This type of insects, such as bugs or hemipterans, is the most numerous order among pests and is widely distributed throughout the planet. There are about 50 thousand varieties of them in nature. Bedbugs especially breed and develop in tropical countries. The main part of bedbugs are terrestrial; they live in the soil, on various parts of plants, in forest litter, etc. What do forest bugs eat? Many experts have studied this issue and come to the conclusion that their food is the juice of all kinds of vegetation (depending on the type of insect). This group of bugs includes insects that harm agricultural and wild plants, for example, turtles and stink bugs.
Rare species of insects have chosen to live in the water element. These are swimmers, rowers, water striders, smoothies, and water scorpions. There are forest bugs that prefer to feed on the juice of other insects and their larvae. The main group is parasitic bedbugs. They attach themselves to the animal's body and live on it for a long time, feeding on its blood. Man is no exception; in houses and apartments you can find bed bugs that live in linen fabrics and feed on the blood and scales of human skin. We can talk for a long time about how bed bugs appear, but this certainly does not depend on the order in the house and the quality of sleeping accessories.
Bedbugs - a threat of the 21st century
Until the middle of the last century, blood-sucking insects filled apartments and houses. This is evidenced by both historical facts and works of art. In the feuilletons of M. Zoshchenko, who describes the life of ordinary citizens in post-revolutionary Russia, the bedbug was an integral attribute of communal apartments. The invention of powerful insecticidal drugs pacified the morale of pests for several decades.
However, the new century was marked by a sharp increase in the population of bed bugs. In the prosperous countries of England, Sweden, Australia, and the USA, the number of areas inhabited by insects increased by 50%. Florida suffered the most numerous attacks, where the number of “bloodsuckers” increased 10 times. Outbreaks were noted in Brazil and Colombia. The problem has acquired global proportions.
Bed sheets
Entomologists have identified several reasons for the population growth:
- Development of second-hand markets.
- Increasing the area of heated premises.
- Activation of tourism.
- Rapid adaptation of bed bugs to insecticides.
- The use of ineffective drugs, which is greatly facilitated by advertising, which does not always offer high-quality products.
On a note!
According to statistics, the entire population is at risk, regardless of status, financial situation, sanitary condition of housing, area of apartment or house.
Not everyone has seen the parasite and has a general idea of its appearance, methods of penetration into apartments, and the nuances of feeding and reproduction. However, knowing everything about bed bugs makes it easier to fight them. Insects will not be taken by surprise and even if they appear, you will be able to quickly get rid of bedbugs.
What to do if there are bedbugs in your apartment?
Detection of traces of bedbugs, the insect itself or its nests means only one thing: it is necessary to urgently take measures to get rid of such a neighborhood. In practice, the problem is solved in one of two ways. The first involves the owner’s actions on his own:
- placing in rooms and other premises plants with a strong odor, for example, wormwood, tansy, etc., which are deservedly considered quite effective folk remedies for exterminating or repelling bedbugs that have appeared in a person’s home;
- thorough cleaning of the home in order to physically destroy the parasites that have entered the apartment;
- independent use of various chemicals related to insecticides. Today's Russian market offers an extensive list of such products, many of which are very potent.
The second approach to solving the problem involves turning to professionals - a specialized organization, for example, the regional sanitary and epidemiological service. In the vast majority of cases, this scheme of action turns out to be much more effective. Its only drawback is the higher level of expenses.
But the money spent is compensated by the guaranteed destruction of bedbugs that have infested the apartment. It is achieved through the competent use of modern insecticides, technologies for their practical use and appropriate professional equipment. An additional advantage is the reasonable price level for processing services. A bonus of such cooperation is the provision of warranty obligations, which are documented. This means free pest control if bedbugs reappear.
What does a house bug look like?
A bed bug is a small insect with a flattened body that accepts only one type of food: blood. The color and size of the parasite vary depending on saturation:
- Black bugs are very hungry individuals that last fed 10-14 days ago, barely reach 4-5 mm in length and are practically invulnerable to mechanical impact.
Satiety - In a well-fed state, the insect acquires a scarlet color and greatly increases in size up to 8.5 mm. If you accidentally move, it is very easy to crush a bedbug that has just finished eating. It is these sluggish representatives who leave blood stains on the bed.
