Lifespan of a bedbug - how long do they live without food (food), human blood in an empty apartment

Feeding features of bedbugs as a species. Photo of bed bugs during a bite

Bed parasites are also called furniture parasites, linen parasites, house parasites, apartment parasites (depending on where the insects were found: on clothes, inside furniture). They have the opportunity to consume only liquid food, since the oral apparatus is of the piercing-sucking type. Blood enters the body through a proboscis-like outgrowth. At its end there is a sharp needle that pierces the outer skin.

In a calm state, the proboscis is pressed against the lower part of the body, where nature provides a recess for this. There are 2 channels inside the proboscis: through one of them a substance is delivered that anesthetizes the bite, the person does not feel anything; according to the second, biological fluid enters the parasite’s body, and here, with the participation of enzymes, the process of digesting food begins. External signs of bites may vary, depending on the degree of sensitivity:

• a path of red spots - the bug makes several punctures, constantly moving along the outer integument;
• itching;
• swelling;
• painful sensations.

There is often a red dot in the center - dried human blood.

Some people do not have a reaction to a bite in the form of skin hyperemia, but in children, on the contrary, the symptoms most often manifest themselves more intensely.

The bug is preparing to bite

Bedbugs during a bite

Bedbug after satisfying hunger

Favorable living conditions for bedbugs

The lifespan of a bed bug largely depends on the conditions in which it lives. The most important factors are:

• availability of food;
• temperature;
• humidity.

As for nutrition, people living in a house favored by insects provide them with constant access to blood. The optimal temperature is about +25… +28⁰С. As for humidity, bedbugs live longest at 45 - 55%.

Bedbug infestation

How long does a bedbug live in a house?

The lifespan of a parasite is influenced by many factors. For this reason, it is impossible to definitively answer the question of how long bedbugs live. The life cycle can be 10-18 months.

The minimum period is allotted when parasites live in a hot microclimate, then the development of all processes is accelerated.

Insects last the longest when they have to go through periods of diapause (similar to suspended animation). But the average lifespan of a bedbug in a house is noted to be 12-14 months. They can exist for so long under the most suitable conditions.

Factors influencing the lifespan of bed parasites

First of all, nutritional intensity has an impact. When furniture bugs regularly receive a sufficient amount of blood, they develop normally. In the absence of food, there are delays in the development of their body. While the parasite is in the diapause phase, it does not feed or mate. Other parameters that influence parasites:

• air humidity: the lower the value of this parameter (less than 40), the faster the egg clutches dry out, but the larvae and adults do not die, because they receive moisture from food;
• ambient temperature: when the average daily value decreases, all body functions are inhibited, which increases the lifespan of pests.

Bed bugs cannot tolerate extremely high or low temperatures

How long do larvae of bed parasites live under normal and extreme conditions?

Under normal environmental conditions, the average duration of the development period of a young individual can be 1.5 months. The warmer the microclimate, the faster the parasites develop. If the air is cool, the duration of the period during which the larval body is formed increases to 3 months. Such changes occur if the air temperature drops to +20°C and continues to fall. As a result, the bed bug enters the adult phase much later.

Acceleration of development is noted when it gets hot. The temperature rises to +30°C and continues to increase.

The larva, in the middle of this stage or closer to its completion, turns into a nymph (a young individual that is almost ready to move on to the next phase - the adult). The developmental features of such an insect are the same in both cases. With an increase/decrease in temperature, the nymph’s body behaves differently. The duration of insect development at this stage is several weeks.

The size of an adult bedbug can reach up to 8 mm

How long does it take for bedbug embryos to develop inside an egg?

After mating, the female needs a portion of blood to lay a clutch. This allows you to lay the foundation for the formation of an embryo, the shell of an egg, since the biological fluid contains many useful substances. The eggs remain in the female's body for 3-4 days. She then deposits them in hidden areas. The average duration of offspring development at this stage is 1 week. The larvae appear after 5-6 days, when the temperature has increased significantly. If, on the contrary, it becomes cool, the embryos develop more slowly. Then the larvae emerge from the eggs after 7-17 days.

How long do bedbugs live without food?

Entomologist Bakota conducted a study in 1914 that showed that, deprived of the ability to feed on blood, bedbugs can live on average four and a half months.

Modern scientists, tackling a similar issue, presented different results. Thus, in 2011, Andrea Polanco’s study on the survival rate of bed bugs was published in the journal Insects. The scientist studied the resistance of parasites to hunger, taking into account their sensitivity to insecticides, which was unknown to entomologists of the first half of the twentieth century.

The lifespan of bedbugs without food depends on what stage of development they are at.

suspended animation of bedbugs

Left without food, the insect begins to conserve its resources. Processes in the body are slowed down and functions are reduced. The bug goes into an intermediate state between suspended animation and deep sleep (hibernation). The insect is still alive, but appears lifeless. His body loses its rich color and becomes flat.

Effect of temperature and humidity

The life of bed bugs depends on external factors. By adjusting the temperature in the house, you can influence their activity and reproduction. Thus, in rooms with zero temperature, processes in the body of insects slow down. When the mark on the thermometer reaches -17°C, the bugs will live for a day, but after that they will die. At a temperature of -7°C, insect eggs remain viable for one and a half months.

