I started "digging," and pretty quickly found creepy bedbug nests-black, big, crawling with insects. After that, our life would never be the same: we started the fight, bought everything that was on sale, and went to battle. What was surprising, the result was not bad, the parasites disappeared, but not for long.
Two more weeks passed, and like clockwork, bedbug bites come back. I fainted and my husband was shocked - how did this happen? We have not touched the parasites yet, I want to ask a specialist why this happened: the bedbugs are not dead, but only hiding, or it's already other pests. But, where do bedbugs come from in the apartment, if we have not brought furniture and other things. Please advise me, I would be very grateful.
The author of the portal answers the question:
In my material below, you will learn about all the causes of bed bugs in an apartment or private home.
What bed bugs look like. How not to be confused with other insects. Close-up photos
The study of the appearance of parasites provides the possibility of their timely detection, because there are similar features in insects of different species. Parameters bed bugs:
- the body is oval, flattened in hunger, after eating noticeably rounded, increases several times;
- the length of the bedbug depends on the sex: males reach 4-6 mmFemale - 5-8 mm, but these are average values, in the world there are both slightly larger and smaller parasites;
- 3 pairs of limbs;
- The color of the carapace is brown, but it varies depending on the stage of insect development (it may be milky at the initial stage, light brown at the intermediate stage);
- 1 pair of tendrils;
- segmented body;
- short and powerful mouthpiece.
Larvae In appearance they do not differ from adults, but their body is much smaller (1-1.5 mm before entering the phase Nymphs). It is important to understand that it is laundry bugs and not other parasites that have appeared at home. Differences between different species of insects:
- cockroaches: these pests are larger, but the larvae resemble bedbugs in size and color, only cockroaches have cercles on the end of the abdomen, as well as long whiskers, and they move much faster;
- fleas: the body size is similar, the coloration is darker, and the body is narrower, and the hind limbs are longer;
- ticks: they have 4 pairs of limbs, by the color and body shape you can confuse the pests, but ticks do not crawl away after puncturing the skin, they can stay on the host's body for a long time, they make only 1 bite.
Where bed bugs live. What kind of buildings they prefer. How they initially appear
To understand, where do they come from parasites, you need to learn more about the peculiarities of their life activity. So, pests feed on human blood, and therefore will try to settle closer to him. First of all, the insects appear in apartment buildings, in the country house, as well as in a private home.
Sometimes pests are found in hotels, less often in inpatient wards, other medical institutions (including medical and preventive institutions), and nursing homes. Human presence is important for parasites, so they can live even in warehouses where the watchman works. Such parasites are also found in poultry houses.
Initially, house bugs enter the premises from adjacent properties (neighboring apartments) or along with belongings.
What are the factors of active dispersal of parasites
To understand what causes bed bugs, you need to know under what conditions they feel comfortable:
- preferred temperatureIn the same period, insects may survive at values of a wider range (+20 ... +35°C), but the rate of development may be somewhat slowed down (when it is cold) or, conversely, accelerated (microclimate is hot);
- unsanitary: If there is no cleaning, no one will notice traces of insects, this explains the rapid reproduction, the increase in the number of pests;
- normal humidity level (dry and very humid air has a negative effect on parasites);
- Many hidden places where pests can hide;
- people living in their homes all the time, which provides access to a food source for bed bugs.
Where do bed bugs come from in an apartment? Pathways of entry
Preventing pests from entering your facility is much easier if you eliminate all probable ways of infesting the room. When researching where bed bugs come from, you should consider that they may be forced (going in search of food, new habitats) or accidental (in a bag, suitcase, etc.).
Nature trip
Bloodsuckers look for food everywhere, even in nature. We need to understand how bed bugs appear in a person's home after such an outing. It's simple: the insects rush to people when they are near them. In nature, parasites can live in hollow trees where small animals exist.
The pests change host at the first opportunity.
Pets
This is one of the rarest ways for insects to enter a person's home. But you still need to understand what causes bed bugs on pets' fur. It happens because of the curiosity and increased activity of animals. They often climb into hard-to-reach places with their muzzles, sometimes running at the neighbors' property. In addition, bed bugs appear in a clean apartment if they are hungry and there is no human nearby. Insects attack animals in this case. In this way, the pet brings the pests on itself.
