Typical habitats for household bedbugs are bedding and upholstered furniture. Nesting in these areas is due to the fact that it is there that blood-sucking parasites have quick access to food sources, that is, human blood. During the day, insects hide in secluded corners, preferring the night version of hunting.
Since they reproduce quickly, the number of individuals increases, which forces some representatives to go in search of new, less populated places. Folds of fabric, drawers and closets with clothes can be considered as such.
Thus, we can say affirmatively about the presence of bedbugs in clothes.
Moreover, this method is one of the options for insects to enter the apartment. If you find bite marks on your body, you should immediately examine the nooks and crannies where parasites may be hiding and take appropriate measures.
Can bedbugs live in clothes?
Ideal conditions for bedbugs to live are the proximity of a food source at night, a comfortable temperature and the presence of secluded places for quiet reproduction.
Then the question arises, why are bedbugs found in clothes and do they live there? Things are not the most typical place for them to live.
If you find a bug on your outerwear or outdoor shoes, you don’t need to panic right away. Most likely, this is a single individual that was brought home from public places or guests.
Bug
It is much worse if insects appear in the dressing room or closets. The presence of other signs of infestation of the home (characteristic bite marks, brown spots on the sheet) means that the colony of bedbugs has grown. There is no room left to create new nests near the bed. Bed bugs have to seek refuge in more distant corners, including in clothing, which is why they are sometimes called clothing bugs.
Consequences of a bite
Symptoms manifest differently in different people. This happens for several reasons.
Firstly, people with rough and thick skin are bitten by insects much less often. Through the hard skin, it is more difficult for the insect to determine the required location and make a bite.
Secondly, the body’s reaction to the analgesic contained in the bedbug’s saliva is different and bites manifest themselves in different ways. For some people, the bite mark may have virtually no visual appearance and may not cause any discomfort. However, this does not mean that pests do not bite it. Others may have a rather severe reaction, which may lead to thoughts of an allergy. Under no circumstances should such people immediately begin self-medication; it is necessary to establish the correct diagnosis and select remedies in consultation with a doctor.
For young children, bedbug bites can be a strong psychological traumatic factor, because bedbugs bite mainly at night, which leads to a severe deterioration in the quality of sleep, which is very important in childhood.
Allergy to bed bug bites
Bedbug bites can result in unforeseen complications. One of the most unpleasant consequences is an allergy to bedbug bites, in which a severe rash spreads throughout the body, causing pain and itching.
Severe irritability also occurs, possibly fever, weakness and dizziness.
Remember! Any unpleasant or alarming symptoms should be reported to your doctor immediately. Especially if you have been bitten by bedbugs for the first time, and you do not yet know your body’s reaction to such an irritant.
How to distinguish a bite from an allergy
A bug bite in all cases causes skin itching, no matter where it is produced. When people notice this symptom, they mistakenly believe that it is an allergy to bedbugs. It is not easy to distinguish it from the consequences of bedbug bites, but in the case of an allergic reaction, not only does the skin itch, but other symptoms are also added.
In any case, quick and proper treatment is required, because even without allergies, home bug bites can cause unpleasant consequences and leave permanent marks on the skin. Infections easily get into such wounds, which can cause fester and more serious consequences.
What kind of clothes do parasites like?
Bedbugs, settling in a closet with things, give preference to:
- places that are closer to the bed;
- worn and unwashed clothing that retains the scent of the victim;
- underwear, pajamas, shirts, dressing gowns, as they are closer to the body;
- without a fleecy surface. For example, it is difficult for them to move on fur products, so parasites are not found in fur coats.
When choosing a place for a nest, the insect does not pay attention to the naturalness of the material. What matters to a bedbug is whether there are comfortable folds in a person’s clothing, numerous seams, and pockets where they can live and reproduce.
Rules for treating with insecticides
As for removing bedbugs specifically from clothing, certain conditions must be observed when using pesticides:
- Spraying aerosol, spray, etc. should not be carried out near products.
- Before the procedure, take care of respiratory and vision protection.
- After the product has finished working, the items must be washed.
Preparations for exterminating bedbugs in clothes:
- Combat;
- Raid;
- Carbosol;
- Clean house;
- Raptor.
To process the entire apartment, use Executioner, Get, Tetrix, Karbofos.
Features of parasitism
Bed bugs are ectoparasites that need humans only as a source of food. Their usual activity time is night. Hungry parasites that have been deprived of food for a long time can attack a victim during the day. This is how bedbugs get on a person’s clothing while visiting or in public places and move on it to a new home. Sometimes they are brought back from vacation or business trips and placed in a closet along with clothes.
Under normal conditions, an individual goes hunting once every 5–7 days, so things and textiles that are not constantly used can become an excellent shelter for breeding.
Is it possible to bring bedbugs home from guests on clothes?
One of the methods of insect dispersal is passive infection. That is, parasites are transferred from one home to another on clothing, shoes, and in a person’s belongings. Having been a guest in an infested apartment, sitting on a sofa or in an armchair where the owners spend time, rarely changing their position, for example, reading or watching TV, it is quite possible to bring home a bug on their clothes. The risk increases when visiting guests in hostels and hotels. There, due to the frequent change of residents, the number of insects can be extremely high.
Neighbours
This situation is typical for apartment buildings. If your neighbors have bedbugs, they can easily crawl from apartment to apartment. Focusing on their excellent sense of smell, bedbugs will enter your home through the slightest cracks in the ceiling, walls, or through ventilation and sockets.