Extreme heat is just as destructive to parasites as frost. At a temperature of +45°C, bedbug larvae will die in less than an hour. If you create conditions in which the air warms up to +70°C, the insects will die instantly.

For bedbugs to live comfortably, the humidity in the room should range from 40% to 60%. In dry air, insect eggs dry out, and in excessive humidity they become covered with fungus.

IMPORTANT! Water and hot air will help get rid of annoying insects. Treat furniture with boiling water and wash contaminated laundry at a temperature of at least 90°C. A steam generator is another reliable and safe assistant in the fight against parasites.

Pesticide resistance

The table showing the survival time of bedbugs without food shows a fairly wide range of time. This is due to the fact that the scientist studied bugs from several cultures. Of these, two are sensitive to modern chemical insect repellents, and the other two are resistant.

Ethnologists artificially created the first group of parasites in laboratories, and the second group was collected in residential hotels and apartments. After the experiments, it turned out that sensitivity to chemicals is directly related to the life expectancy of bedbugs deprived of food:

1. Insects that are resistant to chemicals live without food for 11 to 80 days.
2. Parasites that are sensitive to pesticides can survive without blood for 27 to 143 days.

Thus, insects familiar with insecticides die without blood two to three times faster than their artificially created counterparts. According to scientists, those bedbugs that are resistant to chemicals spend most of their energy on detoxification. As a result, there are far fewer resources available for survival and restoration than for parasites with high sensitivity to pesticides.

How long can bed parasites survive without food?

People are not always at home. Sometimes they travel, go on business trips, visit friends with an overnight stay. Then the parasites are deprived of food. It is important to find out how long a bed bug lives without food.

This will help you understand whether you should expect their death during the owner’s absence.

Due to lack of food, bedbugs begin to attack people

Anabiosis as a means of survival without food

This period is called diapause. At this stage, the parasites’ body forcibly inhibits metabolism, which reduces the need for food. For many pests, this period is mandatory and is associated with a decrease in daylight hours. However, optional diapause is also noted.

In this case, the parasite enters a phase similar to suspended animation, involuntarily, when it finds itself in unsuitable conditions, and is also deprived of a food source.

How long do bedbugs live without human blood?

The duration of the diapause period can be 1 year. Without human blood, insects remain until another food source is nearby: an animal, birds. However, indoors at home, the likelihood of this happening is low. The parasites enter the diapause phase in the second week of the hunger strike. At the same time, their body dries out and becomes even flatter. It can be assumed that the pests have died.

Without food, they remain in this state for a long time, but only until a person appears nearby.

If a bug starves for a long time, the body becomes flat

Adult bed bug

How long can bedbugs live in an empty apartment?

When people leave, the parasites look for a way to survive. They are waiting for a warm-blooded creature to appear. However, no one will be able to enter a closed apartment without people. This means that insects have no choice but to maintain viability at a minimum level to save resources. If the premises are residential, then the person will return sooner or later, and after a short period of time. Typically, the period of starvation of the bedbug population does not drag on in this case - it lasts 1-3 weeks.

But pests are able to remain without food much longer in an empty apartment.

What do bedbugs eat and how long can they live without human blood?

Next you will learn:

• What do bedbugs eat and is blood really their only source of food?
• How long can bed bugs live without bleeding and will they die if they leave the apartment for several months?
• Do bedbugs bite domestic animals (cats, dogs) and why chicken coops are sometimes simply infested with these parasites;
• You will also find out whether bed bugs live in the wild and whether you can accidentally pick them up somewhere...

Bedbug bites are a kind of paradox of modern civilization. These parasites, which plagued people back in stone caves, today easily adapt to the conditions of apartments with European-quality renovation and continue to reproduce successfully, despite all the achievements of the chemical industry producing insecticidal preparations.

A huge number of apartments and houses in Russia, the USA, Great Britain, China, in developed and developing countries are simply infested with bedbugs (the problem is especially acute in small hostels, through which a significant flow of people of middle and low income passes).

But why are these bloodsuckers so difficult to fight? After all, it would seem that bed bugs feed on human blood, which means it’s enough to leave the apartment for a couple of weeks, and that’s it! The parasites will die, so to speak, of starvation - simply for lack of a food source.

However, practice shows that even if you leave a room infested with bedbugs for six months, often not the entire population of parasites dies: the surviving individuals begin to bite people again and actively reproduce.

But how does this happen? What have the bugs been eating all these months, and do they really only feed on human blood? Are they going into suspended animation? Let's figure it out together...

How long can bed parasites live after treatment with toxic agents?

The final result of disinfestation depends on how thoroughly the spraying was carried out. In addition, the dose of the toxic substance plays a role.

The speed of spread of the poison is also taken into account.

If the cold or hot fog method is used, the insecticide will cover all surfaces within the first few minutes. After treatment, most of the insects will die within a few hours. At the same time, they are not able to eat, because the nervous system is affected. If you are wondering how long bedbugs live without food, you should take into account that irreversible changes occur in the body, which also affects the rate of death.

