The question of how to get rid of bedbugs is periodically asked not only by hotel owners, but also by residents of city apartments. Annoying blood-sucking insects cause a lot of discomfort, interfere with sleep and leave unpleasant red spots on the victim’s body.
In this article we will look at everything you need to know to successfully combat ectoparasites. Dez Group sanitary service specialists will tell you how to get rid of bedbugs at home, and why the cold fog method has long remained one of the most effective disinfestation tools.
Where do bedbugs come from?
Unsanitary conditions are not the main reason for the appearance of blood-sucking ectoparasites in apartments, as many people think. Keeping your home clean does not guarantee protection against bed bugs.
For effective prevention, it is necessary to understand where insects come from and how they enter a person’s home:
- through sewer and water pipes: for this purpose, ectoparasites have hooks, spikes and other devices on their limbs that keep them from falling;
- through ventilation holes;
- together with new or used furniture: if the previous owner’s apartment or store warehouse was infested with bedbugs;
- in a bag, suitcase or along with clothes after a business trip, vacation: parasitic insects are often found in cabins, hostels and economy class hotels.
One of the most common reasons for the invasion of blood-sucking individuals is dysfunctional neighbors. If they do not fight insects, then sooner or later parasites will crawl to you through ventilation, sewers, through window or doorways. This happens when there are too many of them, and the previous volumes of food are no longer enough for them. In a similar way, ectoparasites enter the apartment from the basement, garbage chute and attic.
Not only adult bedbugs, but also larvae with eggs can appear in a living room. For example, if an adult formed a clutch in a bag, clothing or in the wooden joints of a bed, which you then brought into the house.
Bed bugs are often found in hostels, cabins and budget hotels, the owners of which do not monitor sanitary and hygienic conditions. The high risk of blood-sucking ectoparasites is associated with the lack of treatment of premises, irregular and poor-quality cleaning and frequent changes of guests.
Fighting bedbugs: preliminary preparation of the premises
This is an important step, without which no method will achieve maximum effectiveness. If you do not seal the cracks in the room (these are their escape routes), they will quickly run to the neighbor. Then, from him they will return to you again. It's worth making an effort to get rid of them thoroughly:
- Make all hard-to-reach areas of the room open. Clear corners, move furniture toward the center of the room, remove pictures, dismantle sockets, remove things from a chest of drawers or closets. Place dishes and hygiene items in an airtight container.
- Pay special attention to your sleeping area. If the design of the bed allows, disassemble it and place the mattress on its side. If possible, do the same with other furniture.
- Rugs and carpets (if they are not contaminated) must be removed from the premises.
- Bed linen, clothes, toys need to be thermally treated (wash with heat, use a steamer).
Where do bedbugs hide?
One of the main difficulties and prerequisites for how to quickly get rid of bedbugs in an apartment on your own is to find all their habitats. If only part of the nests is treated, then the surviving individuals will restore the previous size of the colony in a short period of time. And you will have to start fighting them from the very beginning.
The main places where blood-sucking ectoparasites hide:
- wooden and metal furniture frames;
- seams of upholstered furniture;
- the wrong side of the mattress;
- space behind heating radiators;
- dark closet shelves and corners of rooms;
- space under the baseboard;
- various gaps, cracks and holes in the walls, floor, ceiling;
- socket boxes;
- behind the carpet and wall paintings.
The higher the number of bedbugs, the more places where they live. If you do not stop their reproduction at the initial stage, it will take a lot of time and effort to destroy them.
But detecting parasites when there are few of them is problematic. They lead a secretive lifestyle and leave their nests only at night. If a person does not have a pronounced reaction to a bedbug bite, then the insect will remain unnoticed for a long time and successfully reproduce.
Why are bedbugs dangerous for humans?
There is no evidence that bedbugs transmit infections. But since they feed on human blood, there is an assumption that deadly diseases can be transmitted through bites:
- smallpox;
- hepatitis C;
- tuberculosis;
- brucellosis.
At the site of the bite, hyperemia, swelling, and itching develop. You want to scratch him constantly. Scratching is microdamage to the skin, opening the way to any infection. Infection occurs by contact through dirty hands and surfaces with pathogenic microflora multiplied on them. As a result, the bites become inflamed and suppuration may begin.
Bedbug bites on a child
Another danger from bedbugs is an allergy to their bites. Insects produce a special substance. It has a local anesthetic effect and helps them drink blood without being noticed. If it enters the bloodstream, people with hypersensitivity may develop an allergic reaction. The most severe possible condition is anaphylactic shock.
Bedbug bites also worsen a person's overall well-being. Itching prevents proper sleep, which causes the development of irritability. Lack of sleep reduces the productivity and quality of life of residents in whose apartments small bloodsuckers have settled. Children may develop iron deficiency anemia.
Attention! If within a few hours or days after the bite the temperature rises, nausea and other symptoms of intoxication appear, consult a doctor.
How can you tell if there are bedbugs in your home?
How to quickly remove bedbugs at home? One of the decisive success factors is to detect the appearance of blood-sucking insects as quickly as possible.
