Reasons why bedbugs can be found in a mattress. Ways to get rid of bedbugs

Good day, dear readers! Today we will determine whether parasites can live under our pillows. Have you ever wondered if bedbugs live in your mattress? If yes, then this article is for you. Today we will discuss:

How to determine the presence of a pest?
How to fight the scourge?
What to do to prevent the appearance of the parasite?

How do bedbugs get into an apartment?

Ventilation pipes . This is the most common option for bedbugs to escape through apartments. They move freely from one apartment to another.
Window . In the summer, bedbugs can easily climb into your window through the basement (if you live on the first floor), or along the wall from a neighboring apartment.
Guests . Without knowing it, guests may bring bedbugs on their clothes.
Hotels . By staying at another hotel that has not been checked by you, you risk bringing a “gift” for your home in your suitcase.
Workers . There have been many recorded cases where, during the repair process, workers brought bedbugs from one site to another.
The shops . You bought a mattress and brought it home. Perhaps it is already infested with bedbugs, since the warehouse where they are stored is not ideally clean.

Preventive measures

It is not possible to completely protect your home from pests. But there are options that help worsen their living conditions and reduce the likelihood of their reproduction. The main principle of protection can be the choice of special sockets and timely cosmetic repairs. Here is another list of actions:

Turn the mattress over frequently and check it for any signs of insects.
Try not to bring old things into the house or carefully inspect them.
Wear shoe covers in places where bedbugs are likely to spread.
Don't take other people's furniture off the street.
Inspect the wallpaper on the walls; there should be no defects on them. In the future, bloodsuckers can move into such places.
Do not lay parquet on floors.
Make sure that children do not bring bedbugs from school or the street.

How to find a bedbug in a mattress

In fact, this is not an easy task, since the size of bedbugs is quite small and at first glance it is difficult to notice them. By the way, bedbugs in a mattress grow inside it, under the seams, or can even get into the very middle of the mattress.

The first thing you need to do is sniff the mattress. The smell will be very pungent and unpleasant. It is usually compared to the smell of fermented raspberries. The second sign that you may have bedbugs in your mattress is the presence of transparent, light-colored scales.

If you wake up in the morning and see small red spots on your body, you can be sure that bedbugs are living in your mattress and feeding on your blood while you sleep. You can also notice dark spots on light-colored bed linen; these are bedbug feces.

In general, it is problematic to immediately find and see a bug, since they prefer to be nocturnal and immediately hide when they smell people. You can also dispel the myth that bedbugs prefer pillowcases, blankets and bed frames. On the contrary, they try not to settle in places where contact with humans is possible during normal times.

To summarize, we can summarize the signs of bedbugs in a mattress:

bites;
strong unpleasant odor;
brown spots on bed linen from crushed bedbugs;
bedbug feces;
chitinous shells that were shed by the larvae during the growth process.

Types of bed insects

Let's take a closer look at the most common types of bed insects, why they are dangerous, and how to recognize and prevent their occurrence.

Bed bugs

Blood-sucking bugs

- the most famous representatives of bed insects. Their bites cause great discomfort to humans. In apartments and houses, nesting parasites of the lurking type are more common.

Characteristic signs of bed bugs:

lack of wings;
white cup-shaped eggs;
a flattened body, which, after being saturated with blood, swells and becomes round.

Bed bugs come out to hunt at night. Nests of blood-sucking parasites are not necessarily located in the wooden joints of the bed and the folds of upholstered furniture. They often hide in closets, under baseboards, and on the backs of carpets. To build nests, bedbugs choose dark, hard-to-reach places.

Bed insects practically do not carry pathogens of dangerous diseases, but the possibility of infection cannot be completely excluded. Blood-sucking bedbugs are potential spreaders of Chagas disease, hepatitis B and trypanosomiasis. In the body of bed bugs, the causative agents of Q fever and tularemia can remain pathogenic for a long time.

Fleas

Fleas

– insects without wings with a piercing-sucking type of mouthparts. All adults feed on the host's blood. The latter is represented by different species of animals or people. For example, if an individual fed on the blood of a rat that died, the flea will easily change its owner to a mouse, dog, cat or other animal. It is possible that the parasite will decide to feast on human blood.

