All about furniture bugs: description of the insect, whether it poses a danger to humans, how to get rid of it forever, prevention of recurrence

Small blood-sucking parasites such as furniture bugs choose secluded places in human apartments to live. These insects are synanthropes, that is, they live next to humans and are to some extent dependent on them. Insects dominated the Earth long before humans appeared. Over millions of years, bedbugs have acquired truly limitless adaptive abilities. It is for this reason that it is very difficult to fight them - insects quickly develop resistance to poisons, and mechanical methods of extermination are ineffective due to the high reproduction rate.

Insects are parasites in our apartments

It is comfortable and cozy to live in apartments not only for humans, but also for insects - parasites. The most unpleasant ones are bedbugs.

Not only do they pollute the territory and spread diseases, but they also bite their owners. Furniture bugs get their name from their habit of living in closets, sofas and beds. But this is the same bed, linen, and household parasite.

Professional pest control

If you do not have the time and desire to understand the intricacies of controlling parasitic insects, contact a specialized team for disinfestation. This method will keep your furniture in unchanged condition and will not harm pets or owners.

Sanitary services have obvious advantages over ordinary people. They have experience, specialized equipment, accurate information about the method of exposure, the level of toxicity of the products used, and they operate on the basis of a state license.

For owners, pest control by a team means a minimum of time, safety, and a guaranteed result. On our website there is a rating of organizations that provide disinfestation services and effectively destroy bedbugs. It is formed on the basis of real reviews and may help you in choosing an exterminator.

Where do bedbugs come from in furniture?

When inhabiting an apartment, bedbugs look for cozy and safe places. There they will hide, digest food, and lay eggs.

Nocturnal parasites do not tolerate daylight well. They try to settle closer to the source of food - humans, but quickly take refuge with the onset of morning.

Furniture is ideal for this - beds, sofas, cabinet furniture, wardrobes. It is there that there are many cracks, joints, corners, transitions, and connections that bedbugs love so much. There they take refuge during the day and lay eggs.

Few people worry about nocturnal parasites in furniture. If the bed linen is turned over and rearranged, then the insect is not often destroyed in the crevices of the closet. Traces of parasites are not always visible there, so they prefer to seek refuge in furniture.

The sources where bedbugs come from can be different:

• from neighboring apartments via common communications;
• from stores with furniture, things (larvae are often carried in cardboard packaging);
• with visitors - guests, workers, builders, tenants;
• with animals - parasite eggs can be on the fur of birds, cats and dogs.

Bedbug eggs remain viable for a long time. Finding themselves in favorable conditions, they develop into an adult and begin to develop the territory.

Signs of infection

The habitats of bedbugs are called nests, although these nocturnal parasites do not make buildings. They gather in one place to keep warm.

From above, a bug nest looks like a solid moving mass. Every day a furniture bug can make a new nest.

The way to the parasites' habitat can be found by their excrement, which looks like poppy seeds. There may be whitish shells nearby - these are the chitinous covers of the larvae.

The nest contains the bugs themselves, the larvae, and the eggs are empty and at the maturing stage. When directed at this cluster of light, furniture bugs begin to scatter.

Parasites often inhabit old furniture, where there are more cracks and holes. They love to hide in corrugated cardboard, cabinet furniture, and under the windowsill.

The general rule is that bedbugs will settle within 3 meters from a food source, that is, from a person’s sleeping place, in order to have access to blood.

Features of development and life activity

Blood-sucking furniture parasites are active night hunters. They hide during the day, and after midnight they come out of hiding to find prey and drink blood. Features of development and habits:

• normal development at air temperature 22-29
• five stages of “growing up” of individuals after emerging from the egg, growth after each molt. In order for molting to occur, the insect must receive a portion of food;
• influence of feeding intensity on insect size. The ability of the digestive system to accept a large single volume of food;
• eggs are formations with an impenetrable shell through which moisture and chemicals do not penetrate. Eggs are resistant to negative factors; it is for this reason that the larvae can be killed only at the stage of emerging from the shell.

Insects cannot jump or fly, but they run very quickly and attack, usually at night.

Appearance of a furniture bug

A photo of a furniture bug gives an idea of ​​its appearance. This is what a furniture bug looks like - it has a flat body so that it is convenient to get into narrow crevices.

It is covered with a chitinous shell, making it difficult to crush. The body consists of segments. It can increase when the insect drinks blood.

In a hungry state, a furniture bug measures only 3 mm. Having drunk blood, it swells to 8 mm. The color of the bug's shell is brown and begins to darken with age.

A well-fed insect has a darker color. The parasite does not have wings. With its proboscis on the head, it pierces the human skin, injects saliva for pain relief, and begins to suck out blood.

The nocturnal parasite has special glands on its back. They secrete a substance that produces the characteristic odor of bedbugs. In a room where bedbugs live, an almond aroma appears.

The larvae are oblong, pale yellow, covered with mucus. They need food daily, unlike adults. After each meal, the larva grows and sheds its shell.

Her bite is painful, and she has no pain-relieving saliva yet. It is difficult to distinguish the larva from an adult bug, only by size; the larva is also almost transparent.

The eggs look like an almost transparent white capsule with a peculiar cap at one end. Its larva squeezes out and gets out.

Difference from other bedbugs

Bed, linen and furniture bugs are definitions of the same domestic parasite. It can settle in different places, so the name will be different.