The most important sign of their presence is the appearance of bites on the body. After a bedbug attack, itchy red dots form on your arms, cheek, neck, back or legs within a few hours. The fact is that the insect bites the victim several times and drinks blood until it is completely satisfied. As a result, 4-6 spots appear in a row on the damaged area of skin. If a bug bites at night, you can see the wounds in the morning.
An allergic reaction is provoked by components in saliva. It is observed in 80% of the world's population. But not all people are sensitive to attacks by ectoparasites. Red spots along with insects can go unnoticed for a long time.
How else can you dispel doubts about the appearance of bedbugs?
- inspect the underside of the mattress, cabinets, the space behind the radiator and other places where individuals may be hiding;
- Carefully inspect the bed linen in the morning - you may notice dark spots from crushed bedbugs.
When there are a lot of insects, a peculiar smell appears in the room. Some compare it to cognac, almonds, and fermented berries. More often it can be felt in the bedroom, where insects are waiting for the victim.
What blood type do bedbugs like?
There is an opinion that parasites choose victims based on blood type. In fact, this is a common myth , which is based on the fact that bedbugs often bite one of several people simultaneously in the room.
The reasons for this behavior of insects are much more banal than preference for a certain blood type. The first criterion for choosing a victim is the distance that needs to be covered. The second thing bedbugs react to is the carbon dioxide that a person exhales. The third factor that plays an important role is the presence of hair and the thickness of the skin of the potential victim. The last criterion is especially important, since thin skin is easier to bite through. This is why bedbugs often love to bite children and women.
How to get rid of bedbugs?
To find the best way and decide how to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment, you need to understand what obstacles may prevent you from achieving your goal. Why is it that not everyone manages to solve the problem on their own?
The physiological and behavioral characteristics of blood-sucking ectoparasites are the main reason for the unsuccessful outcome of the fight. Tactics for exterminating insects should be built taking into account the following information:
- high reproduction rate;
- high resistance of larvae and eggs to the negative effects of physical and chemical agents;
- secretive lifestyle;
- small body size;
- the ability to crawl into small cracks and move between apartments using utility lines.
Next, we’ll look at how to remove bedbugs at home and with the help of specialists from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station.
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Steam generator
This destruction method is based on exposure to high temperatures.
The steam generator should be used to treat all surfaces that allow this, all pieces of furniture and textiles in the house, including carpets, joints between the floor and the wall.
Many people advise treating the walls, but there is a chance that the wallpaper will move away from the surface under such influence. also use powerful steam generators .
How to remove bedbugs from an apartment yourself?
You can get rid of bedbugs yourself using improvised means or using household insecticides. The first option is worth trying if single individuals are spotted in the apartment. In other situations, you cannot do without powerful chemical insecticides.
Let's take a closer look at how to remove bedbugs from your apartment yourself quickly and forever. The following recommendations and rules will help solve the problem:
- eliminate the source of insects, prevent new individuals from entering the premises;
- choose an integrated approach or methods that guarantee the destruction of individuals at any stage of development - adults, larvae, eggs;
- observe preventive measures against re-invasion of ectoparasites.
Only an integrated approach can permanently clear your home of bedbugs.
Boiling water
Bed bugs cannot tolerate high temperatures. Therefore, many recommend simply scalding the insects with boiling water.
Yes, every adult that comes into contact with boiling liquid will indeed die instantly.
Such a short-term effect will not have on the larvae . And it is simply not possible to treat all the walls in the room and pieces of furniture with this product. Boiling water can scald baseboards, naturally, in dismantled form, cornices, walls and floors lined with tiles.
How to get rid of bedbugs using folk remedies?
When and how can you kill bedbugs in an apartment yourself using folk methods? This method can be effective only in the early stages, when there are single insects in the house.
Folk remedies include various herbs, tinctures, decoctions, the use of aromatic lamps, essential oils and other substances that our ancestors used to protect their homes from pests and parasites. Let's look at a few popular recipes:
- Regularly treat surfaces with decoctions or essential oils with a scent that repels bed bugs. Insects prefer to avoid areas with the aroma of tansy, wormwood, celandine, wild rosemary and valerian.
- Sprinkle dry mustard powder in corners, crevices, along baseboards and under upholstered furniture.
- Periodically spray the vents, areas near the bed, closet, radiator, and other places where bedbugs often hide with a vinegar solution.
- Sprinkle boric acid powder along baseboards, behind furniture and under the bed.
note
It is not recommended to use kerosene, turpentine and other chemicals with a pungent odor for disinfestation of residential premises.
They are potentially hazardous to health. Folk remedies do not destroy, but only repel insects. Some of them are capable of killing adults, but only with direct contact. This approach will not allow you to remove all insects.
Questions and answers (FAQ) on the topic: What are bed bugs afraid of?
Below is a list of answers to questions that are most often asked by clients of our pest control service on the topic: what are they afraid of and what do they not like about bedbugs? A quick survey of our expert disinfectionist in the form of 30 short questions and answers.