The main morphological characteristics of fleas:

small body size - from 0.5 to 5 mm;
brown chitinous cover of light or dark shade;
body shape – oblong, flattened on the sides;
one pair of simple eyes, some species lack them.

On the smooth chitinous cover, you can see bristles and jagged projections that help the flea move inside the feathers and fur of the host. The structure of the parasites' oral apparatus is maximally adapted for quickly piercing the skin and absorbing blood directly from the capillaries.

A few words should be said about flea larvae.

They resemble small white worms without limbs, 2-3 mm long.
There are sparse hairs on the surface of the body, but they can only be seen under a microscope or magnifying glass. The flea larva differs from the fly larva (maggots) in having more transparent body coverings. Ectoparasites penetrate into human homes along with rats, mice and other synanthropic rodents. In a similar way, they can get into a private cottage, into the attic, into the basement and into the garbage chute of multi-apartment city buildings.

Why are fleas dangerous? They carry pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases:

Plague
. The causative agent of the disease is Enterobacteriaceae. It is carried by 120 species of fleas. They infect the host by defecating on the affected skin, and enterobacteriaceae enter the bloodstream through bite wounds.
Marseilles fever
. The pathogens remain viable for up to 44 days.
Typhus
. The causative agent of the disease is Muser's rickettsia. Mortality is less than 0.6%. The main carrier is fleas that feed on the blood of mice and rats. The main route of human infection is rubbing waste products of ectoparasites into scratches.
Tularemia
. Fleas are capable of storing pathogens in their bodies for up to 150 days.
Other diseases
: tsutsugamushi fever, erysipeliodiasis, brucellosis, Q fever, pseudotuberculosis, tick-borne encephalitis, meliodosis.

If the previous owner of the fleas dies, they immediately leave the corpse and go looking for a new source of food. This contributes to the rapid spread of infectious diseases among animals and people.

Lice

Lice

- permanent parasites of animals and humans. They feed on the blood of the same species all their lives. Human parasites include body louse, head louse and pubic louse.

The main morphological characteristics of lice:

small insects up to 4 mm long;
a flattened body that tapers towards the anterior end;
oral apparatus of piercing-sucking type;
nits (eggs) oval-elongated;
egg length is less than 1 mm.

The body louse deposits nits in the folds of bedding and on human clothing. For nutrition, it temporarily transfers to the host’s body.

Ectoparasite bites lead to the appearance of pediculosis. Lice are specific carriers of the pathogens of louse-borne and relapsing typhus, and 5-day Volyn fever. Human infection occurs when waste products of blood-sucking insects enter damaged skin, as well as when ectoparasites are crushed.

Do-it-yourself mattress treatment for bedbugs

If you decide to act on your own, then follow this algorithm:

The first step is to remove all bedding from the bed, wash it at maximum temperature, and iron it.
Visually inspect the mattress from all sides. If you don't notice anything, move on to the next step.
In order to avoid the spread of parasites to different places in the room, barks, paintings and other interior items should be removed from it.
Next, remove the mattress from the bed frame and carefully inspect all the stitching and all the seams on the mattress. If the mattress cover can be removed, feel free to remove it and wash it at maximum temperature. Don't forget to iron it.
If there are no signs of parasite life, look inside the mattress; it is quite possible that they are hiding there.
The entire mattress must be treated with insecticides on all sides and inside it. You can use Xulat Micro. It is important to observe all the precautions that are written on the packaging and strictly follow the instructions.
It is also necessary to treat the entire occupied area of the room.
If your mattress has served you for more than five years, then you don’t have to waste time on treating it and just get rid of it. He has already served his time.

In addition to treating your mattress for bedbugs yourself, there are several other ways to get rid of them.