After baiting, some of the parasites will die later, since in this case the bedbugs will not receive a dose of poison immediately, but as soon as they get out of the shelter. After disinfestation, more insects remain if mistakes were made. The norm is the periodic appearance of bedbugs within 30 days after spraying the insecticide.

Disinsection against insects

What difficulties arise that do not allow you to quickly destroy the bug?

Nature provides effective protection in the form of immunity, which makes it possible to resist fungi that develop on chitinous integuments and bacterial infections (infection occurs in the area where tissues are injured during traumatic insemination of the female). The chitinous shell also allows you to avoid many troubles. It is strong and tough.

In a hungry state, the parasite is difficult to crush.

In addition, insects have the ability to resist the effects of poison. Sometimes, after treatment with SES preparations, insects are not left without food and continue to cause harm - they bite humans, drink blood. This is due to resistance to poisons of some species. If you use the same drug often, the parasites will stop responding to it.

Bedbug bites on a child's legs

How long can bed bugs live after being treated with insecticides?

The best and most effective means for killing bed bugs are insecticides. After disinsection, the complete death of parasites and their offspring should be carefully monitored.

1. An adult insect caught in the epicenter of disinfestation dies within half an hour.
2. A few days after the baiting, the hiding individuals go out hunting and come into contact with the chemical solution and die within one day.
3. The eggs laid may continue to live for some time and protect unhatched parasites. It is best to influence them with high temperature, from which they die instantly.

If all breeding sites are found and disinfestation is carried out correctly, in compliance with all requirements and recommendations, then the insects will completely disappear in two weeks and will not appear again.

Question-answer section

To understand how long bedbugs live without human blood, you need to find out how their body works and whether there are other sources of food. If you have any questions while studying the information, you can ask them to a specialist in the field of entomology, Irina Igorevna Petrova (20 years of experience).

Can bedbugs live without air?

Petrova Irina Igorevna

Entomologist with 24 years of experience

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“These are hardy insects, they adapt well to any conditions. However, to save resources, the body moves to the diapause phase, when there is minimal oxygen consumption. Insects will not survive completely permanently without air.”

Does a bug need water to live and eat?

Petrova Irina Igorevna

Entomologist with 24 years of experience

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“Parasites do not need fluids. Their outer coverings are moistened quite well, and bedbugs do not need to drink to survive. Insects are able to survive without water. They receive liquid food, which satisfies several needs of the body at once. Among them is the need for moisture.”

How long do bedbugs live under ideal living conditions?

Petrova Irina Igorevna

Entomologist with 24 years of experience

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“If we consider the most suitable environmental parameters, insects can live in such a room for 12 months (1 year). The slightest deviation and the reverse process will occur. The lifespan of insects will decrease or increase. You can independently regulate environmental parameters to influence pests.”

Unlike cockroaches, bedbugs can exist without water.

How long do bedbugs hibernate?

Petrova Irina Igorevna

Entomologist with 24 years of experience

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“If food suddenly disappears, the temperature drops, insects go into a state of diapause. It is believed that they do not come out of “hibernation” for a year, but provided that the person never appears. Parasites cannot live autonomously indefinitely; they die when the specified period ends.”

Lifespan of bedbugs in different conditions

How long bedbugs live is affected not only by the presence/absence of food, but also by the ambient temperature. True, here too the insect shows abilities on the verge of understanding, withstanding anomalous values: | Read about freezing out bedbugs...

• -15°С -20°С – a day of life without loss of health.
• Up to +45°C – survival rate of up to 80% of individuals.
• -25°C and below – cause death during prolonged freezing.
• -25°C and below – cause death during prolonged freezing.
• +60°C -30°C – preservation of the viability of the egg shell.

Given the parasite's resistance to frost, it is preferable to fight it with boiling water. Still, scalding bloodsucker nests is easier than leaving an apartment with the windows wide open in the bitter cold for several days or taking all the furniture and utensils out into the yard. Moreover, embryos are able to survive in such extreme conditions.

Extreme conditions under which bedbugs cannot survive

Factors that are detrimental to such insects are:

• lack of food for more than 1 year;
• the air temperature is below -17°C, it is impossible to create such conditions in an apartment, they only note the possibility of exposure to hot steam on the nest;
• after careful treatment, the parasite can exist, but not for long, and it dies not because it was without human blood, but because of paralysis of the body.

Chemical exposure. Effective means of disposal

To understand how long bedbugs live without food after treatment, you need to take into account the type of poison. Most products are characterized by a prolonged action, retaining their properties for several weeks/months. Pests will not be able to live under such conditions, because sooner or later they will receive a dose of poison. Drugs with the highest effectiveness:

• Combat: a two-component product, one of the insecticides enhances the effect of the other, and both of them affect the nervous system of the bug;
• Dichlorvos: the drug contains pyrethroids (the amount and type of substance varies, depending on the type of product), after contact with the outer integument, the poison penetrates the body, disrupts the process of transmission of nerve impulses, against the background of this, bedbugs lose control over their body;
• Karbofos: the drug contains an organophosphorus substance, acts on the body in a similar way as pyrethroids - it affects the nervous system, as a result, bedbugs no longer feed, do not reproduce, move with difficulty, cannot get onto the bed where people sleep, and their usual food becomes inaccessible to parasites.

