◉ TOP 8 places where bed bugs come from in an apartment and in a private house

What do bed bugs look like? How not to be confused with other insects. Close-up photo

Studying the appearance of parasites makes it possible to detect them in a timely manner, since there are similar features in insects of various species. Bed bug parameters:

the body is oval, flattened in a hungry state, after eating food it becomes noticeably rounded and increases several times in size;
the length of the bug depends on gender: males reach 4-6 mm, females - 5-8 mm, but these are average values; in the world there are both slightly larger and smaller parasites;
3 pairs of limbs;

the color of the shell is brown, but it varies depending on the stage of development of the insect (it can be milky at the initial stage, light brown at the intermediate stage);
1 pair of antennae;
segmented body;
short and powerful mouthparts.

Larvae do not differ in external features from adults, but their body is much smaller (1-1.5 mm before entering the nymphal phase). It is important to understand that it was bedbugs that appeared at home, and not other parasites. Differences between insects of different species:

cockroaches: these pests are larger, but the larvae resemble bedbugs in size, color, only cockroaches have cerci at the end of the abdomen, as well as long whiskers, and they move much faster;
fleas: body sizes are similar, the color is darker, the body is narrower, the hind limbs are longer;
ticks: they have 4 pairs of limbs, pests can be confused by color and body shape, but ticks do not crawl away after piercing the skin, they can remain on the host’s body for a long time, they only make 1 bite.

Bed bug front view

Bed bug photo

Why are bedbugs needed in nature?

Bedbugs are the name given to a large taxonomic division of insects - a suborder, uniting into it all representatives with a similar feeding method. Representatives of the suborder have a piercing-sucking mouthparts, with which they pierce the integument of the victim and feed on the liquid components of the body (blood, plant sap, etc.).

Appearance of a bug

Human parasites include the only type of insect – the bed bug. In addition to it, there are about 100 more species of blood-sucking representatives that parasitize animals, but pronounced synanthropy is characteristic only of Cimex lectularius. It is believed that bed bugs have accompanied humans since the times when people lived in caves.

Until the 19th century Bedbugs were credited with medicinal properties (for example, against hysteria), but now they are recognized as harmful parasites adjacent to humans.

Where do bedbugs live? Which buildings do they prefer? How they appear initially

To understand where parasites come from, you need to learn more about the features of their life activity. So, pests feed on human blood, and therefore will try to settle closer to him. First of all, insects appear in apartment buildings, in the country, as well as in a private house.

Sometimes pests are found in hotels, less often - in inpatient departments, other medical institutions (including treatment and prophylactic ones), and nursing homes. The presence of humans is important to parasites, so they can even live in warehouses where a guard works. Such parasites are also found in poultry houses.

Initially, domestic bugs enter the premises from nearby objects (neighboring apartments) or together with things.

Parasites live in warehouses and industrial premises

What factors exist for the active spread of parasites?

To understand why house bugs appear, you should find out under what conditions they feel comfortable:

preferred temperature: +25...+28°C, insects can withstand values in a wider range (+20...+35°C), but the development rate may slow down somewhat (with cold weather) or, conversely, speed up (hot microclimate) ;
unsanitary conditions: if cleaning is not carried out, no one will notice traces of insect activity, this explains the rapid reproduction and increase in the number of pests;
normal level of humidity (dry and highly humid air negatively affects parasites);
many hidden places where pests can hide;
permanent residence of people in their home, which provides access to a food source for bedbugs.

One of the reasons for the appearance of bedbugs is unsanitary conditions.

Danger to humans

The greatest danger to humans is an allergic reaction. It occurs due to enzymes injected into the wound, and microparticles of chitin and excrement rising into the air with dust. Often an allergic reaction occurs even in people who are not prone to it.

Allergic reaction to a bedbug bite in a child.

Like all bloodsuckers, house bugs are capable of carrying serious diseases:

typhus;
tuberculosis;
yellow fever;
pseudotuberculosis;
tularemia, etc.

Infection of an insect can occur from a previous owner, and, moving to a new one, the bug is capable of infecting it during its life.