Where to look for bedbugs: TOP 10 places for parasites to hide

The main recommendation is a thorough inspection of things, objects, surfaces. Parasites have their own preferences when choosing habitats. To speed up the process of searching for insects, we determine the most popular areas among pests in the apartment:

Mattress. Here insects are much closer to humans. You need to look for them by inspecting the seams, bedding, and the lower surface of the mattress.
Bed frame.
Sofa.
Skirting boards.
The back walls of furniture that is located next to the bed or sofa.
Paintings (back side).
Wall clock (mechanism).
Internal surfaces of cabinets, bedside tables, armchairs.
Sockets.
The wrong side of the carpet.

Freezing

Here we can note the fact that bedbugs can go into suspended animation at a temperature of -1 degrees and calmly tolerate these temperature changes. To have a detrimental effect on bedbugs, it is necessary to take the mattress outside at a temperature of -20 degrees and leave it for several days. Then the bug will definitely die. But that doesn’t give you 100% confidence that there are none left in the house. You got them out of the mattress, but hardly out of the apartment. Therefore, this method is considered not the most effective in killing bedbugs.

Features of parasitism and reproduction

Reproduction of a bed bug In comparison with house flies, the female of which lays up to 400 eggs in 4 days, the reproduction of bed bugs does not occur at such a rapid pace, but the size of the colony increases exponentially. Over the course of its entire life, a female lays no more than 500 eggs. She does this in doses: 5 pieces daily. According to observations, the female tries to hide the oviposition every time. Such foresight contributes to the safety of the population.

With good vision, bedbug eggs are clearly visible. Their size is slightly less than a millimeter and they are oblong white capsules resembling grains of rice. Within a week, larvae (nymphs) emerge from the eggs; they are distinguished from adults only by their size. As they grow, nymphs molt, and their chitinous shells can often be found on a mattress, floor, or bed. A month after hatching from the egg, the larva becomes a sexually mature individual, ready to reproduce. The ratio of both sexes in the colony is the same, so there are no difficulties with mating.

Bedbugs enter the apartment through cracks from neighbors, get into purchased antique furniture, in luggage, on clothes after spending the night in hotels or other infested objects.

Steam or boiling water treatment

This is one of the reliable ways to get rid of bedbugs. It is important to remember that hot typing will not bring you the desired result. Here we must act categorically.

To hatch not only adults, but also larvae, it is necessary to heat the temperature to +50 degrees so that there is full boiling water and only then the result will not be long in coming.

In general, this includes several more methods of exterminating bedbugs:

Steam generator for bedbugs. You can use it not only to treat the mattress, but also the room. Its effect is instantaneous, another plus is that it is easy to use.
Wash . All contaminated items (pillowcases, blankets, pillows and duvet covers) can be washed in the washing machine at 90 degrees. The downside is that not all things can be washed at this temperature.
Sunlight . If you live in a country house and you have the opportunity to take the mattress outside and warm it up in the sun, use this method.

What are the advantages of the steam and boiling water method

Eco-friendly and clean. Here, ordinary water is used as a weapon, which does not harm either humans or pets.
Steam and boiling water can remove not only bedbugs, but also other parasites easily and quickly.

Disadvantages of the method

Steam will not be able to penetrate into the very center of the mattress, so some insects may survive.
When steaming, some electrical appliances may break.

Expert advice

Experts believe that the easiest way to get rid of parasites is with insecticidal agents. Only they will allow you to permanently remove bedbugs from the mattress

But you should take precautions and strictly follow the instructions for use.

Dry wormwood should be placed in the mattress.
During treatment with insecticides, doors and windows should not be opened; parasites should be given the opportunity to get enough of the poisons.
Act together with your neighbors - the treatment should be carried out both at your place and at their place at the same time.
Cleaning should not be done immediately. If necessary, you can wipe items that are used most often with water and baking soda.
If there are a lot of parasites, re-treatment should be done after 14 days.
Remove all items infested with larvae from the room.

Wormwood is an effective remedy for bedbugs.
Insecticides can be presented in various types - aerosols, concentrated or dry form. The latter must be diluted with water and used in a spray bottle for economical use. They will allow you to get rid of the problem in a short time.