Effective chemicals for bedbugs

Methods of influencing adults and their larvae. Effect of temperatures

Consider methods based on the use of a source of heat or cold:

• boiling - used to kill pests on linen, but it is important to take into account the properties of the fabric;
• machine wash, set the program to +60°C or +90°C;
• ironing, set the highest temperature; you can iron things that can withstand exposure to hot steam;
• freezing - a wardrobe item, bed linen is left in the freezer or taken outside (in winter), the recommended temperature is below -17°C;
• using a steam generator or steamer, you can use a hairdryer; these devices treat surfaces, but it is recommended to hold them on each area for several minutes, since parasites do not always die instantly.

Bedbugs die when treated with steam

Video tip (photo + video): the life of bedbugs and humans, how to shorten the life of a bedbug if it is infested in an apartment

How does ambient temperature affect insects?

Starvation of parasites under various conditions has been studied by scientists for a long time. Disparate results were noted:

• Kemper's research (1930) - at a temperature of +20-22 ° C and an average humidity of 40%, 1-2 stage larvae live 80-83 days, adults - 125-140 days.
• Baycott's achievements (1914) - in a room without heating, bedbugs of different ages live up to 18 months.
• Johnson's indicators (1940) - female bloodsuckers are able to tolerate the absence of a food source for up to one and a half years. No other data has been preserved.

Andrea Polanco's latest research was carried out at a temperature of 26 ° C and 70% humidity. The bugs lasted 16 months.

It is obvious that the massive use of insecticidal preparations and comfortable apartment conditions have made a number of changes in the survival time of bed bugs. According to the latest data, parasites are able to survive without a constant source of food for more than a year.

When the air temperature drops below 15 °C, insects hibernate if there are no people in the room for a long time. Smelling the fresh smell of blood, they wake up and begin to function with the same intensity.

Reviews

Marina, 32 years old, Omsk

I once had to treat my apartment for bedbugs, but at first I thought that they had died a long time ago, because no one had been home for 2 months. I found out about the infestation of the apartment just before leaving, I decided that this was a rare stroke of luck, and I could at the same time starve the pests to death. But it didn’t work out: the bites began to appear the next morning after my return.

Inga, 39 years old, Saratov

I have a steam generator at home; I bought it for household needs several years ago. I read that you can kill insects this way. I tried it and it worked: the bedbugs died right before my eyes, I directed a stream of steam at their nests, and also treated surrounding surfaces and objects.

Olga, 43 years old, St. Petersburg

I didn’t know how long the bug lived in the apartment; after the pest control we went on vacation. The insects were without people all this time (in hibernation, as I later found out). Upon arrival, they attacked my husband and me as if they had not eaten for many years. There were a lot of bites this morning.

Bedbugs actively attack at night

Bed bugs: who are they?

Bedbugs belong to the order Hemiptera. These are insects in which part of the front wings have become leathery. Among 40 thousand species, about 100 are synanthropic parasites of humans and warm-blooded animals. The bed bug species Cimex Lectularius is the most common bed bug species in temperate climates. In tropical latitudes, people suffer from bites from the species Cimex hemipterus. Its habitat is Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. Parasites are cosmopolitan, they are found in backward villages and large cities.

In the history of interaction between parasites and humans, there are many interesting facts about bed bugs:

• The appearance of insects does not depend on the sanitary condition of the premises; most often they are found in residential buildings, hotels and dormitories. They can live in boarding houses, offices, and medical institutions.
• The ancient Roman writer Pliny believed that a parasite bite could help cure snake venom and ear infections.
• In Europe, bed bugs appeared in the Middle Ages: Germany - 11th century, England - 13th century. They came to America with settlers in the 16th century. In Central Asia, the parasite was recorded only in the 19th century.
• Not all members of the bed bug family live in apartments; some species prefer tree hollows, bird nests, and bat habitats.
• Arthropods are active at night, peaking at 3-8 hours. But hungry individuals bite during the day.
• The lifespan of adults is 12-14 months. High temperature accelerates processes in their body and shortens the period by 2 months.
• A female bedbug only needs one fertilization to lay eggs throughout her life. Its fertility is 250-500 pieces.
• Insect reproduction occurs through traumatic insemination. To inject sperm, the male pierces the female's abdomen. He also attacks other males.
• In Russia, in parallel with the destruction of parasites with boiling water and steam, the removal of insects using spells was practiced.

Expert advice

Marinina Evgeniya Igorevna, entomologist, work experience – 16 years:

Marinina Evgenia Vitalievna

Entomologist, researcher. Work experience 16 years.

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• the cycle of a bug under favorable conditions is 1 year, but if there was a break during development (diapause phase), then the formation of offspring and the existence of adults will continue exactly as long as the parasite was in the diapause phase; • in order not to hope for the release of the pest naturally (by choice or due to starvation), you need to remember that diapause is the response of bedbugs to any changes around (they live without air, food, water, in heat and cold); • you can destroy parasites when they are in a state similar to suspended animation using boiling water or hot steam, it is important that the temperature is above +100°C, then the insects will die quickly.