If a private home is inhabited by rodents, with which bed parasites sometimes also come into contact, then the list of diseases will be even wider.

Where do bed bugs come from in an apartment? Paths of entry

It will be much easier to prevent pests from entering the facility if you exclude all possible ways of infecting the premises. When studying information about where bedbugs come from, you need to take into account that they can be acquired by force (they go in search of food, new habitats) or accidentally (in a bag, suitcase, etc.).

Trip to nature

Bloodsuckers look for food sources everywhere, even in nature. You need to understand how bedbugs appear in a person’s home after such an outing. It's simple: insects rush towards people when they are nearby. In nature, parasites can live in hollows where small animals live.

Pests change hosts at the first opportunity.

Pets

This method of insects entering a person’s home is one of the rarest. But you still need to understand why bedbugs appear on the fur of pets. This happens due to the curiosity and increased activity of animals. They often crawl into hard-to-reach places with their snouts, and sometimes run around on their neighbors’ property. In addition, bedbugs appear in a clean apartment if they are hungry and there is no person nearby. Insects attack animals. This is how the pet brings pests on itself.

Pets can also cause bedbugs

Neighbours

When parasites begin to be poisoned in a nearby apartment, some of them manage to escape. These insects crawl into uninfested areas. They multiply here, and soon the same problem arises as the neighbors.

Old things

When clothes are brought home that have not been worn for a long time or have been lying in an infected room, this can cause the appearance of bed parasites. To find out whether there are bedbugs, you really need to inspect the product. Many people believe that these are clothing parasites, but there are also sofa (furniture) parasites.

In fact, these are all representatives of the same species - bed bugs. They can come from old equipment or live in used upholstered furniture.

Bed bugs nest

Open space

To understand how bedbugs appear in the house, you need to consider all the ways. One of them is the appearance in an open space, but infection rarely occurs, since parasites do not tend to be without a food source for a long time.

Migrant parasites

Insects crawl into the territory of an uninfected apartment. It is important to understand the reason for the migration of house bugs and where they come from: insects do not leave the object to find a source of food, they move within the same building. This means that the risk of infection in the apartment is high. Another thing is the appearance of parasites in a private wooden house.

They can only get here with their things.

Bloodsucking travelers

Sometimes the answer to the question of where bedbugs come from in an apartment is unexpected. So, you can bring them with you from vacation or business trip. But usually this happens by accident. It is important to understand how bedbugs are transmitted:

their nest is located in the hostel: due to their large numbers, the parasites actively move at night, trying to overcome the obstacle on the way to a sleeping person, they end up inside a suitcase filled with things;
on the train.

Bedbugs are reluctant to appear in natural light

Human carriers of bedbugs

Sometimes guests bring parasites. If a person does not take care of his appearance, insect eggs sometimes remain on his clothes, less often - adults or young individuals who were there and did not have time to escape.

When bedbugs appear in an apartment, how to determine where they are hiding

Where do bedbugs live in an apartment? Should we look for them on a person’s body or in his hair, in blankets, pillows, on sofas and beds? They parasitize on the human body, but cannot live on it, because they are afraid of a waking person and hide from him. At night, when the victim is sleeping, they go on a rampage, detecting a person by the beating of blood in his vessels. In an effort to get food, parasites carry out predatory attacks, leaving numerous painful bites on the human body.

Bedbug bites on the body are an obvious sign of parasites in the apartment. A person needs to immediately find out where they are hiding and get rid of their aggressive influence. The active period of bed bugs' search for food begins late at night, when a person is sleeping. At this time, you can see a shocking picture: hordes of insects, going to get food, move across all surfaces of the apartment. They crawl along ceilings, walls, furniture.

The simplest and most reliable way to prove the presence of bedbugs in an apartment is to detect them during a hunt. At night, you need to spread a sheet on the bed and suddenly turn on the light, it will be covered with black dots. This method, after bites, is the most reliable. Now that it has become clear that parasites have appeared in the apartment, you need to find the place where the bedbugs live and where their nests are hidden.