- In most cases, the brown bug is found, since the bright color lasts only a few hours after the feast.
Females are slightly larger than males, and their ratio in the colony is the same. For each “young lady” there is one “gentleman”. Bed parasites are characterized by an incomplete transformation cycle. From the eggs, larvae (nymphs) emerge, the appearance of which is a smaller copy of their parents.
Interesting!
The hatched nymph is white, transparent, and often has a miniature egg capsule cap on its head, which resembles a student’s cap. The color of newborns led to the emergence of a myth that there are supposedly white bugs. However, the larva does not remain in this form for long. Driven by hunger, she goes in search of food and, after satiation, acquires the characteristic bedbug color.
Eggs
Recommended barrier protection against bedbugs
Suspension “Get Total”, Russia - microencapsulant anti-bedbug product for 6 months of protection.
Emulsion “Xulat Micro”, Spain – capsule with 3 active ingredients for 6 months of protection.
Emulsion "Delta Zone", Korea - recommended for use with children and animals, capsule for 4 months barrier.
Emulsion "Lambda Zone", Korea - a barrier against bedbugs for 4 months with excellent exterminating properties.
Did trouble in the form of a bedbug infestation still happen in your apartment? It is worth immediately starting to take measures to destroy harmful household insects.
If you can’t poison yourself, we recommend contacting a special pest control service so that you and your family do not suffer from bed bug bites.
Who and when do bed bugs bite?
Adults (imago) and larvae feed exclusively on blood. When bedbugs are active, a person sleeps. Therefore, often, especially in cases where the premises are not heavily infested, the night marches of bed bloodsuckers go unnoticed. Peak activity occurs from 3 am to 5-7 am.
The structural features of the oral apparatus allow parasites to eat with impunity. The insect accurately determines the location of the capillary and plunges its proboscis into it, which is hundreds of times thinner than a medical needle. By piercing the skin, the bedbug injects an anesthetic enzyme through one channel, thanks to which a person does not experience pain during the bite, and through the second channel it draws out blood.
After drinking a portion of blood, the parasite moves a few centimeters and continues feeding. To get enough, he makes 4-5 punctures, a reminder of which becomes a characteristic path. The meal lasts from 5 to 20 minutes. There is no reason to accuse the bug of excessive bloodthirstiness - unlike other bloodsuckers, it goes hunting once every 7-10 days. Nymphs are more voracious - they can attack daily and make painful bites, since their saliva does not yet contain an anesthetic component.
Bites
Contrary to erroneous belief, bed bugs are not picky in their choice of food item. Their victims can be people of any blood group, gender, or age. The only explanation why bedbugs do not bite all people is different susceptibility to bites.
In some people they appear as large red blisters and severe itching, while in others they may be subtle spots that do not cause discomfort. About 70% of people do not notice bedbug bites. Women and children have thinner skin and are more susceptible to external irritants, so they complain of bloodsucker attacks more often than men.
Interesting!
The researcher, on his own initiative, conducted an experiment to identify reactions to bedbug bites. He selflessly offered his hand to hundreds of bloodsuckers. After this, he experienced blurred vision and rapid heartbeat. Such symptoms were not caused by blood loss, but by a reaction to severe itching.
Allergy to bites
Which animal eats bedbugs?
Well-known hedgehogs love to eat animal food. Their varied diet also includes bedbugs. Green toads also love bugs, so not only water striders, but also other species are killed by amphibians.
Like many insects, bedbugs serve as food for birds. For example, the Accentor happily eats even bitter bugs. On occasion, various small rodents, such as mice, also eat them.
Cats and some dog breeds are endowed with a hunting instinct, and bedbugs, along with other insects, are of interest to them from this point of view. Having caught a bug, animals usually eat it.
As you can see, among the animal world there are many who are ready to eat bedbugs. In what situations can a person practically use these biological laws? In the fight against bed bugs, the role of its natural enemies, unfortunately, is too insignificant to count on their help.
But there is a powerful army of insects against the formidable pest of cereals. Research into the effectiveness of telenomin in recent years has prompted the agricultural industry to reconsider crop protection strategies and use chemicals more balancedly.