Survival in bad conditions

The ability of bedbugs to easily adapt to the lack of food and uncomfortable temperatures is truly unique. For example, it is enough for them to eat about 20-30 times during the year in order to grow and reproduce normally. After 2 weeks without food, all processes in his body slow down, growth, molting, and egg formation stop.

The body literally dries out and turns into a thin shell, in which it is difficult to suspect the presence of life. A bug can live without blood in this mummified form for up to a year, and at the first opportunity it comes to life, drinks blood and is immediately restored to its original state.

When there is an acute shortage of food, these insects are able to travel long distances and move to other rooms through cracks in ceilings, staircases and ventilation systems.

If there is any domestic animal left in the apartment, the parasites will attack it; in their absence, the blood of any warm-blooded animal, even birds and mice, is used.

In poor conditions, the population decreases significantly after a few months, but when a person returns to housing, it is restored literally in 30-100 days. Bedbugs are most active at temperatures around 30°C; normal room conditions are also favorable for their development. The temperature range in which bedbugs can develop is quite wide: from 10 to 40°C. This miracle insect is capable of surviving even in frost.

At -17°C, bedbugs can live for almost a day. But heat above 45°C has a detrimental effect on them. That is why people used to prefer to scald bedbugs with boiling water rather than freeze them out - this way you can get rid of them much faster.

Based on the information about how long bedbugs live without food and warmth, we can conclude that it will not be possible to get rid of bedbugs by leaving your home. Freezing a room for more than a day is also a difficult task. You can fight these insects using physical methods by treating their nests with steam or exposing infected furniture to the bitter cold.

But after treatment with special means, the life expectancy of poisoned bedbugs ranges from a minute to a couple of hours. Within a day the population almost completely disappears. Unfortunately, bedbug eggs are more difficult to destroy, so you need to use long-acting poisons or repeat the treatment several times within a month.

Bedbug bites

How bedbugs bite (video)

An allergic reaction, or more precisely, an insect allergy to bedbug bites, is a reaction of a hypersensitive immune system to an insect bite that enters the bloodstream when bitten.

Most often it occurs with weak immunity and a large amount of slagging in the body, high use of chemicals in modern products, excess weight, and in general, most often with a weak body.

Allergic reactions can occur not only from the bite, but also from the chitinous skins of bedbugs that they shed.

I had one client, when my grandfather went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with an allergy, mistaking bedbug bites for hives and began to treat him, they did not establish the root cause, they said that they had eaten something, but the bugs continued to bite his grandfather, the treatment was delayed.
After that, they invited us to be treated for bedbugs, and the “allergy to bites” stopped. By the way, bedbug bites follow paths, and allergies do not have clear outlines. Bedbug bites on the arm Bedbug bites on the body Bedbug bites on the stomach

There are bedbugs in the house - will they immediately begin to multiply?

First, the parasite searches for a food source. If an insect gets into a residential building/apartment, it will attack the victim on the very first night. In the morning, bite marks will be found. At the same time, the parasites set up a nest. This allows them to start reproducing.

Rapid reproduction effect

If a number of conditions are met simultaneously:

• there is access to the person;
• there are plenty of places on the property to build a nest;
• the air temperature does not fall below +25°C;
• The humidity in the house is quite high.

Inbreeding: the secret of bedbugs' superpower to reproduce

Bed parasites are almost the only pests that can mate with close relatives. This does not lead to the degeneration of insects. On the contrary, incest does not contribute to the development of pathologies.

Can a bedbug reproduce alone?

Even if the pest itself makes its way into the territory of an uninfested room, it can begin the development of a new colony of insects. This is only possible if a female gets onto the object.

After mating once, the female lays eggs throughout her life.

Habitat of bedbugs

Human blood is what bedbugs feed on in an apartment. Therefore, the most common places where insects live are located near places where people rest and sleep:

• Sofas, armchairs, beds – in wooden bases and folds of fabric;
• Under the mattress in the bed;
• In pillows (if they find a hole in them);
• In bed linen;
• In duvets;
• In books;
• On the reverse side of carpets and rugs;
• In sockets;
• In household appliances;
• In other warm and dry places, hidden from daylight.

Most often, parasites live in the bedroom or living room. They cannot be found in the bathroom, kitchen or toilet.

People are always trying to find an effective way to kill parasites. Therefore, they need to know how long bed bugs live, where they live and whether they can come back to life

It is important in the fight against insects to know how long bedbugs live without food.

How to detect bedbugs in an apartment

Bed bugs can get into an apartment by accident on clothes or shoes, with a book brought in, a suitcase from vacation or any other thing that has been in their habitat, as well as from neighbors.

But most often, apartment owners receive such an unpleasant surprise along with furniture, often used, but sometimes new. In most cases this is a sofa or bed, sometimes a mattress.

On the very first night spent on infested furniture, you can be attacked by parasites. Itchy red spots are generally similar to mosquito spots, but have a characteristic location - they go in paths of several pieces, at a distance of about 2-5 cm from each other.