Return to content

Favorite habitats and lifestyle of bedbugs in the house

Pests are active mainly at night. However, this is only possible if the parasites have already received a portion of food, otherwise they will attack even in natural light. You need to find out how bedbugs appear in an apartment and where they live, which will eliminate the problem. Favorite habitats:

in a sofa or bed, where pests are closest to the sleeping person;
inside the sockets (if they are located next to the sleeping place), from here the bugs quickly get to their destination;
on the back walls of interior items (clocks, photographs, paintings): when there is not enough space in the furniture for parasites, they seek shelter nearby;

under the carpet - insects also hide here if there are already a lot of parasites in the bed;
inside household appliances: here parasites find shelter when there is no other way to hide; in addition, appliances should remain idle, since pests do not live inside working devices.

“Common myths: the appearance of insects is associated with folk superstitions, negative energy at home and unsanitary conditions. If you are studying the question of where bed bugs come from in an apartment, then the listed factors should be immediately omitted. They are looking at more realistic ones: old furniture, migration from neighbors, etc.”

How to Determine Where Bed Bugs Are Coming From

To understand where furniture bugs come from, it is worth analyzing possible sources of infection.:

most often, new residents come from neighbors or have already chosen the premises, but due to their small number they are invisible;
if the house is clean, the parasites could have been brought back from a trip;
a thing that appears before the first bite is detected is likely to become a source of infection;
a hamster or other animal with thin fur can also bring insects;
if one of the residents recently visited a “bedbug-infested apartment,” perhaps the bloodsuckers got home from there.

The most popular cause of infection is old furniture. It is this that should be examined first for the presence of traces of parasite activity.

What to do if there are domestic bed bugs in your apartment?

It is necessary to find the cause of their appearance as quickly as possible before starting the fight against the use of insecticides. If you understand why bedbugs appear in an apartment, you can avoid their spread outside the infested home, as well as prevent their reappearance in the same facility.

Call exterminators

If pests are also found in neighboring areas (adjacent apartments), specialists should be invited. Pest control will solve this problem in 1 day. Then you won’t have to think about how bed bugs appear in your apartment. It is important to prepare the room: move the furniture away from the walls, empty it of things, remove hygiene items, plants, an aquarium, food (if any) from the room. This processing method uses the following methods:

cold fog;
hot.

Both options require spraying the poison. A fine suspension is released, which remains in the air for a long time and gradually settles on surfaces.

At the same time, bedbugs die in the apartment due to the poison entering the body through the respiratory tract and chitinous membrane.

Disinsection of premises

Repair

If you update the finishing of the walls and floors, cover the ventilation duct with a fine-mesh mesh, and eliminate other entry points (cracks in the doorway, windows, ceilings where pipes are installed), the risk of re-infection will be reduced. The effectiveness of treatment, on the contrary, will increase, because all insects will die and will not be able to leave the apartment.

Cleaning

It is necessary to carry out general cleaning. This should be done before processing, which will remove traces of pest activity. This measure will also provide the opportunity to postpone cleaning after the disinfestation of the premises has been completed. This is required in order for the offspring of insects that emerge from the eggs to die.

General cleaning is the key to detecting bedbugs at an early stage.

How to detect a bug in an apartment: signs of the insect and its description

Having found out where bedbugs come from in a clean and tidy house, we will figure out how to detect the pest. The human ectoparasite has a flat, spherical body with short legs and a long trunk. It is very difficult to crush a hungry insect due to the shape of the body, but when it drinks blood, you only need to lightly press it down. Therefore, having decided what causes bedbugs in the apartment, pay attention to the bloody spots on the bed. This is the main sign of the presence of a parasite in the house.

The insect's body color ranges from transparent white (larvae) to burgundy brown (when saturated with blood). The body can be 3-8 mm in length, but often these are adults up to 5-6 mm. One individual drinks up to 5-7 µl of blood. This is 1.7-2.5 times larger than the pest itself. To accommodate such an amount of food, the insect's belly stretches in height. This type of ectoparasite is clearly distinguishable from other household pests due to the shape of its body.

