Home and bed bugs in urban environments - this, unfortunately, is not uncommon. Their appearance brings a lot of inconvenience to the owners of the home. The problem is that they infest imperceptibly, and already when the appearance of harmful insects is detected due to the large number of them, the struggle with them has to be long and stubborn. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to the presence of parasites in time, then it will not be difficult to destroy them. How to determine whether there are bugs in your house, and how to get rid of them quickly, we will show you below.
Where the bugs come from in the house
Even the owners of a perfectly clean apartment are sometimes surprised to find insect bites on their bodies in the mornings. Many carry out periodic treatments from pests, and yet this problem does not escape them. After all, the appearance of bedbugs is in no way connected with the level of cleanliness. Therefore, it is important to understand what causes the appearance of parasites. There are several:
- Neighbors. Inhabitants of old buildings suffer especially from insects, as they easily migrate from apartment to apartment, even through small gaps and ventilation shafts. Bedbugs can be without food for a long time, and therefore long "trips" for them are not a problem.
- Pets. This is the reason for the appearance of bedbugs is the most common for homeowners.
- Dwellings of domestic animals, chickens, livestock. In rural areas, bedbugs do not cost anything to get into a house, for example, from a chicken coop or rabbit. Sometimes they can parasitize on the body of small domesticated animals and by smell they can find a way to a more appetizing human body, or rather blood.
- Furniture. Buying furniture, especially used, you can easily infect your apartment with bedbugs. Bringing parasites out of furniture is a big problem. By the way, a new sofa can also be infected - the bugs get into it during transportation in a vehicle where old furniture was previously transported as well.
- Equipment. Another way to bring bugs into the house is second-hand equipment. When it works, it heats up, and the heat is a comfortable condition for bedbugs. Therefore, they are happy to climb into the cracks and transported to a new place of residence.
- clothing. Sometimes bedbugs are entered by unscrupulous workers who make repairs to your clothes. Also, you yourself can bring them with you by visiting people whose homes are infected.
- Trips to other cities and countries. Living in hotels, hostels, rented apartments during a trip or business trip, a person can easily bring home with their belongings female bugs, which will actively begin to produce offspring. And the inspection and washing do not always help, because insects can hide in the crevices of the bag, the suitcase, the shoes.
It is also worth knowing that bugs can live for several years in a dwelling and not give out their presence, hiding in those buildings where people do not live for a long time, but with their appearance go outside. Therefore, buying an apartment, you can get such an unpleasant "legacy" from previous residents, like bugs. Moreover, the owners even could not guess that they had such insecure neighbors.
Important! If you suspect that you may have brought harmful animals with you from the journey, then after the trip you need to send things that are not washable, in dry cleaning. Directly upon arrival, they must be packaged in sealed plastic bags.
Reproduction and habitat features
Bed bugs are nocturnal. During the day, they peacefully sit in the cracks, and at night they go out in search of food. Bugs can settle anywhere - in books, in household appliances, in clothes, furniture, under wallpaper, baseboards. Wherever it is warm and dark.
These insects do not build nests, however, they most often prefer to inhabit clusters. Usually in such places you can find dark spots of their excrements, eggs and larvae skins.
May beetles, a bear, a mole rat, a locust, voles, hares, moths, tsikadki, mice, shrews, moles, Colorado beetles do great harm.
Unlike other domestic insects, The bugs are very tenacious. In the absence of a power source, they can fall into semi-anabiosis for a long time. And in this state to live without food and even at low temperatures. The life span of one individual is about a year.
Reproduction in bedbugs is very fast, especially if they have created comfortable living conditions in the form of a warm temperature - + 18 ... +25 degrees and a dark place.
A male needs to fertilize a female only once, so that she breeds to the end of her life. Fertilization of the female occurs by piercing the male abdomen and injecting seminal fluid.
Also bugs are pests of such plants as: sunflower, radish, linden, viburnum, berry yew, rhododendron, horseradish, turnip.
The development of these insects is carried out on an incomplete transformation cycle: the egg — the larva — is an adult. In 24 hours one female can lay up to 15 eggs. Under favorable conditions, the larvae (temperature + 25 ... +27 degrees) are born after three or four days. If the temperature is lower, about +20 degrees, then the hatching process is delayed, it can last about three months. At a fairly low temperature (+15 degrees and below) the development of the larva stops, it falls into anabiosis and waits for the time when the temperature becomes normal for it.
Egg laying is usually located no further than two or three meters from a person’s bed. Most often it is located in the corners of the sofa, in the upholstery of the furniture, in the folds of the fabric, under the plinths, in the sockets, that is, in places where it is difficult for a person to reach.
