Bed bugs

Bed bugs are blood-sucking insects, quite common in conditions of private, apartment buildings, and in public recreation areas. They feed on human blood and warm-blooded animals, cause psychiatric disorders with prolonged neighborhood with a person. In view of this, it is very important to immediately begin fighting against parasites as soon as the first signs of their presence are seen. Why this should be done and what effective means to take, you will learn from this article.

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What is bed bugs?

These parasites have a strongly flattened body and, depending on the degree of blood saturation, the length is from 3 to 8.4 mm.

Important! About 50,000 species of bedbugs are known, but in our latitudes there are only a few thousand species.

Appearance

In appearance they can be confused only with cockroaches. The color of bedbugs can be from dark brown to yellow. In the front of the head, the bugs have a proboscis with which they pierce the skin and feed on blood. A photo of bed bugs will fully give an idea of ​​how the bugs look.

Important! Bedbugs prefer to bite the gentle skin of a person, so they prefer children and women.

Activity

Due to their body shape, they easily climb walls and move through the air, creating a flight effect. In fact, they have no wings, and they can not fly.

Important! Among the parasites there are females and males. The latter differ in smaller sizes. The deposited larvae also lead a parasitic life.

Individuals are active more at night.

Habitat

In the afternoon bed bugs are hidden in dark nooks, where they are difficult to detect. These can be places under the wallpaper, among books, in electronics, in outlets. For bugs, any conditions for life are favorable. At night, they go to the "hunt", which for the most part falls on the time from 3 to 8 in the morning. Very hungry bugs can attack a person and with artificial lighting.

Important! According to household observations, which science does not refute, bedbugs prefer to drink the blood of nonsmokers.

Bed bugs and their larvae are able to migrate from one room to another. If the street is warm, then they move along the outer walls of houses, in the cold of the migration route they pass through ventilation ducts.

An interesting fact! For one minute, an adult overcomes the distance equal to 1.25 m. The larva is advancing 25 cm during this time.

Life expectancy

Their average life expectancy is one year. At low temperatures or in the absence of food, bugs can fall into a state similar to anabiosis and stay there for up to a year and a half. When a person appears near a person, they exit this state and return to normal life.

Important! If you find a pile of discarded larval skin, eggs of bedbugs or excrement, then you find the place of their special cluster.

Ration

Adults feed every 5-10 days, and larvae almost every day. They all prefer human blood, but do not disdain to attack domestic warm-blooded animals. In rural areas, there are often situations when they will climb into a house from poultry houses or cowsheds.

Important! For one "meal", which lasts 10-15 minutes, a bed bug sucks up 7 ml of blood, which, in fact, exceeds twice the weight of the parasite itself.

Bedbugs react very badly to sudden changes in temperature. For example, at a temperature of -15 C they can live only 1 day. When the temperature rises above 49 ° C, bedbugs die.

Reproduction of

Bed bugs reproduce by traumatic insemination. Females lay eggs that are about 1 mm long and outwardly resemble a rice seed. No care neither the female nor the males show off to the offspring.

Important! Female can lay up to 5 eggs per day. Throughout their life, the number of eggs reaches 250-500 pieces. Under favorable conditions, the egg turns into a mature individual for 30-40 days. According to the theoretical calculations of the scientists, one female can produce offspring of more than 1 billion individuals.

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Why are bed bugs dangerous?

The biggest harm that bed bugs bring to people is their bites, which bring considerable discomfort in the form of deprivation of normal sleep and rest. Bites can also cause allergies. The fact that bugs are able to tolerate any disease remains an unproven statement.

A bug does not get drunk on blood in just one place. He moves around the skin, leaving behind a path of bites.

Important! Overnight, the number of bites on the human skin can reach more than 500.

However, most people only detect parasites on the paths on the bed that are formed when they are crushed during sleep. In a contaminated room, there is sometimes a specific smell emitted by females, which in some ways resembles the smell of cognac or fermented berries.