Bedbugs leave other signs of their presence in the apartment:

black dots and “poppy seeds” on wallpaper, furniture, bed linen - feces;
body parts;
an unpleasant almond odor - an enzyme that is secreted by an insect at the moment of fright;
a feeling of mustiness and dampness in the room or from the linen.

But the main sign that bedbugs have settled in the house is bites on the human body. They have a pronounced character - the insect bites along a line. The female lays approximately 250-300 eggs in six months, so within a week two adult individuals can flood the room with bloodsuckers. This means that, having discovered signs of a parasite in the house, you should not go into detail about why bedbugs appear in an apartment and clean houses; you need to take immediate action.

How to get rid of bedbugs in the house, how to reliably and effectively treat your home

It is recommended to use a combined method. It assumes the need for the simultaneous use of different types of means: folk, chemical. First you need to find out how bedbugs get into the apartment. After all causes have been eliminated, the room should be cleaned.

Bed linen is removed from the bed and must be washed at high temperature.

Furniture is moved away from the walls. Clothes and personal items are placed in plastic bags and sealed tightly. Parasites could leave eggs in pillows and blankets - these items are taken out into the cold (in winter) or left in the sun (in summer), and the same is done with the carpet.

Poisoning parasites using household and folk remedies

They use conditionally safe methods that cannot directly destroy parasites, but help create conditions where insects are not able to survive for long:

Vinegar and water. Prepare a solution, with the ratio of components being 1:1. It is acceptable to use undiluted vinegar, but it should not be applied to surfaces so as not to spoil the coating material. In addition, the smell will remain. You need to spread cotton pads soaked in this substance around the room.
Wormwood decoction. Prepared from dry or fresh raw materials. However, you need to keep in mind that the amount of grass will vary. For example, if a remedy for bedbugs is being prepared from fresh raw materials, less wormwood is used. The most concentrated decoction should be made; it is used for application to surfaces.
Ammonia. It is added to the water that will be used to wash the floor. The smell will be felt, but it is weakly expressed. It is enough to add 1 tbsp. l. for 1 bucket of water.

Effective folk remedies

Professional methods of influencing insects

When deciding what to do if bedbugs are infested, special and most effective means are considered:

hot fog: with the help of equipment, a fine suspension is released, and the size of the microparticles is so small that a fog effect is created; the insecticide does not settle for a long time;
Cold fog: the particle size of the substance is slightly larger, but the poison still manages to poison parasites through the respiratory tract, then settles on surfaces.

Hot steam treatment of furniture

Modern chemicals

Fighting parasites using such means is considered the most effective. Household preparations are used at home, in the country, in the dorm:

aerosol Raid: contains poisons of the pyrethroid class, they affect the nervous system of insects, the poison reaches the chitinous membrane;
Executioner – microencapsulated emulsion, operating principle – contact;
Fufanon (contains malathion), the treatment result is the same as with other products: the parasites gradually die, but you can completely get rid of them after a few weeks, when the larvae appear from the eggs;

Tetrix is a professional concentrated product that negatively affects the nervous system of pests, is a universal remedy - it kills various insects;
Combat aerosol - contains insecticides (imiprotrin, cyphenothrin), which affect bedbugs through the chitinous membrane and respiratory tract (if the parasite ends up where the substance is sprayed, because the particles are too large, they quickly settle on surfaces).

Remedies for bedbugs

How to avoid bringing bedbugs from an infested apartment?

If you often travel and go on business trips, living for several days in rented apartments or hotels, then when you move in, you should immediately bring your things into the bathroom. Blood-sucking parasites do not live there and will not be able to get into the suitcase. It is advisable to inspect the rest of the room for traces of bedbugs.

If they are found, treat everything with any insect repellent (Raid, Raptor, etc.).

In a dangerous apartment, it is advisable to leave bags with things locked. If you use your own bed linen, it is advisable to wash it at high temperature before leaving or pack it separately in a sealed bag so that it can be processed at home.