And here's another thing: some bedbugs are actually eaten by people! So in Japan and the countries of Southeast Asia in restaurants you can try the fried water giant, the white bug, as a delicacy.
Sources:
- “Entomophages of grain bugs in grain agrocenoses of the Volga region” S.E. Kamenchenko, N.I. Strizhakov, T.V. Naumova
- “Biological plant protection” N.V. Bondarenko
Why are bed bugs dangerous?
The main harm and danger of bed bugs lies in their bites. A swelling appears on the affected area with a puncture point in the center and severe itching. When scratching the wound, it becomes possible to introduce bacteria. People prone to allergic reactions experience the following symptoms:
- rash;
- increase in temperature;
- nasal congestion;
- difficulty breathing.
In rare cases, an allergy to bedbug bites and anaphylactic shock may occur.
Important!
With a large accumulation of parasites and numerous regular attacks of bed bugs, anemia may develop in children and the elderly.
Despite the fact that bloodsuckers feed on blood and could be carriers of dangerous viruses and diseases, laboratory studies have not revealed the transmission of fatal diseases through bloodsucking. However, there is a version that the danger is posed by bedbug feces, in which hepatitis B is found. When inhaled, particles of excrement enter the human body and can cause infection. Research in this direction has not yet been completed.
Why do bedbugs appear?
By and large, the answer to the question in the title sounds extremely simple. Bedbugs appear in an apartment or private house if only two conditions are met. The first is to get at least one female inside the dwelling. The second is the presence of a food base, that is, humans or domestic animals.
There are simply no other options for answering the question of why bedbugs appeared in the apartment. For example, violation of sanitary standards is not the reason for such developments. Parasites cannot appear out of nowhere. Any settlement of a human home requires the initial appearance of at least one individual in one of the ways described above.
Features of reproduction
Bed bugs reproduce through traumatic insemination. Entomologists consider parasite mating a fascinating and unique process. The female lacks a special opening. Nature more than compensated for this peculiar defect in the male, providing him with a fairly long, sharp genital organ, which is often compared to a puncher.
Pairing
The male pierces the female's body indiscriminately and injects seminal fluid into her. This could be the abdomen, back, or even the head area. Sperm flows into a special section where eggs are formed. One successful insemination is enough for a female bedbug to increase the number of its relatives by 350-500 individuals. In case of hunger, the formed eggs in the female’s body serve as a source of nutrition for her.
Interesting!
Every 20th bedbug egg is empty. This fact worries scientists less than the cause of unfertilized chicken eggs, but entomologists have not yet been able to unravel the phenomenon.
The female lays eggs in portions: 5 pieces daily. They are tiny in size, oblong in shape and protected by a strong adhesive shell that most insecticides cannot destroy. After 7-10 days, larvae emerge from them; they are distinguished from adults only by their size. Nymphs feed frequently and, as they grow older, renew their shell, which becomes small.
The molting process is quite interesting. The larva bends in an arc, pumps itself with air and the cover bursts in a certain place. From under it the nymph crawls out in a new soft robe. It happens that part of the old shell remains on the insect and it is forced to carry it with it.
Nymphs
Interesting!
A special gland located on the head is responsible for the molting process. It secretes a hormone that enters the blood at a certain interval and signals a change in shell. If a bedbug ends up without a head, it will be able to live without it, but it will no longer have to renew its skin.
After the fifth molt, the nymph becomes a sexually mature individual. Under favorable conditions, development from egg to adult lasts 35-35 days. If things go unfavorably, the process may take up to 100 days.
Animals that are enemies of bedbugs
Among animals there are also representatives that consume pests. Despite their small size, bloodsuckers attract many birds and animals.
Representatives of the fauna are considered predators because they eat worms, some amphibians and arthropods. The hedgehog's diet also includes parasitic bloodsuckers. Representatives of this species are easy prey for thorny animals.
Fact! After eating, pests move slowly because they drink twice as much blood at one time as their body weight.
Hedgehogs are not selective regarding the type of pest. They eat almost all existing varieties. Predators eat only adult individuals. Pest eggs are small in size and difficult to find.
Amphibians
Among the class of amphibians, the green frog consumes bloodsuckers as its main food. Its diet includes water strider. However, other types of parasites cannot hide from a long tongue.