Important! The proven fact is that 70% of people do not notice bug bites at all. Therefore, it is difficult for such people to detect and destroy them at all.

Bedbugs have an enviable sense of smell. Thanks to him, they find clothes that a person uses every day, and hide in it. As a rule, parasites like synthetic fabrics.

Important! There were times when it was believed that bedbugs can cure a person of many ailments. This erroneous opinion took place up to the XVIII century.

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Interaction of linen bedbugs with other insects in the house

Bed bugs themselves do not harm any other kinds of insects. They are not interested in either their larvae, adults, competition and rivalry for food. But with respect to them other insect pests and parasites behave differently:

• Despite different habitats, cockroaches are considered enemies of bedbugs. Their nymphs are often able to find and penetrate into the colony of bedbugs and eat their eggs.
• Domestic ants also like to eat eggs of bedbugs. Also for the latter is deadly poison, secreted by ants. Therefore, rooms where there are ants bugs try to avoid.
• Flycatchers are able to actively catch and eat bugs. But through the rarity of their habitation in the apartment, these insects can not be considered a biological weapon against bedbugs.

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Methods for controlling bed bugs:

1. The most effective of all methods will be simultaneous heating of the entire infected room for 20 hours to a temperature of more than +50 C. To destroy the egg laying, it is necessary to warm up to +100 C for 1 hour.
2. To neutralize clothes, soft toys, bedding, shoes and other household items from bed bugs, you can use clothes drying. Set it to the temperature mode is not less than average. For certainty - high temperature will be just right. Dry things for 10-20 minutes.
3. Vacuum cleaner will help physically remove parasites from the room. Carefully vacuum the slits, plinth, carpet.
4. In places difficult to reach, a steam cleaner can come to the rescue. Under the influence of high-temperature steam bugs are dying.
5. To disinfect things in the hot season, they can all be collected in a tissue bag and placed in a car. Park the vehicle in the sun, close all windows and doors tightly, and leave for 1 day.
6. Wash at a water temperature of more than 49 ° C will also save clothes and fabric things from underwear bugs.
7. In frosty weather, you can take out all the infected things on the street and leave for a few days.

Important! If bed bugs have appeared in your neighbors, then you should immediately contact the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service.

Popular means from bedbugs

Among commercial means from linen bedbugs, in addition to the advertised "Reid" and "Raptor" are the following:

• powders "Neopin", "Riapan";
• liquids "Primadid", "Lakterin", "Foksid", "Aktellik";
• aerosols "Carbozol", "Prima-U", "Perfos-P".

Important! Carefully read the instructions for all such drugs. They can be toxic, so you should follow all safety rules for their use.

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How to get rid of underwear bugs at home?

• To destroy parasites from folk methods, it is very effective to place in all corners and places of possible stay bugs freshly harvested tansy flowers or branches of wild rosemary.
• In combination with chemical preparations from bedbugs, it is possible to place dried wormwood in a cabinet, corners, on a skirting board. It can be bought at any pharmacy.
• Having discovered the habitat of bedbugs, it can be treated with turpentine, transformer oil, kerosene or vinegar.

Important! To achieve a truly effective result, you should contact the appropriate service, which will help you get rid of parasites of this species. By self-destructing them, you can simply tighten the process, strengthen their immunity to various poisons, allow the bugs to multiply, thereby turning their home into an untenable place.

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How to prevent the appearance of parasites in your home:

• Before you bring to your house various household items, you should very carefully check them. Especially it refers to the mattresses of furniture, clothes, bought in second-hand.
• If you are in hotels, then you should look at the seams of mattresses for the detection of excrement of bedbugs. And your luggage is best placed on a chair or table, and not on the floor.
• Lofts of private houses are periodically checked for insects, especially if this usable area is used to store trash.

If there are unexpected neighbors in your house, do not delay with their destruction. Benefits of them just do not wait, and their housing and body to share with them is not worth it.