Inspection of bed linen

If suspicious bites are found on the body, you need to inspect the bed linen: when bedbugs bite, they inject a substance into the wound that prevents rapid blood clotting, so small blood spots remain on the fabric.

When examining the bed, you can also find bedbug excrement (small black-brown grains), and sometimes the crushed insects themselves. Pillowcases and duvet covers should be turned inside out to check.

How to Detect Bed Bugs in a Mattress and Bed

Even if insects and traces of their presence were not found in the bed linen, you need to carefully inspect the mattress (especially the corners and joints of the seams) and the space under it, and if the mattress has a removable cover, look inside its structure.

To check the bed, the mattress must be removed from it, and the legs, frame corners, joints of structural elements, all gaps, grooves, technological holes must be carefully inspected.

How to find bedbugs in upholstered furniture

To inspect sofas and armchairs, you need to remove soft elements and armrests, pull out linen closets and mechanisms for transforming the berth. Insects can settle in the joints of frame elements and under the upholstery, especially if the integrity of the upholstery is damaged in places and the furniture has a spring unit (in this case, there are many suitable voids inside for parasites).

Where to look for bedbugs

Bed bugs can settle in any furniture (upholstered and cabinet), as well as in books, watches, paintings, household appliances or electronics, in the floor and walls. Objects thoroughly infested with bedbugs emit a specific smell, which, as a rule, does not escape the sense of smell.

A multiplying colony infects the entire apartment, moving from place to place. To detect all parasite nests, you need:

• remove clocks, paintings and other wall elements from the walls,
• look under carpets and rugs, examine the pile itself,
• move cabinet furniture away from the walls and inspect the back walls,
• remove baseboards and sockets,
• check areas of peeling wallpaper,
• check the floor covering, inspecting the gaps, and if there is linoleum on the floor, lift it from the edges,
• inspect household appliances and electronics,
• Use a flashlight to shine a light through any suspicious cracks.

On walls, floors, bed legs and other surfaces, bedbugs leave dark dots and paths along which their paths of movement can be calculated. Accumulations of excrement can be seen near the entrances to parasite shelters.

When inspecting cabinets, you need to remove all things and especially carefully inspect the corners and joints of structural elements. Clothes and fabrics lying in piles need to be unrolled and shaken, books need to be opened and the pages examined. Household appliances and electronics should be checked internally by looking under the housing.

How to find bedbugs in an apartment

If it is not entirely clear where bedbugs are hiding, and whether they are even in the house, you can install homemade or purchased adhesive traps near the expected places of their settlement - several individuals will definitely be caught in them.

If no insects were found in the bed or mattress, they probably made a nest elsewhere in the apartment, and climb onto the bed along the footboard or headboard (these insects cannot fly). To ensure their presence, glue traps should be installed on the floor around the perimeter of the bed, and if the bed has legs, around the legs.

Another way to detect insects is to suddenly turn on the lights in the apartment in the middle of the night and inspect the bed. If you use white rather than colored bedding, insects will be much easier to spot.

If insects are found, you must immediately begin to combat them by treating with disinfectants all the places where bedbugs live, and better yet, the entire apartment.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WZOWWf0geVg%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Where do bedbugs live in an apartment?

Bedbugs live in families in nests. Therefore, if you find the habitat of household pests, it will be much easier to get rid of bedbugs.

You should start fighting bedbugs by identifying areas of their large concentration. To quickly find a shelter where bedbugs are hiding, you should arm yourself with:

• flashlight - bed bugs prefer to live in the dark and only go hunting at night,
• a screwdriver or a knife so that you can pick at the surface.

Bedbug habitats

The most popular options where bloodsuckers can settle:

1. Mattresses. The closest possible location to the food source, that is, a person. It is in them that upon detailed examination one can find small areas where adults, larvae of all ages, as well as insect eggs are concentrated. Pests live in thick seams, folds or tears in the product.
2. Pillows. Parasites love to live as close to humans as possible. It is a mistake to believe that they live only in products made from natural materials. Individuals easily adapt to new conditions, which is why they are increasingly found in layers of foam rubber or padding polyester.
3. Bed. Bedbugs will inhabit bedding due to favorable conditions for life and close proximity to humans. Particular attention should be paid to sheets with elastic bands. Bedbug nests are often found in their folds.
4. Bed, sofa and other furniture. Parasites will prefer to settle as close to humans as possible. Pieces of furniture are the best option where bedbugs decide to live. The microclimate here is best arranged. Comfortable temperature and humidity, as well as infrequent cleaning in hard-to-reach elements such as cracks, seams or frames.
5. Skirting boards, window frames, laminate. Any surface that is quiet and protected from the human eye always becomes a habitat for parasitic individuals.
6. Various cracks, ventilation holes. Finding parasites here is not easy, but you will have to look closely and use additional lighting.
7. Small items that are rarely used. Bloodsuckers live in old watches, boxes, figurines, photo frames, and children's toys. To identify them, you will have to carefully examine every little thing.
8. Bloodsuckers will prefer to hide in ventilation, alarm devices, and electrical power sources. The study of these items may be unsafe; it is better to entrust such a matter to specialists or first turn off the power to the home.
9. Peeled wallpaper. Parasites also live in layers of loose plaster.
10. Wardrobes with clothes. Bloodsuckers actively colonize neatly folded piles of clean laundry. Living here is comfortable thanks to stable air temperatures and rare human intrusion. To find them in clothes, you will have to look through every shelf and lift every item. Products with long pile are a particularly favorite place for pests to live.
11. Carpeting. You should look for bedbug nests in least affected areas. These could be corners, areas under bedside tables, sofas, and armchairs.