Birds
Many species of birds eat arthropods. Along with animals, their diet also includes plant foods. If it is available, the winged ones will not need bloodsuckers. Only the Accentor are not picky eaters. These birds are ready to eat everything that is small and moves. They even prey on bitter parasites.
Rodents
Representatives of the fauna mainly live in fields where people plant cereal crops. Rodents prefer to destroy not only the spikelets of plants, but also the harmful turtles sitting on them. The main consumer of the parasite is the field mouse. It destroys adult individuals. She finds it difficult to find small eggs. At the same time, the rodent feeds on the bloodsucker either accidentally, or at a time when there is no opportunity to get other food.
Where do bed bugs live?
Bed bugs prefer to live near sleeping areas and even in the bed itself. Insects do not build nests like ants, but still live in crowds. Their lair is an unpleasant sight - large bugs, small nymphs swarming among black feces, discarded shells and eggs.
In addition to clusters, the presence of parasites is indicated by the specific smell of spoiled raspberries, black spots on the wallpaper, and small bloody spots on the sheets. You can find bed bugs in secluded corners of an apartment or house. The most common habitats of bed parasites:
- mattress seams, structural elements of a bed, sofa;
- cushioned furniture;
- inside sockets, household appliances;
- bedside tables, joints of cabinet furniture;
- in clothes, in closets;
- interior items;
- Stuffed Toys;
- cracks, space under baseboards, peeling wallpaper.
Habitats in the house
On a note!
Having identified pests, you should immediately begin extermination of bedbugs through the sanitary service or poison them yourself. For this purpose, it is better to use effective insecticidal preparations in the form of aerosols, sprays, and emulsions. It’s not particularly worth relying on folk remedies for bed bugs. They can only help repel pests for a short period of time.
Who is the head in this house?
where house bugs come from, let’s look at what you need to know about them. Remember that insects can settle in the most inaccessible places, and it is quite possible that during the treatment of a house or apartment, on loggias and balconies, individuals may remain in hibernation and are ready to return to their home. Owners can be confident that the apartment is clean, especially if the treatment was carried out in winter, and in the spring they can discover the appearance of old, but unpleasant neighbors.
In the absence of food, bedbugs can go into pseudoanabiosis. Therefore, even if the home is empty for quite a long time, this does not mean that the insects will die out. The premises may seem clean, but larvae will remain in the cracks, which, once people enter the room, will make them wonder where bedbugs in the mattress come from.
If bedbugs have already lived in the room, then to effectively destroy them, it is necessary to treat not only the home where they were detected, but also the neighboring ones, in order to eliminate the risk of re-infection.
What are bloodsuckers afraid of?
Nature has blessed bed bugs with good adaptability. They lead a secretive lifestyle; in the absence of food, they fall into suspended animation, in which they can remain for about a year; the eggs are reliably protected by a shell, which preserves the population. However, parasites also have vulnerabilities:
- Bedbugs do not like the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, scientists from the United States came to this conclusion and created a means for exterminating small bloodsuckers based on fungal spores. To conduct the experiment, a sheet treated with a solution of spores was used. After walking along it for only an hour, five days later all the individuals died of mycosis. The experimental insects infected other relatives because they carried spores of a fungus that was fatal to bedbugs on their legs.
- At a temperature of +50°C, instant death of the bug occurs at any stage of development. This feature is often used to control bed bugs. Small pieces of furniture and clothes are taken out into the sun on a hot day and “fried” for several hours. At home, irons and hot water are used. Treatment with a steam generator is very effective and less labor-intensive.
Death temperature - Low temperatures of minus 18°C also destroy bloodsuckers.
- Strong pungent odors of wormwood, tansy, wild rosemary, vinegar, turpentine, paints and perfumes repel bed guests.
- Bedbugs don't like dampness. Once on a wet surface, they begin to crawl, as if on tiptoe, afraid to get their abdomen wet.
On a note!
Entomologists used the fear of dampness bugs to collect experimental specimens. If a large accumulation of parasites is detected on the wall, a wet rag is spread on the floor. With a sharp movement using cardboard, the individuals are shaken off onto the floor. When caught on a wet rag, bedbugs behave as if paralyzed and can be slowly and carefully placed in a jar.