What is the danger to people
The source of food for bedbugs is human blood. An insect pierces a person’s skin with a proboscis and sucks blood. After the bites, there are red spots on the body. As a rule, there are several of them. They can be located at a great distance from each other or at a very small one - within 0.5 cm. If the room is heavily infected, then about 500 bites can be found on the body in one night.
Bites are painful for humans and deliver discomfort in the form of itching, burning, especially to children. They interfere with sleep, do not give a normal rest, are annoying, and this is negatively reflected on the state of the nervous system and on working capacity. Numerous bites can provoke the appearance of skin rashes, allergic reactions, angioedema, in children - the development of anemia. Also, when combing bites, a person may carry an additional bacterial infection, which will cause purulent rashes.
Did you know? With the advent of bedbugs in the house is connected a lot of folk signs, which mostly promise trouble and hardship. For example, in Germany in the XV-XVI centuries, people believed that when these insects appeared, family happiness leaves the house, and quarrels take their place. Therefore, the Germans tried as quickly as possible to get rid of the misfortune, reading special plots, using boiling water and steam for the treatment.
Together with your saliva a bug may cause pathogens of such diseases in the human body like hepatitis B, plague, tularemia and other infections. It is also possible that they suffer from tuberculosis, typhoid, smallpox. However, we hasten to reassure you that in the medical literature, cases of human disease after a bastard bug are described very rarely.
And only one type of bug is considered particularly dangerous for humans. This is a triatom. It is a disease carrier American trypanosomiasis. Fortunately, this species is rare.
Signs of the presence of bedbugs
Bugs are very small insects with dimensions of only 3-5 mm. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to notice one such individual, especially if a person has poor eyesight. You can suspect the presence of sucking parasites in the presence of one or several of the following symptoms:
- the bites on the body of the residents in the apartment or the house are small red spots located along the path;
- blood stains on the sheet, which are found in the morning;
- the presence of excreta in the form of poppy grains dumped by the larvae of the membranes;
- the presence of a characteristic smell of a spike - it is similar to the aroma of cheap cognac.
Important! Even if you accidentally found in the house of one bug, you must immediately take measures for processing. Insects multiply rapidly, and the larger their population, the longer and more serious the struggle with them.
Step 1: We destroy adult bugs
To destroy bedbugs, you can call a disinfectant brigade (although specially trained people, alas, are not always a guarantee of success) or try to get insects on your own. Below we present several ways to fight.
Chemicals
Today, the market offers a wide range of anti-bed bug products in various forms:
- in the form of powder - "Neopin", "Riapan";
- in aerosols - Dichlofos, Raptor, Karbozol, Raid, Prima-U;
- in fluid - Forssayt, Lacterin, GET, Foxyd.
Also effective are "Actellic", "Fufanon", "Commander", "Out of Work", "Karbofos".
Rapid disposal promise drugs with karbofosom in the composition, however, the active ingredient in them is very strong and dangerous to humans.
Important! When using any chemical means it is necessary to take care of measures of personal safety, as well as the protection of all living in the house, including pets. It is important to strictly follow the instructions for use of the drug.
To treat an apartment with chemicals you will need:
- rubber gloves;
- mask to protect the nose and mouth;
- special glasses to protect your eyes;
- spray gun for spraying agents;
- measuring capacity.
It is rare when you manage to defeat bedbugs the first time. More often it is necessary to resort to repeated or multiple treatments. To increase the chances of achieving the effect, it is necessary to combine several methods, for example, chemical preparations with folk remedies or with mechanical impact.
Before you buy one or another remedy for bedbugs, it is advisable to read reviews about it on the web, as well as to ask retailers.
Temperature exposure
It is known that these insects die at -20 ° C and below and +50 ° C and above. Therefore, all items that may be treated with boiling water or steam using a steam generator. If it is frosty winter outside, then furniture or other household items can be taken out to the courtyard, to the balcony. If it is a hot summer, they should be exposed to the sun.
The advantage of this method is that this way you can get rid of not only adults, but also eggs. Of the minuses - not all fabrics and materials can be subjected to high or low temperatures without harm to them.
Did you know? The fact that bugs annoyed man since ancient times is reliably known from ancient Greek sources dating back to 400 BC. e., and the works of Aristotle. Until the 18th century, bugs were believed to be beneficial - snake bites and ear infections can be treated.
Folk remedies
Another way to combat parasites - the use of folk remedies. They should be used only in the case of a minor infection, at the initial stage.