Taking into account the peculiarities of the biorhythms of insects, you can turn on the light at night and carefully look around. Most of them will actively make their way to power sources.

Life expectancy without food

How long do bed bugs live when there is no food nearby?
It all depends on what conditions are maintained in the apartment where they live. For example, if the air temperature in the room does not fall below 25 degrees and does not exceed 30 degrees, an insect can live without food for 3-4 months. The larvae are not yet well developed. If the nymph does not eat, its life expectancy is only 1.5 months. When there is no person in the apartment, the parasites move to small animals (rats, cats), birds. Their skin is denser and thicker, but the bug can bite through it if necessary. When warm-blooded creatures are completely absent, the insect does not eat for a long time, so it will live in a state of suspended animation for up to 12 months. If there are small rodents in the apartment, the parasite feeds on their blood, so life expectancy increases to 2 years. When such conditions are maintained, it is difficult to say how long the pest will last.

You can expect that pests will die under a number of conditions: they find themselves in a cold climate: at a temperature of -22 or more; there is no food source; There are no small rodents or pets at home. Parasites move around apartments, looking for food. With a long hunger strike (more than 15 days), the speed of movement of bedbugs begins to fall. But as soon as a person is nearby, the parasite comes to life and continues to feed.

Bedbugs are a group of parasitic insects, which means they feed not only on human blood, but also on other warm-blooded animals and even birds. You can count on the death of parasites only if the house maintains a normal microclimate (+25...+30 degrees) and there is no access to small animals. Then the bug does not eat, but, being in the warmth, dies faster.

What do bedbugs smell like?

In a calm state, insects have no odor, but in case of threat, an oily liquid is released from special glands. The openings of the organ are located on the underside of the chest. For humans, the characteristic aroma is very unpleasant. The most disgusting smell is considered to be the representatives of the stink bug family. Phytophages use secretions to scare off enemies. Wood insects are called stink bugs.

In an apartment, the smell of discharge can be felt in places where insects accumulate. They leave some liquid behind during intraspecific communication. The smell of bedbugs evokes various associations: cognac, rotten raspberries, almonds.

The secretion secreted from the odorous glands consists of aldehydes. Its chemical composition is close to pheromones. Do house bugs smell if you crush them? If the integument and organs are damaged, the odorous secretion will splash out in large quantities. In such a situation, the unpleasant aroma will be especially persistent and strong. After removing the insects, the apartment is thoroughly cleaned. The smell disappears quickly.

How to find out if there are bedbugs in the house

The appearance of annoying bloodsuckers in an apartment, private house or country house is signaled by indirect symptoms and direct evidence. The main signs of contamination of a room include:

• appearance,
• unpleasant aroma in the house,
• obvious finds - waste products,
• traces of blood on the bed.

Bedbug bites. The first symptom of an ectoparasite invasion is the regular appearance of wounds. Bedbug bites are sometimes difficult to distinguish from attacks of other insects. However, there are a number of features that are characteristic exclusively of arthropod bloodsuckers.

How do bedbugs bite?

1. Painless attack. During the bite, the adult injects an anesthetic substance into the body. The person feels discomfort the very next morning - the wound turns pink, swells, and itching begins.
2. Multiple punctures. The entire population of ectoparasites, regardless of gender and age, are absolute bloodsuckers - they cannot exist without blood, and therefore without humans. The entire bug family takes turns hunting. The bug needs feeding every 6-10 days, nymphs feed more often.
3. Footprints in the form of a path. An adult bloodsucker does not get enough of it with one bite; it takes several steps and pierces the skin again. The larva does not require much blood - the young nymph gets by with a single bite.
4. The presence of a puncture in the center of the wound. Unlike allergies and the bites of some insects, the bug leaves marks with a small hole and a small bump in the center.
5. Out-of-season bites. Mosquitoes attack people mainly in the summer, while bedbugs live near people all year round and adapt to different temperatures.
6. New wounds appear in the morning. Bedbugs bite only at night, when the victim is sleeping and cannot harm the parasite. The next morning the person discovers new marks on the skin.

Important! If the bloodsuckers are no longer afraid and periodically bite, this is a clear sign that the colony is large. Ectoparasites do not have enough night time to feed; they are forced to get out of their shelters and attack during the day

Specific smell. Another sign of the presence of bloodsuckers is the appearance of a persistent foreign aroma in the apartment. The severity of the odor increases with population growth. Where bedbugs live long enough, people “sniff” and do not feel the unpleasant aroma.

Before determining the presence of arthropods, you need to leave for a couple of days - upon return, it seems as if it smells of sour raspberries or old cognac.

Some people manage to determine which places bedbugs have settled in by smell. Near nesting insects, the unpleasant aroma intensifies.