Neighbors
When a nearby apartment begins to poison parasitesThe insects crawl over to uninfected areas. These insects crawl into uninfested areas. Here they multiply, and soon they have the same problem as their neighbors.
Old things
When clothes are brought home that have not been worn for a long time and have been lying in an infested room, this can cause bed bugs. To find out if there are bed bugs is real, it is necessary to inspect the product. Many people believe that they are clothing parasites, but there are also sofa (furniture) parasites.
In fact, these are all members of the same species - bed bugs. They can come from old appliances, and they live in used upholstered furniture.
Open Space
To understand how bedbugs in the house, you need to consider all avenues. One of them is the emergence in an open space, but infestation is rare because parasites do not tend to stay long without a food source.
Migrant Parasites
Insects crawl into the territory of an uninfested apartment. It is important to understand the reason for the migration of house bugs, where they come from: The insects do not leave the object to find a food source, they move within the same structure. So, the risk of infestation of the apartment is high. Another thing is the appearance of parasites in a private wooden house.
They can only get in here with their belongings.
Traveling Bloodsuckers
Sometimes the answer to the question of where bed bugs come from in an apartment is unexpected. So, you can bring them with you from a vacation, a business trip. But usually it happens by accident. It is important to understand how bed bugs are transferred in this case:
- in the hostel is their nest: because of the large number of parasites actively move at night, trying to overcome the obstacle on the way to a sleeping person, get inside a suitcase filled with things;
- on the train.
Human bedbug carriers
Sometimes parasites brought by guests. If a person does not take care of his appearance, insect eggs are sometimes left on his clothes, less often - adults or young specimens that have not had time to hide.
Favorite habitats and lifestyle of bed bugs in the house
The pests are mostly active at night. However, this is only possible if the parasites have already received a portion of food, otherwise they will attack even in natural light. It is necessary to know how bed bugs appear in the apartment and where they live, which will allow fix the problem. Favorite habitats:
- в couch or bed, where the pests are closest to the sleeping person;
- inside the outlets (if they are near the sleeping area), from here the bed bugs quickly get to their destination;
- on the backs of interior objects (clocks, photos, paintings): when there is not enough space in the furniture, the parasites look for hiding places nearby;
- under the carpeting - this is also where insects hide, if there are already many parasites in the bed;
- inside household appliances: here the parasites find shelter when there are no other opportunities to hide, in addition, the devices must be idle, because pests do not live inside working devices.
Question and answer section
Sometimes it is difficult to understand what causes bed bugs in an apartment. An expert can help you find the cause, and you can ask questions online. An entomologist with 21 years of experience answers the questions.
Why do bed bugs migrate to apartments that are new to them?
Why are there so many bedbugs when there weren't any recently?
Is too large a colony a bedbug nest?
What exactly causes bedbugs not to turn up?
Watch video for free: where bed bugs come from
What should I do if I have bed bugs in my apartment?
You need to find the cause as quickly as possible before you start struggle using insecticides. If you understand why bed bugs infest your apartment, you can avoid them spreading outside the infested property and prevent them from reoccurring in the same property.
Call the exterminators
If pests are also found in neighboring areas (adjoining apartments), you should invite specialists. Disinfestation will solve this problem in 1 day. Then you will not have to think about how bed bugs appear in your apartment. It is important to prepare the room: move furniture away from the walls, free it from things, take out of the room hygiene items, plants, aquarium, products (if any). This method of treatment uses methods:
Both options involve the need to spray poison. A finely dispersed suspension is released, which remains in the air for a long time and gradually settles on surfaces.
Bed bugs die in the apartment because the poison enters the body through the respiratory tract and chitinous membrane.
Repair
If you update the finish of the walls, floor, close the ventilation ducts with fine mesh mesh, eliminate other ways of penetration (cracks in the doorway, windows, floors, where pipes wind up), the risk of reinfestation will be reduced. The effectiveness of the treatment, on the contrary, will increase, because all the insects will die - they will not be able to leave the apartment.