At the same time, if neighbors begin pest control, the remaining bedbugs can migrate en masse into your apartment. In this case, it is important to act together and carry out disinfestation at the same time. Most likely, your neighbors will warn you in advance about the impending disinfestation and ask you to carry out the treatment themselves - if the parasites run away to you, then nothing will prevent them from returning back in a couple of months.
Herbs and “smelling” household chemicals can also be used as a preventive measure. Bedbugs cannot tolerate strong and pungent odors due to their sensitive sense of smell. Wormwood, tansy, kerosene, denatured alcohol, turpentine - all of these products can be used to treat potential entry points. Since the effectiveness of such products is not very high, it is recommended not to skimp on a good insecticide - high-quality prevention will cost less than complete removal. The most accessible and convenient tool is Mashenka chalk, which can be used to circle all suspicious areas. A mosquito net should be installed over the ventilation holes.
Signs of the presence of insects
Having discovered traces of bedbug bites on the body, and having found them from a nest on the bed, you need to equally carefully examine the furniture and things in it. If there is an unpleasant characteristic smell in the closet or dressing room, then perhaps insects have already settled here. Stains on clothing of unknown origin will also indicate the presence of parasites. The fabric easily absorbs biological fluids secreted by bedbugs. Brown and yellowish spots remain in these places. Upon closer inspection, you can find dark grains, scales from the chitinous shell, and shells from eggs. All this is a clear sign that bedbugs have made their nests in clothes, which means that treatment of things cannot be avoided.
Nest
Appearance of bloodsuckers
Bedbugs are small insects 3-8 mm in length . Most often they are brown in color - from light to dark. After the blood is pumped, they acquire a reddish tint or turn black. The lifespan of an individual is one year . The female is capable of laying up to 500 eggs and in 40 days many new specimens hatch from them.
If there is a shortage of food, they can hibernate and emerge from it when favorable conditions arise. When the temperature drops to minus 15, the insect dies . The bug emits a characteristic odor when crushed.
Clothes bugs - photos of insects:
Destruction of bed bugs in clothes
When preparing an apartment for pest control, it is imperative to check not only the furniture, but also the clothes in the closet for bedbugs. In order not to leave a chance for parasites to hide from destruction, it is worth treating all things, even if no traces of insects were found in them. The bug could accidentally get into the closet with the owner’s clothes and not have time to settle there. If no action is taken, then as soon as the insecticides stop working, he will quickly move closer to the bed and begin to create a new colony.
Before you begin treating your clothes for bedbugs, you need to sort them into categories. Some things will not survive high temperatures, some materials do not tolerate chemical exposure. The difficulty is that you have to use different methods to kill these insects.
Features of clothing processing
It is better to treat things against bedbugs before disinsection of the premises. And during it, it is important to prevent parasites from getting into clothes again when the insects begin to look for shelter. Therefore, after cleaning, things must be placed in containers so that not a single individual gets inside the package.
You will immediately have to come to terms with the fact that you will have to throw away some of your clothes, as traces of insect activity can leave stains that are difficult to remove.
High and low temperature treatment
Since parasites die at certain temperatures, it is possible to get rid of bedbugs on clothes using thermal methods. This:
- Cold. When the frost outside is below -150C, you can take things out onto the balcony for up to 4 days. At this temperature, not only adults will die, but also insect larvae and eggs. In some cases, you can use the freezer by placing hermetically sealed items there for several days. After that, all that remains is to rinse them.
- Heat. Washing at temperatures above +600C can also destroy bedbugs. After this, things should be ironed with a steaming iron. If for some reason it is impossible to wash things, then using a steam generator can also solve the problem.
In the cold
Sometimes there are tips for placing clothes in the sun, but this technique is not effective due to the low ambient temperature. Having fallen into suspended animation and waited out unfavorable conditions, the bug is able to breed again in the apartment.
Chemicals
Before you start treating things for bedbugs, you need to make sure that household members are not allergic to the composition of the pesticide. To destroy parasites, you can use sprays, aerosols, and powders. When choosing, you should give preference to new products, since insects could have developed immunity to familiar poisons.
Procedure:
- Treat clothes according to the instructions for the insecticide against bedbugs.
- Pack items in a bag or container and close them carefully.
- After the period specified in the instructions, take out the clothes, clean them of insect remains and wash them.
- Hang outside to ventilate to remove chemical smell.
- Iron with steam.
When using insecticides, you must follow safety rules so as not to cause harm to health.
Folk methods of struggle
Most traditional methods for processing clothing are currently unsafe to use. In recent years, fabric compositions have changed greatly, and products such as kerosene, alcohol, and vinegar can permanently ruin the item.
Aroma lamps and bouquets of plants can repel, but not completely remove bedbugs. They can be used for preventive purposes. For example, plants such as:
- lavender,
- sagebrush,
- tansy,
- rosemary,
- thyme,
placed in a closet will prevent parasites from settling in things.
Migration from neighbors
There are many ways how bedbugs get into an apartment. The penetration of insects has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the inhabitants of the living space. Most often, bedbugs come from neighbors. This usually applies to older buildings. Insects have a small body, so they can easily climb through cracks, and also crawl along the surface of the house, which allows them to spread throughout all nearby rooms.
When neighbors are being disinfested, frisky individuals begin to actively move to a new place. A small gap is enough for bloodsuckers to settle in another room.
On a note!
The size of the migrating colony is not particularly important. Considering the breeding characteristics of bedbugs, it is enough for one fertilized female to enter the house and literally in a few months the number of individuals will reach several hundred.
If you plan to disinfest your home against bedbugs, you should notify your neighbors about this in advance. They will be able to take the necessary measures to prevent the entry of living creatures.
Penetration of bedbugs into the apartment