How to destroy?
If bedbugs do come from somewhere, or at least there are suspicions of their presence in the apartment, then the fight can be carried out in different ways. The most common and accessible means are industrial aerosols. But sometimes their use is impossible for some reason and you have to use ancient folk methods or resort to the services of professionals.
Folk methods of struggle
Traditional methods of getting rid of bedbugs include not only the use of repellents. Help to destroy bedbugs:
- Thermal impact. Bedbugs die at high and low temperatures, so in hard-to-reach places (on furniture and mattresses) they are destroyed in 2 ways. In the first case, you will need a steam generator, which is used to clean upholstery. The steam will kill the insects that inhabit textile items. Linen and clothes can be washed or boiled. Cold is considered an alternative to steam: to prevent the introduction of bedbugs with used furniture, the purchase can be left in the cold (-10°C and below) for 24 hours in winter. This is enough to kill larvae, eggs and adults.
- Scaring away. The smells of strong-smelling plants will prevent bedbugs from settling in your bed or sofa. You can use lavender, wormwood, tansy and other aromatic herbs. They will have to be updated frequently, and this method is not very effective.
- Destruction by volatile substances. Traditionally, kerosene and turpentine are used to bait bedbugs. The vapors of these substances can quickly destroy larvae and adult bloodsuckers, but are ineffective against their eggs. The bugs will appear again, and the treatment will have to be repeated several times.
- Mechanical method. It involves manually collecting detected insects. But in hard-to-reach crevices, bedbugs cannot be killed using this method.
Household products
Household chemicals include preparations with cypermethrin and related substances, karbofos, and other pesticides intended for treating residential premises. When choosing, you need to pay attention to what species the drug is recommended for: it is better to poison bedbugs with means for crawling parasites.
Among the available household chemicals, the most effective are:
- Aerosols. Preparations such as Raptor, Raid, Combat Dichlorvos and the like are specially designed to combat various insects. The peculiarity of the application - spraying - allows microdroplets to penetrate even the narrowest cracks, overtaking bloodsuckers even in their shelters. After treatment, parasites sometimes begin to crawl out in large numbers into open areas.
- Solid drugs. Used in 2 varieties: chalk and powder for dusting. Chalk (Mashenka, Brownie, etc.) allows you to create a toxic barrier, upon crossing which the insect will already be poisoned. Returning to the colony, the bug will bring poison to the shelter, contributing to the death of the larvae. The chalk will not affect the eggs, but the bugs will stop appearing, because they will die at the first contact with the chalk strip. Powders are used to pollinate any surfaces inside and outside furniture.
- Solutions. Chemical solutions are prepared strictly according to the instructions. You can use garden preparations (FAS, Karbofos, Fufanon, etc.) and special household products (Executioner, Bedbug beetle, etc.). Spray with solutions and moisten the places where traces of bedbugs are found. The drugs exhibit toxicity within several days or weeks, and treatment is repeated if necessary.
- Gels. The thick form contributes to the long-term preservation of the toxic mark on wooden surfaces. But household gels (Foxide, Get, etc.) stain textile surfaces and have a limited range of applications.
Professional preparations
Among the professional preparations intended for disinfestation are highly concentrated solutions based on the same toxic substances as household chemicals. You can use them yourself, using only the dosages recommended by the manufacturer for preparing the working solution.
Treatment is carried out using spray bottles or garden sprayers, observing safety precautions (protecting the mouth and nose from inhaling the spray).
Products such as Cifox, Sinuzan, Forsyth, etc. should not be purchased in large packages. For 1 liter of solution, 2-5 mg of emulsion is enough, so for home needs it is enough to purchase a package of 50-100 ml. During disinsection, remove everyone who is not involved in the work from the premises for 5-6 hours. After treatment, the apartment must be ventilated to remove odors and toxic fumes.
Interesting facts about bedbugs
Despite their tiny size, insects have amazing abilities:
- The bed bug cannot fly or jump, but shows extraordinary sprinting qualities. An adult individual covers a distance of about a meter in a minute, which allows insects to travel long distances.
