domestic parasites. They cannot determine its parameters, but only need a portion of food. If it seems that some family members are more likely to be attacked by bedbugs at home, you should not associate this with your blood type. The key parameter, again, is the smell, as well as the warmth of the human body.

Treating the bite with gel

How do parasites bite?

Understanding how bed bugs bite is not difficult. These parasites feed through a mosquito-like trunk. They find a capillary on the human body, focusing on the pulsation of blood, make a puncture with their proboscis in the thinnest area of the skin and suck out up to 1.5 ml of blood. Since this amount of human blood is not enough to nourish an adult, the pest moves several centimeters up the skin and bites the person repeatedly, several times until completely saturated.

Important: it should be noted that at the time of the bite, the bug injects a special enzyme under the human skin that acts as an anesthetic. It makes the skin puncture almost invisible. A person pays attention to traces of this parasite only in the morning, when they begin to itch.

However, not all representatives of these insects will have painless bites. Thus, the larvae of this species lack a channel through which pain-relieving enzymes are supplied, which is why their attacks are sensitive to humans. Their appearance indicates that the colony of pests has reached quite large sizes.

Determining the food source for parasites

Sometimes home parasites bite one person but not others. The reason lies in the parameters of the skin. If insects are satisfied with the smell of all family members, they make a choice of victim based on other parameters. For example, they take into account the thickness of the skin, assess how soft it is and how pliable it is to the proboscis.

Potential victims of bedbugs are women and children

It is in young girls and children that the outer integument meets the needs of bedbugs. Their skin is soft and delicate. Piercing it will not be difficult not only for the imago, but also for the larvae. Initially, this parameter is not key; if necessary, insects can bite any person (if they are hungry). If the choice of victims is large enough, according to the main criteria, bedbugs can choose any person, and next time they will return to the place where they found a suitable food source.

In addition to people, bedbugs also attack animals

Who is bitten by bedbugs: reasons for choosing a victim

Due to the structural features of the oral apparatus, they prefer people with thin, delicate skin. In this case, the blood vessels are located closer to the surface, which the bugs sense. Insects may make several bites while searching for a vessel.

Due to skin sensitivity, victims are divided as follows:

Children. The younger the child, the higher his chance of becoming a victim of night bloodsuckers. The skin of young children is very thin and soft. This makes it much easier for insects to find food.

Women. The skin of girls, especially young girls, is softer and more sensitive. In addition, it has less hair. Blood vessels are easily visible through the skin. They are also a priority for bedbugs.

Men. They rarely become victims of bedbugs. This is due to rough skin and dense hair on the body. An exception if the only resident of the house is male.

The choice of victim is also influenced by the location of the sleeping place. Bedbugs always choose the person closest to their nest. If insects have chosen the nursery, then they may not be in the adult bedroom.

Which types of pets suffer from bed parasites?

Insects in 98% of cases choose people to get a portion of blood. However, the answer to the question of whether bed bugs bite pets is positive. When the parasites have nowhere else to get a portion of blood, they will begin to approach animals. If you are wondering whether bedbugs bite cats, you need to take into account the degree of density of the fur of such pets. Short-haired pets are the easiest to bite.

But another difficulty arises - the significant thickness of the skin, as well as many sebaceous glands in its structure, which makes it difficult for insects to eat.

Bedbug bite on a pet's body

Table: 8 steps to remove bedbugs from pets

If there is a tart, cloying smell of parasites at home, red spots appear and itching is felt in the morning, you need to look for the cause of the pests. One of the probable ones is the infection of pets; bedbugs enter the apartment on their fur.

Treatment	Recommendations
Cleaning your pet's bedding	Removing litter will help detect bedbugs immediately
Collected garbage must be burned; if you simply throw it away, the bugs it contains will spread to new objects	It is not recommended to use a vacuum cleaner for this purpose, insects may remain inside, sooner or later they will find a way out
Treating litter with hot water	This is an effective method of quickly killing parasites
Use a dryer or iron to tidy up the pet’s area.	For reliability, after washing, re-treat the product with a heat source
Instead of the washing method, electrical appliances are considered: hair dryer, steam generator	A steam generator is periodically used, which will kill insects that appear at home but go unnoticed
For further use, the litter is protected with a sealed cover.	It will be more difficult for insects to find shelter here
Eliminate ways for insects to spread – cracks	In this way, bedbugs are prevented from falling onto an object, as well as their spread to neighboring areas.
Treat areas nearby (plinths, floors) where the pet lives	This is a method of combating the new generation of individuals emerging from eggs.

It is necessary to periodically treat the animal's bedding

How to prevent bites?

It is possible to prevent harmful night attacks by applying repellent compounds to the body. Insects cannot tolerate strong odors and will be driven away using the following means:

Neem tree essential oil. After a shower, apply a few drops to your hands and distribute over your body. Additionally, it is recommended to lubricate the legs of the sleeping bed and the mattress with ether.
Lavender oil. A small amount is applied to the bed frame and skin.
Tea tree oil. In addition to lubricating the epidermis, dissolve 2-3 drops in warm water and spray around the room, especially near the sleeping area.
Neem tree essential oil. After a shower, apply a few drops to your hands and distribute over your body. Additionally, it is recommended to lubricate the legs of the sleeping bed and the mattress with ether.
Lavender oil. A small amount is applied to the bed frame and skin.
Tea tree oil. In addition to lubricating the epidermis, dissolve 2-3 drops in warm water and spray around the room, especially near the sleeping area.

The proposed options will only be a temporary respite and will briefly repel blood-sucking insects. The only way to completely get rid of pests is to completely disinfect your living space. It is necessary to seek help from SES employees if there is a large accumulation of parasites.

There is now a wide range of contact insecticides on sale that are not hazardous to humans and pets. It is handy to use aerosols that are sprayed onto the internal structures of a bed or sofa.

The drug is applied to potential areas where insects accumulate: baseboards, the lower surface of the mattress, the wall part of paintings and mirrors. It is not recommended to touch pillows and other bedding. They are dry cleaned or taken out into the cold for 3-4 hours. The linen is washed in boiling water and ironed.

Why do bed bugs bite only at night?

Safety is extremely important to insects, so much so that they will go elsewhere if they feel threatened. They can lay eggs, mate, move, but all this is possible when night falls. In addition, another reason for the appearance not during the day, but in the dark is free access to the owner’s body. If you are wondering whether bedbugs bite dogs, the answer is yes, but this happens at night.

The day is not suitable for such a task, because... a calmly resting pet will quickly detect the parasite.

It's better to sleep dressed

If a person rests without clothes to sleep, a large area opens up for bedbugs to attack - they can bite in any area. The same thing happens if the potential victim is not covered. For example, only the legs are visible from under the blanket, and this is where the bites will appear. Insects cannot overcome such complex obstacles as, for example, a blanket.

If there are bedbugs in the house, then you need to sleep dressed to protect yourself from bites

Do bedbugs bite drunk people?

Parasites are considered food for people in different states. They can also bite a drunk person, but in this case some of the alcohol will enter the parasite's body. Alcohol has a negative effect on the bug - females stop laying eggs. Parasites almost always choose sober people; they smell the alcohol that is released from the skin.

Despite the accessibility of a drunk person (sleeping in one position for a long time), parasites prefer to bite other victims.

Question-answer section

You can find out why parasites attack only certain victims, and whether bedbugs bite dogs, from a specialist online. Answered by Petrova Irina Igorevna, work experience - 24 years.