If you have doubts about the cleanliness of a room where you have to enter for a short time, you should refrain from sitting on upholstered furniture.

Reviews

Marina, 32 years old, south. Moscow

I like the professional treatment method - all the work was completed in 1 day, after which there were no insects in the house.

Varvara, 28 years old, Tambov

I found bedbugs in my bed (on the mattress) when I was changing the sheets at my grandmother's house. It turned out that they had been living here for a long time, and she didn’t even try to fight. I had to do the cleaning first, then I treated the room with Kombat aerosol. I also laid out cotton pads soaked in ammonia everywhere. That helped.

Irina, 24 years old, Tula

I tried to remove insects from myself, it seemed to work. I didn’t see any more traces of them. But I found out that the parasites now live with neighbors, which means they could soon return to me again. I decided to renew the coverings on the floor and walls to close all the cracks, and also wash the floor with vinegar.

Bugs in the closet

How do bedbugs spread?

Bedbugs reproduce very quickly. As soon as one female gets inside the house, the parasites begin to spread at an incredible speed . The female bedbug can store fertilized eggs for up to several months, waiting for favorable conditions to lay larvae.

Since newborn bedbugs are ready to reproduce within a month, the population grows to large sizes very quickly. Bedbugs occupy furniture, hide under the mattress in the bed, under the baseboards.

These insects lay eggs all year round. Unfavorable conditions, cold or chemicals stop this process, but if the situation returns to normal, the bedbugs will begin to reproduce again.

Expert advice

Marinina Evgenia Vitalievna

Entomologist, researcher. Work experience 16 years.

Ask a Question

• when treating a room, you need to remember that these insects are carriers of diseases that are transmitted from person to person, in order not to introduce an infection, you need to avoid direct contact with the blood from the body of a dead bug (if it was crushed), which also managed to receive a portion of food, the biological substance can get on damaged human skin; • the success of the fight against parasites is an integrated approach: it is necessary to prevent the appearance of new pests, for which they eliminate all the cracks in the house, close the ventilation, prepare the room, use different types of insecticides, alternate them with a break (at least 2 weeks between treatment procedures); • re-treatment can be avoided when using the hot and cold fog method or drugs with prolonged action - in this case, the larvae will be poisoned immediately upon emerging from the eggs, since the poison retains its properties for a long time.

How to understand that bedbugs have appeared?

The fact that bedbugs have appeared in your home should be treated very carefully. The main and most noticeable signs that these harmful insects have appeared in the apartment include the following:

the presence of a characteristic odor, quite sharp and easily perceptible. It is often compared to the aroma of cognac, only spoiled;
detection of blood drops on bed linen. They become a consequence of the death of parasites as a result of human movements during sleep;
identifying bite marks on the residents’ bodies. Usually their number is very large. Moreover, the wounds are arranged in a row;
detection of traces of the vital activity of insects that appeared in the apartment. These may be dark spots or remnants of chitinous cover.

In addition to the signs listed above, it is quite possible to detect bedbugs, their nests, eggs and larvae in the insect’s favorite habitat. This is where they start and appear first. We are talking about the following secluded corners of a person’s home:

a person's sleeping place. We are talking about a bed, a sofa or a folding chair and whatever is located in the immediate vicinity. First, insects appear from the bottom of the furniture frame, and then they appear in the folds and seams of bedding and upholstery;
clothing and bedding stored in closets, wardrobes, other types of furniture, closets or other similar premises;
interior and decoration items. Parasites often appear in places where wallpaper has come off or under baseboards, in curtains and other textiles, and in paintings, especially on the back side;
various communications. Parasites especially often appear in everything related to the power supply system - sockets, switches, cable ducts, etc.

Feedback from our readers:

“My husband and I went on vacation and brought with us, apparently with our things, bedbugs. We thought we’d poison him and be done with it. No such luck... It seems to me that they multiply at the speed of light!!! We'll poison them, they'll quiet down, then again. In general, until we ordered professional extermination of bedbugs, we couldn’t get rid of them with anything. What a scourge, these bugs!!!”