- Diving from the ceiling, which is mistaken for flight abilities, is explained not by the cunning or ingenuity of the parasite, but simply by the large size of the colony. To protect himself from the “rain of bugs,” one resourceful person built a frame like a canopy and treated the edges with fly glue. So he managed to spend the night peacefully.
- Male bed bugs are not known to be picky in their relationships. They make 200 matings a day. The female is not always the partner; an alternative to her can be a male from the same family, an insect of a different species, or a young nymph.
- When studying the parasite, the question inevitably arises: what are bedbugs for? They can serve as a food source for spiders, cockroaches, predators, ticks, and centipedes. In ancient times, healers were confident that bed bugs could neutralize snake venom.
Black cockroaches - Parasites identify their prey by the smell of carbon dioxide. At what distance they sense it is still a controversial issue. Modern sources claim that this distance is 2-2.5 meters. Naturalist Bernhard Grzimek, who devoted his life to studying and describing the animal world, is inclined to think that bedbugs’ sense of smell is greatly exaggerated and they detect carbon dioxide at a distance of only 2.5 cm. They find food by remembering the area and walking along the “beaten path” » route. It is enough to move the bed 1-2 meters and for another 3 weeks the insects will wander in search of “lost hunting grounds.”
An equally interesting fact concerns the suspended animation in which bed bugs remain in the absence of food supply. In this state, they actively swallow air and peculiar air bubbles form in the intestines. These traces of a hunger strike can be used as evidence in cases where there is litigation between the tenant and the owner, proving the length of time the bedbug stayed in the given premises and the culprit of the infestation of the apartment.
"Gifts" from neighbors
Among the variety of possibilities for infesting premises with bedbugs, the most common is transfer from neighboring premises. The reason is that it is impossible to completely isolate an apartment from them: they penetrate through doors, sockets, ventilation, etc.
In order not to later wonder where bedbugs in the sofa come from, you need to remember that insects move one by one, therefore, if you regularly carry out wet cleaning and the apartment is not cluttered with furniture, it is quite easy to see the “pioneers”.
Bedbugs often appear in apartments adjacent to the one where disinfestation is carried out. If the treatment is carried out by professionals, there is a high probability that they simply will not have time to scatter to neighboring apartments, but if you are trying to destroy parasites using traditional methods, then there is a high probability that bedbugs will “take over” neighboring apartments.
Description of the species
Insects such as bedbugs have a non-standard development type. They can settle by nesting or burrow methods. They are classified as lurking bloodsuckers. Bedbugs are small, flattened, blood-feeding, wingless insects. Bloodsuckers are both female and male, as well as their larvae. Many people, who are faced with this problem for the first time, wonder where bedbugs live and how to find their hiding places? Insect bugs are afraid of light, so they prefer to be nocturnal. As the day progresses, it becomes very difficult to see them. But as soon as darkness comes, the bugs come out of their shelters and begin hunting.
The main food of a bed bug is human blood. Scientists have proven that insects prefer to bite more delicate and thin skin (women's or children's). A person may not feel the bite, but only then see redness and feel itching. The parasite rarely bites once. If you look closely at the affected area on human skin, you can see a kind of trail of bites. At one time, the adult sucks about 7 mg of human blood, and the larva 1.5 mg.
At low temperatures, insects rarely die; they may not feed for a long time without leaving their relatively warm home. Many experts who study this type of insect talk about how long bedbugs live without food. Their opinions differ. Some say no more than a month, while others say even about a year.
Insect structure
Many bedbugs, the general characteristics of which are similar in all species of a given insect, do not know how to fly. The main feature of all representatives of this order can be called the structure of their wings. Pests have two pairs of them, which are folded and cover the back. The wings are dense in front, and membranous and thin at the edges. A bedbug is a type of insect whose wings are excessively shortened and almost invisible. This structure of bedbugs does not allow them to fly. So the statement that bedbugs fly is nothing more than an invention of frightened and overly squeamish people.
The structure of the oral apparatus
Insect bugs have a piercing-sucking type of mouthparts. The articulated proboscis, located in front of the head, is adapted to pierce a relatively dense structure and suck in liquid. At rest, such a proboscis is bent to the insect’s belly. The jaws of bedbugs are two channels, independent of each other. The first is designed to pass blood into the insect’s body, and the second is to supply saliva to the bite site, filled with an anesthetic.