Finding a linen or bed bug is easier. On light-colored sheets it is easier to notice a dark speck of a parasite. Getting rid of such bedbugs at home is also easier. Bed linen is removed, processed, boiled, and, in extreme cases, thrown away.

Furniture bugs hide more securely. It is not always possible to detect them quickly. If the bedside table is located next to the bed, then it will be a convenient place for parasites to settle. Pictures above the sleeping area and nearby sockets are traditional areas for parasites.

Sometimes at the end of summer, a tree bug can fly into apartments on the lower floors . These are the insects that can often be seen in raspberries, accidentally taken into the mouth along with the berry.

By autumn, they turn from green to brown, look for secluded places, and mistakenly fly into apartments. They are not dangerous to humans and cannot bite. They just need to be released outside.

Traditional methods of destruction

Furniture bugs reproduce very quickly, so extermination should begin immediately after the parasites are discovered. If the number is small, you can use traditional methods.

Herbs

Night parasites do not like strong odors; traditional healers suggest taking advantage of this property. Tansy, wormwood, Pyrethrum powder, essential oils are good remedies for bedbugs.

Dry branches of tansy and wormwood are sewn into gauze bags, laid out near the bed, in closets, bedside tables, under the mattress, behind the backs of upholstered furniture. Crushed parts of plants are poured into the cracks between the wall and baseboards, where insects are located.

Aromatic oils are applied to pieces of furniture, near the bed, and on the human body. Insects will not visit such places. Only in case of severe hunger are they able to overcome their aversion to the pungent smell.

Steam

Furniture bugs cannot tolerate high temperatures, which is what the steam treatment method is based on. Nests of parasitic insects are treated with a steam generator. This ensures the death of adults, larvae and eggs.

Streams of hot air must pass several times through the places where bedbugs are supposed to live to ensure destruction.

Laundry soap

An effective folk method is to use laundry soap. Mix a bar of dark laundry soap into warm water and dilute it until a strong foam forms. You shouldn’t take a lot of water at once; it’s better to add more as you go.

The solution is applied using a wide brush or sponge to fabric or hard surfaces until a soap layer is formed. In furniture, in the same way, you need to cover all existing cracks, joints, nail holes, and cracks with soapy water.

Soapy water has good surface tension. It penetrates the spiracles of parasites and closes them. Insects suffocate, but are also poisoned by the alkali of the soap. Soap solution has a different effect on eggs. The alkali draws water through the capsule, this dries out the eggs and they die.

Parasites quickly get used to the poisonous substance. Since it is not possible to remove bedbugs with one method, you need to combine methods with each other.

Chemical control

If the question arises - how to quickly get rid of furniture bugs, then you need to use chemicals.

Modern products are effective against insects and are safe for humans and pets. Popular drugs are presented in the table.

For furniture, it is better to use preparations that do not leave marks after treatment. Powders will leave behind a clean area. Anything that involves liquid must first be tested on fabric, then only applied on upholstered furniture.

Powders are inconvenient to use when treating vertical surfaces. Spraying is preferable here. Aerosols will also reach hard-to-reach places better. You will need to choose drugs based on the conditions.

Modern drugs

Nowadays there is a wide range of chemicals on sale that allow you to fight bedbugs.

Further in the table you can get acquainted with popular insecticides, their cost, effectiveness, toxicity level and choose the most suitable option.

You should always remember that the more effective the product, the more toxic it is, and therefore poses a danger to human and animal health. The use of drugs must be carried out strictly according to the instructions in compliance with all safety measures.

If it is not possible to carry out the processing yourself, you can contact specialized services that will quickly carry out all the work and with the most positive results.

Preventing re-infestation of furniture

After treatment, you want to never think about bedbugs again. But undestroyed parasite eggs may remain in the room, and there is a risk of a new infection in the apartment. To prevent this, you need to take a number of preventive measures:

1. eliminate all possible ways for bedbugs to enter the premises, this will block the access of parasites from neighbors;
2. seal the cracks in the room, this will deprive bedbugs of shelter;
3. check all things that are brought into the apartment - bags, suitcases, clothes from stores, for the presence of bedbug nests;
4. Do not leave cardboard packaging overnight, throw it away immediately. Often this is where insects live;
5. regularly carry out wet cleaning with the addition of aromatic substances;
6. iron bed linen from the wrong side with a hot iron on both sides using steam. This will help get rid of parasite eggs;
7. a furniture bug rarely finds refuge in an orthopedic mattress. It's too soft for an insect. But if the nest has formed in the mattress, then it will have to be thrown away, because it is difficult to treat it thoroughly with drugs. Even if it's modern chemicals. The larvae or eggs remaining deep inside will give rise to a new colony of parasites.

Maintaining cleanliness will be a good prevention of infection. The eggs of many domestic parasites, along with dust and soil, are brought from the street on shoes, toys, wheels of strollers, bicycles, and animal paws. Treatment with bactericidal compounds will eliminate many diseases and problems with domestic parasites.

Preventive measures

First, they protect the home from blood-sucking insects: they make cosmetic repairs, it is important to fill the gaps between the pipes leading into the apartment, restore the surfaces of the floor and walls in each room, and eliminate leaks in corner areas. Additionally, the ventilation ducts are covered with a fine-mesh insect net. Then the likelihood of bedbugs infesting your home is reduced.

The crumbling plaster is being restored in areas where sockets are installed - bedbugs often enter the facility through cable ducts.

To get rid of insects, purchased used items, including a sofa, are kept in the cold or washed at high temperatures. Use fresh herbs, such as wormwood.