Waste products. The existence of parasites makes itself felt with unpleasant findings:

• translucent skins from the larvae - during the growth period the nymph sheds its chitinous cover 7 times,
• dried excrement - resembles small poppy seeds.

Such finds appear near the bed; bedbugs in books reveal themselves as dark dots on the pages.

Drops of blood. Once fed, the parasites slow down - they fill with blood, swell in volume and move slowly. In this state it is easiest to kill them. By tossing and turning in his sleep, a person can crush a bedbug and leave bloody marks on the bed.

An irrefutable proof of the presence of parasites will be an encounter with them. To avoid confusion, you need to compare the find with a photo of the bug. If inspection of the places where bloodsuckers usually hide does not produce results, you will have to conduct a series of experiments. You can use one of the popular ways to find where bedbugs are hiding:

1. Get up in the middle of the night and suddenly turn on the light. Hordes of insects will be clearly visible on a light bed.
2. If it’s a shame to dismantle the baseboards or tear off the wallpaper, you can crawl under them with a plastic card and take out the contents of the shelter.

These methods will also help those who are wondering how to find out that there are bloodsuckers in the sofa or are trying to find the habitat of ectoparasites.

Herbs that bugs don't like

The fight against bedbugs arose simultaneously with their appearance. Since time immemorial, people have discovered that blood-sucking insects cannot tolerate the smell of certain herbs and began to use these plants to expel house bugs from their homes. Among the herbs that are a good remedy in the fight against bedbugs, the following should be noted.

1. Sagebrush. It has proven to be a very effective method against bedbugs, especially in combination with other drugs. To get rid of parasites, it is enough to carry out regular wet cleaning with wormwood infusion. This remedy works for 3-4 days, after which it is necessary to duplicate the treatment with wormwood again.
2. Common tansy or wild mountain ash. Tansy inflorescences can not only repel parasitic bugs, but also cause temporary paralysis in them. To achieve the result, you need to scatter plants in the bedroom.
3. Ledum. Ledum herb powder should be distributed in areas where parasites live. Fumigation of the premises with plant powder is also allowed.
4. Air. Its effect on bedbugs is in many ways similar to the use of tansy. The powder of this plant should be used to powder places where insects are most likely to accumulate, such as bedding for dogs and cats, baseboards, and corners of the room.
5. Chamomile. The expected result is shown by pharmaceutical chamomile. If you hold the flowers in a saline solution and then process them, the effect will become even more noticeable. In this case, house bugs will disappear for a long time, and maybe even forever.
6. Valerian. To do this, use a pharmacy tincture. The smell of valerian is also unsuitable for the life and reproduction of bedbugs, so its use gives the desired effect.

All of the herbs listed, with the exception of chamomile, can be harmful to humans if the methods and doses are incorrectly chosen. Therefore, their use must be careful; after treatment, the room must be ventilated.

Bedbug food

These insects lead a parasitic lifestyle and feed exclusively on blood. At night, they bite through the skin of humans (sometimes animals) and suck blood from the wound. One meal of parasites is approximately 7 ml of blood. The bug gets this volume in just a few bites.

To prevent the victim from waking up, the pests have developed a deceptive mechanism: they secrete saliva into the wound, which contains an anesthetic substance. The bite of a vampire insect and the pumping of blood are practically not accompanied by any sensations, and the person attacked continues to sleep.

Having received their 7 ml, the bugs go back to their shelters. There they remain until the next meal, that is, 6–10 days. All this time is spent on digestion in insects.

Bedbugs live a little over a year. Insects of both sexes and all stages of development drink blood - females, males, larvae that have recently emerged from eggs. By the way, if a larva bites, it can be noticeable: it has not yet formed an anesthetic substance in its saliva.

Bedbugs go hunting at night, from 2.00 to 7.00. A hungry individual becomes satiated in 4–7 minutes, making approximately one bite per minute.

A well-fed bug swells to almost 1 cm, becomes rounded and darkens. Having eaten, the parasite immediately goes to shelter.

A hungry bug differs from one that has eaten by half the size (about 5 mm) and color. A bloodsucker going out to hunt is white, almost transparent, then as it becomes saturated with blood it turns yellow, then becomes brown and, finally, bright red.

Bedbugs, like all parasites, stay close to their food source, in other words, they exist next to humans in their homes. Pests “come” to houses and apartments on old things and pieces of furniture or directly on a person.

In apartment buildings, parasites move freely between apartments and floors. The insect moves at a speed of approximately 1 meter per minute.

Why do bedbugs travel? They are driven away by hunger or persecution with pest control agents.

During the day, insects hide close to the food source - they look for shelter near a person’s sleeping place. Bedbugs do not build nests, but simply hide in secluded corners and folds of upholstered furniture - sofas, armchairs. Insects find excellent warm shelters inside computer system units, as well as in books, behind paintings, posters, and in boxes. If there are a lot of parasites, they settle in the spaces under the baseboards, under the wallpaper, etc. A typical smell appears: it is produced by the odorous glands of insects.

Any home (regardless of the level of hygiene) can be infested with bedbugs. There are especially many of them in hostels, hostels, and hotels.