Irina, Saratov

Also, these parasitic insects may well get into your home, for example, with a team of workers who are making beautiful repairs. Or simply with a friend who lives in an infected home and who came to you. Quite by accident, huddled in a fold of clothing or a bag, pests are capable of migrating over considerable distances. Feedback from our readers: “We decided to give our daughter a wedding gift - to renovate her apartment. So that the newlyweds feel comfortable in a separate nest. How, after renovations, these blood-sucking bugs appeared in my daughter’s apartment! So, along with the repairs, our team also brought “new guests”...

Alexander, Tula

It is unlikely, but still such cases are known when parasites enter a home with domestic animals, attaching themselves to their fur. Also, if you live in a private house, not far from a poultry farm or chicken coop, then parasites can simply crawl from the birds into your house!

How to destroy?

If bedbugs do come from somewhere, or at least there are suspicions of their presence in the apartment, then the fight can be carried out in different ways. The most common and accessible means are industrial aerosols. But sometimes their use is impossible for some reason and you have to use ancient folk methods or resort to the services of professionals.

Traditional methods of controlling and preventing bedbug infestation at home

Having found out why bedbugs appear in the house, we will figure out how to deal with them without risk to household members and pets. Folk remedies are considered gentle. They are also recommended to be used as preventive measures for re-infection of premises. Therefore, devote time not only to finding out where bedbugs come from in your apartment, but also how to get rid of insects. There are several means:

spread plants with a specific smell in the infected room (the entire apartment, if parasites are found, at least in one room) - chamomile, calamus, wormwood, tansy, wild rosemary, etc. These odorous herbs will not kill the “uninvited guest”, but will prevent its appearance. Fresh bouquets will relieve household members of the need to wonder where bedbugs come from in an apartment where there are no pets;
wash floors and wipe dust in the apartment with infusions of the above herbs. Wet cleaning with decoctions 2-3 times a week will eliminate the need to solve the problem of how bedbugs appear in the house after disinfection;
When wet cleaning, wipe the floor, furniture, baseboards and other comfort zones of parasites with vinegar, ammonia, acetone, mothballs or kerosene. It doesn’t matter why bedbugs appear in residential areas, it is important how to effectively and safely deal with them. And the listed products are the strongest repellers of bloodsuckers, which can be bought inexpensively in a specialized store;
Place bouquets of fragrant herbs in the ventilation holes of the rooms. Knowing where bedbugs come from in residential areas, these are the routes of entry that should be protected.

Folk remedies are effective for small populations of blood-sucking insects and as preventive measures. They are safe for both households and pets, but not as an effective measure. If you find bedbugs in your apartment, the reasons for which are described above, and you want to get rid of them quickly, you need serious measures. Either professional exterminators or ready-made industrial preparations will help here. Household insecticides will kill bedbugs in a house where they would not have come from - how to get rid of “uninvited guests”, and with what drugs?

Household products

Household chemicals include preparations with cypermethrin and related substances, karbofos, and other pesticides intended for treating residential premises. When choosing, you need to pay attention to what species the drug is recommended for: it is better to poison bedbugs with means for crawling parasites.

Among the available household chemicals, the most effective are:

Aerosols. Preparations such as Raptor, Raid, Combat Dichlorvos and the like are specially designed to combat various insects. The peculiarity of the application - spraying - allows microdroplets to penetrate even the narrowest cracks, overtaking bloodsuckers even in their shelters. After treatment, parasites sometimes begin to crawl out in large numbers into open areas.
Solid drugs. Used in 2 varieties: chalk and powder for dusting. Chalk (Mashenka, Brownie, etc.) allows you to create a toxic barrier, upon crossing which the insect will already be poisoned. Returning to the colony, the bug will bring poison to the shelter, contributing to the death of the larvae. The chalk will not affect the eggs, but the bugs will stop appearing, because they will die at the first contact with the chalk strip. Powders are used to pollinate any surfaces inside and outside furniture.
Solutions. Chemical solutions are prepared strictly according to the instructions. You can use garden preparations (FAS, Karbofos, Fufanon, etc.) and special household products (Executioner, Bedbug beetle, etc.). Spray with solutions and moisten the places where traces of bedbugs are found. The drugs exhibit toxicity within several days or weeks, and treatment is repeated if necessary.
Gels. The thick form contributes to the long-term preservation of the toxic mark on wooden surfaces. But household gels (Foxide, Get, etc.) stain textile surfaces and have a limited range of applications.