"Karbofos" is the most effective drug

But you should work with it carefully. Be sure to use a respirator and gloves

The product is different:

low price;
long spectrum of action;
the ability to use together with other fungicides;
impressive spectrum of action - kills not only bedbugs.

Contacting a specialized company

Another option is to contact a company that specializes in this matter. What you should pay attention to when choosing a company:

Company status.
Legal side (pay attention to all legal documentation).
Reviews (if you look on the website). This is also an important aspect. Customer reviews about this organization. Good companies post both positive and negative reviews.
Drugs used by the company.
Monetary equivalent. Monitor the market, focus on price.
Equipment. Be sure to check what equipment the company works with.
Qualification of specialists.
Processing methods.

The most famous company that specializes in treating premises against parasites is the SES (Sanitary and Epidemiological Service).

SES branches are located both in large cities and in the provinces. The specialists of this company undergo annual training, certification and constantly improve their skills and knowledge.

Intelligence services

If you want to clean your mattress, bedding, and your entire apartment as much as possible from parasites, as well as prevent their occurrence in the future, you can contact a special insect extermination service. Specialists will carry out high-quality disinfection of mattresses, sofas, and all upholstered furniture. This method of disposal is especially suitable for cases where parasites have multiplied in too large numbers.

Thus, there are several methods to combat parasites in mattresses, but the easiest way is to prevent the appearance of insects in advance. Follow a few rules for handling a mattress - and parasites will not bother you, and your sleep will be truly healthy.

Chemicals for bedbugs control

Nowadays you can get confused in the huge selection of means to kill parasites. Every store will put dozens of these products on your counter. How to understand which product is really suitable for your case and make the right decision.

Characteristics of an effective and efficient chemical:

Prolonged action . It is important to understand here that this characteristic consists of two components: odor (a good chemical should not have an odor for several weeks): stability (the drug must have excellent stability).
Safety . Poisonous gases can cause irreparable damage to the human body. The anti-bedbug drug must be both effective against insects and safe for people.
Brand . The wide distribution and availability of cans or packages of the same brand indirectly indicates its demand, and therefore its effectiveness. On the other hand, popular products are often counterfeited, so be careful!

There are also such common parameters as ease of use and versatility (the ability to deal with other harmful insects). These are secondary properties that are also important, but we are talking about drugs for bedbugs here.

Traditional methods for fighting bedbugs

There are also a lot of traditional methods. Some come up with recipes themselves, while others use time-tested ones, such as:

Wormwood, tansy and other plants that emit an unpleasant odor. In this case, it is important to understand that you will not remove bedbugs forever (especially from the mattress), but only drive them away for a certain period of time.
A vacuum cleaner is a more effective folk method, since it can fit into small cracks and suck in all the accumulations of parasites. After vacuuming, be sure to empty the bag from the trash can and wash it at 90 degrees.

Why are furniture bugs dangerous? What diseases can be transmitted to humans?

If insects live in an apartment, a specific smell will soon appear - this is a sign of the presence of a large number of individuals. They leave behind excrement; when laying, females secrete a secretion that secures the eggs to surfaces. As a result, the intensity of the odor increases. At the same time, the sanitary condition of the home deteriorates.

Another danger when an apartment is infested with bedbugs is the increased risk of developing allergies in people who are attacked by pests. The body's reaction is always different. Sometimes the size of the red spots reaches 5 cm, while swelling is visible, the person experiences severe discomfort due to intolerable itching and painful sensations.

However, unlike other parasites, when they bite, these pests do not transfer pathogens to the victim. Dangerous microbes remain in the digestive tract of bedbugs. Theoretically, there is a risk of contracting hepatitis, typhus, tularemia or other diseases if you crush a bug on your hand immediately after it has become saturated. In this case, the condition must be met - the presence of damage to the human skin.

Safety precautions for chemical processing

Before starting work, put on gloves, a mask, a protective suit (if available), and goggles in order to eliminate the risk of contact of the chemical with the skin.
Headwear is required.
After treating the room, be sure to wash your face and hands with soap, go outside, change clothes and wait a few hours for the chemical to give results.
Ventilate the room well.