Cleaning
It is necessary to do a general cleaning. This should be done before treatment, which will remove traces of pests. This measure will also provide an opportunity to postpone cleaning after the end of the disinfestation of the premises. This is required in order to kill the offspring of the insects that will emerge from the eggs.
How to get rid of bed bugs in the house, how to treat your home safely and effectively
It is recommended to use a combined method. It requires the simultaneous use of different types of remedies: folk, chemical. First you need to find out how bed bugs get into the apartment. After eliminating all causes, the room should be cleaned.
Bedding is removed from the bed, it must be washed at high temperature.
Furniture is moved away from the walls. Clothes and personal belongings are put in plastic bags, hermetically sealed. Parasites could leave their eggs in pillows, blankets - these items are taken out into the frost (in winter) or left in the sun (in summer), also do with the carpet.
Weed out parasites with household and folk remedies
Applies conditionally safe methodsThe following are some of the most important factors that can not directly destroy the parasites, but help to create conditions in which the insects are not able to exist for a long time:
- Vinegar and water. Prepare a solution, with the ratio of the components - 1:1. It is acceptable to use undiluted vinegar, but it should not be applied to the surfaces, so as not to spoil the material of the coatings. In addition, the smell will remain. It is necessary to spread cotton disks soaked in this substance around the room.
- Wormwood decoction. It is prepared from dried or fresh raw materials. However, it is necessary to take into account that the amount of herb will be different. For example, if a remedy from bedbugs is prepared from fresh raw materials, less wormwood is taken. It is necessary to make the most concentrated decoction, it is used to apply to the surfaces.
- Ammonia alcohol. It is added to the water that will be used to clean the floor. The smell will be felt, but it is weakly pronounced. It is enough to add 1 tbsp. per 1 bucket of water.
Professional methods of action on insects
When deciding what to do if you have bed bugs, consider the specific and most effective remedies:
- hot fog: the equipment releases a finely dispersed suspension, the size of the microparticles is so small that it creates a fog effect, the insecticide does not settle for a long time yet;
- Cold fog: the particle size of the substance is slightly larger, but the poison still manages to poison the parasites through the respiratory tract, then precipitates on surfaces.
Modern chemicals
The fight against parasites by such means is considered the most effective. Household remedies are used at home, at the cottage, in the dormitory:
- aerosol Raid: contains poisons of pyrethroid class, they affect the nervous system of insects, the poison gets on the chitinous shell;
- The Executioner - microencapsulated emulsion, the principle of action is contact;
- Fufanon (contains malathion), the result of treatment is the same as with other means: the parasites gradually die, but you can get rid of them completely after a few weeks, when larvae appear from the eggs;
- Tetrix - a professional concentrated agent, negatively affects the nervous system of pests, is a universal agent - kills a variety of insects;
- Combat aerosol - contains insecticides (imiprotrin, ciprenotrine), which affect bed bugs through the chitinous shell and respiratory tract (if the parasite was there, where the substance is sprayed, as the particles are too large, quickly deposited on the surfaces).
Reviews
Expert tips
- The success against pests - a comprehensive approach: you need to prevent the emergence of new pests, which eliminates all the cracks in the house, close the ventilation, prepare the room, using different types of insecticides, they alternate with a break (at least 2 weeks between treatments);
- re-treatment can be avoided by using hot and cold fog methods or preparations with prolonged action - in this case the larvae will be poisoned as soon as they emerge from the eggs, because the poison retains its properties for a long time.
Conclusion
To get rid of bedbugs, take into account their peculiarities:
- Externally Insects resemble other pests: cockroaches, fleas, mites. They are distinguished by the size of adults and larvae, the color of the chitinous shell.
- Pests appear from neighbors, but there are other causes of infestation: traveling inside suitcases, appliances, on trains, appearing on animal hair and clothing. Insects can enter a person's home in a variety of ways, but they have more opportunities in an apartment than in a private home because bed bugs do not go outside to find food.
- To destroy the parasites use folk methods, chemical preparations, professional means. However, all of them are used after preparing the room, performing cleaning.
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