Clusters of bedbugs are treated:
- boiling water;
- ferry;
- vinegar;
- a solution of kerosene (15 ml), turpentine (10 ml), green soap (30 g), water (100 ml);
- a solution of kerosene (100 ml), turpentine (100 ml), naphthalene (20 g);
- a solution of phenol (20 g), turpentine (40 ml), salicylic acid (3 g);
- a solution of ethyl alcohol (100 ml), turpentine (100 ml), camphor (5 g);
- a solution of denatured alcohol (150 ml) with naphthalene (5 g);
- valerian;
- wormwood - its branches are laid out in bed;
- salt water;
- alcohol;
- hydrogen peroxide.
Mechanical impact
Many people who are faced with infection of bedbugs, advise not just to treat the room with chemical and folk remedies, but also to produce a mechanical effect. It is important to find all the eggs and insect clusters and destroy them by crushing them. Sometimes for such searches you have to disassemble furniture and other structures. Since the bug is a nocturnal insect, it will be necessary to hunt for adults at night.
Calling Special Services
If all of the above methods did not help, or if you simply do not have the time or desire to fight independently, it is necessary to call special services (state sanitary epidemiological station or private company) with appropriate equipment and effective preparations. It is advisable to first read the reviews of the specialists of a private company.
Today, the treatment of premises from bedbugs is made by a ULV generator, by means of which insecticide is sprayed in the form of fog. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount of the substance used, and therefore, to achieve greater safety.
It is important to ensure that your home is treated with drugs which are certified by public services and belong to substances of low risk to humans, i.e., to the fourth group.
Step 2: Destroy the laying of bedbug eggs
Often, the owners of contaminated housing are successfully fighting with adults, however, after some time, bedbugs are again found in their beds. The fact is that killing adult bedbugs is only half the battle. It is also important to destroy their eggs.
There are three ways to get rid of eggs:
- Thermal.
- Mechanical.
- Chemical.
Heat treatment implies dabbing in places of accumulation with boiling water or scalding with steam.
Mechanical way It consists in manual exposure to eggs: wearing rubber gloves, a person crushes them.
When chemical processing should be preferred means which are valid for one to two months. Thus, they will not only kill the adults, but also have an effect on the hatching larvae.
Step 3: Preventing the appearance
In order to prevent the invasion of parasites, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures. These include:
- inspection of a berth in travel or business trip;
- storing bags and suitcases on high shelves in a closet or hallway;
- processing of things and bags, which are taken on a trip, with vegetable essential oils, the smell of which is capable of scaring off insects;
- if you suspect contamination after a trip, wash things at a temperature of 50 degrees or dry clean them;
- Do not purchase used furniture or carefully inspect it before purchasing it, and even better treat it with insecticides;
- avoid pets that live on the street, in bed;
- in case of infection of neighboring apartments, protect your home with the help of the smell of chamomile, essential oils, harsh perfumes;
- thorough isolation from neighboring apartments;
- periodic steam treatment of furniture;
- preventive spraying of ventilation shafts with insecticidal agents.
Safety regulations
If you decide to fight insects yourself, then when applying chemicals personal safety rules should be followed: to work, having protected the face with a mask and goggles, the body - with a bathrobe or with old clothes that protect against accidental ingress of a chemical agent. All protective equipment can be purchased at the hardware store.
Also during the procedure, it is desirable to treat the body with a special agent that repels bedbugs.
If the bug still bit, then The bite must be treated with a disinfecting alcohol. If an allergic reaction develops, an antihistamine should be taken. Itching will help remove such ointments as "Fenistil", "Bora Plus", "Rescuer". If you have a severe allergic reaction or severe discomfort, you should seek medical attention.
Disinfection room rules against bedbugs
When disinfecting a dwelling from bedbugs, it is necessary to follow several rules:
- remove to another place or hide foodstuffs and utensils in sealed bags in order to prevent chemicals from entering them;
- remove children's clothing and toys, after carefully examining them for the presence of insects and their eggs;
- during disinsection, only the person who holds it should be in the room, all people and animals should be outside the home;
- bed linen should not be processed, it should be washed at high temperatures and ironed on both sides;
- treatment with chemicals should be carried out along the upper and lower perimeters: 30-50 cm below the ceiling and 30-50 cm above the baseboard;
- it is necessary to make processing of cracks in windows, doorways, furniture, mattresses, common areas, ventilation pipes;
- some time after treatment, it is necessary to produce a long airing of the room - for 1.5-2 hours, while leaving the house.
Thus, infection by bedbugs in an apartment or house is a fairly common problem, the solution of which must be started as early as possible. To get rid of bedbugs apply several methods, the most effective of which - chemical. When self-applying it is necessary to take care of security measures. If no methods help, then you can not do without calling a specialized service. With a strong infection will require several treatments.