Professional preparations

Among the professional preparations intended for disinfestation are highly concentrated solutions based on the same toxic substances as household chemicals. You can use them yourself, using only the dosages recommended by the manufacturer for preparing the working solution.

Treatment is carried out using spray bottles or garden sprayers, observing safety precautions (protecting the mouth and nose from inhaling the spray).

Products such as Cifox, Sinuzan, Forsyth, etc. should not be purchased in large packages. For 1 liter of solution, 2-5 mg of emulsion is enough, so for home needs it is enough to purchase a package of 50-100 ml. During disinsection, remove everyone who is not involved in the work from the premises for 5-6 hours. After treatment, the apartment must be ventilated to remove odors and toxic fumes.

Where do bedbugs hide and how do they live?

Insects most often choose beds, sofas and adjacent places as their permanent place of residence. To be in close proximity to your victim. Parasites like to hide under peeling wallpaper, baseboards, wall and floor carpets, in the folds of furniture upholstery, mattresses, and in the cracks of furniture frames. Less commonly found:

in sockets;
in various household equipment;
in PC system units;
in shoes and clothes that have not been used for some time.

The most active time for bedbugs is night, which is the main feeding time. But they may well attack a person in the morning or at other times when the person is in bed. So we can say that their life routine is largely determined by the owner’s regime.

The main signal about the appearance of a person for bedbugs is his smell and the warmth emanating from the body. In addition, bedbugs capture the carbon dioxide they exhale. The mechanism of operation of individual parasite traps is based on this.

The blood-sucking apparatus of a bug has two tubes. With one of them, the parasite pierces the skin and injects anticoagulants and painkillers into it, which prevent the blood from clotting and the victim from waking up from the bite. Blood is sucked out through the second tube.

It takes 3-10 minutes for the bug to saturate. When the effect of the analgesics wears off, the person bitten begins to feel a painful itch. The skin turns red under the influence of allergens, blisters appear at the site of the bites, which can bleed.

Waking up, a person discovers one or more itchy chains of red spots on the skin - bite marks. If he encounters bedbugs for the first time, he may not understand that this is the result of the activity of parasites, and blame the pimples on mosquitoes or an allergy from something eaten the day before. But sooner or later the real culprit is identified. Moreover, bedbugs reproduce very quickly, and it becomes impossible not to notice their presence no matter how hard you try.

What is the fastest way to get rid of blood-sucking parasites?

There are many methods of controlling insects that differ in efficiency and labor intensity. The following can be mentioned as the main ones.

Modern effective insecticides in various forms - sprays, crayons, powders, solutions. These are products such as Delta Zone, Xulat Micro, Executioner, Get, etc. If certain rules are followed, their use helps get rid of blood-sucking insects quickly and effectively.
High temperatures - hot steam and water, hair dryers, which are used to treat parasite nests. The disadvantage of this method is that it is not safe for furniture and that it is advisable to use it only against parasite nests. And it is no different in efficiency. True, specialized companies have equipment that allows them to heat the entire room to a temperature that is lethal for insects.
Folk remedies in the form of kerosene, denatured alcohol, turpentine, vinegar, as well as some antiparasitic odorous herbs. As for liquids, it is advisable to use them only in cases of emergency due to the strong odor, fire hazard and limited effectiveness. Herbs can be used as a repellent by placing them under your bed or sofa. But their validity period is short due to the rapid evaporation of the odor.
Traps. These can be either homemade devices, such as the adhesive tape described above, or factory-made devices.

Compared to all the methods described above, the most effective way to get rid of blood-sucking parasites is to contact a private or public organization specializing in the fight against synanthropic insects. This will require certain expenses, but it is guaranteed to get rid of insects without any hassle. As a rule, in contracts concluded with customers, professional exterminators provide for free re-treatment if the first one was not entirely successful.

Features of insect life

A bedbug is an arthropod, a blood-sucking insect. Body size varies from 3 to 8.5 mm. The more the bloodsucker feeds, the larger it becomes. The human bed is its favorite habitat, for which it received the name “bed”. The body shape is wide and flattened, making it difficult to crush the insect and it moves easily in tissue folds. Features of life:

Female and male individuals, as well as bedbug larvae, feed on human blood and are nocturnal, attacking from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m.
In the morning they hide in clothes, a mattress, climb into books, under wallpaper and baseboards. When they are very hungry, they go hunting during the day, but this happens extremely rarely.
Parasites run fast. One adult is capable of covering 1 meter in 1 minute. They make their way into neighboring rooms along the walls or through ventilation systems.
They find shelter and prey using their sense of smell, which is well developed. They prefer to hide in dressing gowns and other clothes that the victim most often wears.
Bed bugs feed once every 7 days. In this case, the larva drinks 1 mg of blood in one bite, an adult – 7 mg. In addition to humans, parasites are capable of attacking domestic animals and birds.
Fertilization of the female occurs through traumatic insemination. To introduce the seed, the male pierces the female's abdomen with the genital organ. After 2 weeks, she begins to lay 5 eggs daily. Over a lifetime, up to 500 pieces are produced.
A month later, a larva emerges from the egg. If the conditions for development are unsuitable, the birth process is delayed up to 3 months. For further growth, the larva requires food, in search of which it sets out immediately after birth.
After 30 days, new individuals will be able to reproduce, so the colony of insects quickly grows, capturing new places.
Bedbugs cannot fly because they do not have developed wings. They can't jump either.

Bedbug saliva contains painkillers, so their bites are painless. Parasites do not tolerate infectious diseases, so they are considered not dangerous to humans. Those who are prone to allergies should be wary. The bite sites swell, then itchy blisters appear.

How to detect furniture bugs?

The main sign of bedbugs appearing in the house is a sheet stained with small blood spots and the presence of itchy bites on the body. It is difficult to detect an insect during the day; bedbugs most often come out of their hiding places at night, when the victim is lying in bed. But individuals living in furniture can bite a calmly lying or sitting person even during the day.

The main signs of the presence of bedbugs in an apartment.

The bite is not too sensitive, but the itching often interrupts a person's night's sleep. In the morning, characteristic bite marks can be found on the body: a chain of several bloody puncture points. Sometimes you can find a crushed dead insect on the bed.

An indirect sign of the presence of bedbugs is an unpleasant odor reminiscent of almonds (or cognac aroma). In the folds of the mattress and on the light upholstery of the sofa, one can also see dark dots left by several individuals hiding there before the cleaning began. If there is at least one similar sign, it is worth looking for the habitats of parasites and starting to destroy them.

Where are they hiding?

Particular attention should be paid to the furniture on which home owners sleep or often sit: sofas, armchairs, beds, etc. Bedbugs do not move long distances in search of victims, and you need to look for them near those places where bite marks or blood are most often found spots.

Need to inspect:

seams and decorative folds on upholstered furniture;
joints of backrests and seats;
gaps between the seat and armrest;
the underside of the mattress on the bed, seats and pillows on the sofa and similar places;
removable covers on furniture cushions;
in a sofa bed with drawers for linen - slots in the lower compartment, a soft base and a wooden frame for the pull-out part (bugs rarely live in metal parts);
on a wooden bed - all the joints of its frame.

Favorite habitats of bed bugs in the apartment.

Dark spots on fabric or wood - traces of excrement - can help in detecting bedbugs. They are located in large numbers around the crack where insects hide. You can also see larvae in the seams of upholstered furniture - small light grains about 2 mm long. During growth, the larvae change their shell several times, shedding the old cover. The presence of dry shells will also help to detect a bedbug colony - they resemble dead bugs.