Are there bugs in the apartment? Most people share their homes with unwanted guests: insects. Whether they jump, crawl, run, or fly into your home, insects tend to settle if they can find food, water, and shelter. Discover some of the best bed bugs hiding places and how you can make your home less friendly to these home bloodsuckers.
There are several key signs that bed bugs are active in your home.
- At night or in the morning, you wake up with bites, sores or rashes.
- You find dark spots or blood spots on mattresses, pillows, or bedding. This is the waste of linen bugs, released during the digestion of blood meal.
- Oh God! You found in your bed or in some other places eggs or skins after molting of these domestic insects.
- Remember, though, your inability to locate the insect does not mean they are absent. Finding adult bed bugs is difficult because over the centuries of evolution they have learned to hide well, and immature bed bugs are difficult to see due to their tiny size.
How bedbugs get into an apartment
Having a problem with red bed bugs? Are you wondering how bedbugs get into your apartment? There are many such paths. Bed bugs can roll around in your suitcase and with the joy of earnest travelers settle in a new place or come to visit complete with used furniture purchased on Avito (especially beware of used mattresses!). They teleport wonderfully on your clothes. Critters can even travel from a nearby apartment to your home.
From neighbors
Does your neighbor have bed bugs? The only thing that can be worse than bringing the brown bloodsucking traveler home from vacation or trip is to survive their invasion crawling from the next apartment. Are you worried that if your neighbors in the entrance or on the staircase are infected, then you will too? You are correct in your fears.
The good news: There are many ways to protect you and your family from the bed bugs that live in the closest access behind the wall.
Nature trip
Bed bugs do not live in forests and meadows, they are “pets”, “children of civilization”. You can bring them from a trip, even from distant countries, but they will join you in hostels, hostels and even hotels, but not after a tourist trip on kayaks or taking Everest.
Evolutionarily, it so happened that they do not have wings, and there are no adaptations to quickly move on the grass, because in nature there is nothing useful for them: after all, their main goal and passion is to always be near the source of food - a person.
And by the sea on the sand or on the pebbles, you can be bitten by anyone, but not a bed bug. This is not his element.
Furnished
Can bedbugs live in wooden pieces of furniture? They love it! And any other hideout they can squeeze into.
Although little brown vampires do not like nature, they have great reverence for natural wood products. Wooden furniture provides excellent shelter for them.But simply removing wood furniture from your room or home won't prevent bed bugs from breeding and living happily ever after.
Still, how can you avoid bed bugs in your furniture? What rules should be followed so that bedbugs do not start in the apartment?
Learn their laws of survival!
Bed bugs do not chew wood in search of good shelter. But they love cracks, corners and other small spaces. For this reason, when choosing new furniture, especially used furniture, opt for items with hard, flat surfaces. Items that are cracked or have intricate details will make bed bugs difficult to spot.
Vintage furniture is a popular decor idea among newcomers; it evokes nostalgic feelings. Some items are rare and difficult to acquire and have changed hands. However, many are willing to spend a lot of money to decorate their interiors with antiques and achieve the perfect design image of their home.
When shopping for every used piece of furniture or if you are bothered by bed bugs in your furniture, do a thorough search. Take out the drawers and unscrew all the parts that can be disassembled by cleaning each one separately. Signs of bed bugs include black spots and shed skins. Be sure to inspect and clean all items before bringing them into your home.
On clothes
Where and how do these ubiquitous insects appear in a clean house? Bedbugs have their favorite places - cracks in furniture, behind the baseboards, but if a small bug settlement has grown to the scale of a metropolis, then they can comfortably go into your closet for linen.
House bugs prefer clothing with multiple seams that are easy to hide in. They are especially likely to settle in pajamas, home clothes, underwear, since all this smells most of all of your body. If you find small things with brown spots on things, then they live there.
Bedbugs love soft, loose fabrics, and they do not like leather and fur products, because their legs slide on a smooth surface and cannot grab the fur, all this prevents them from moving quickly. In addition, fur coats and leather products do not have enough to contact your naked body, so pests do nothing there.
INTERESTING!
Can bedbugs bite through clothing? No, their jaw apparatus is not that strong for that. Although their bites are an unpleasant thing, especially for children.
With household appliances
In household appliances, there are a lot of places where bugs can hide comfortably. But they are only interested in these places of residence if they are in the immediate vicinity of your sleeping place.
TV at your feet? Yes! A comfortable place, although the flat screen leaves little room for hiding in it, not like the luxurious suites in the lamp TVs.
A computer at the head of the bed? Why not?! There are cozy slits in there. For example, it is good to digest food under the monitor, as it is rarely moved.
A bug will not choose a smartphone, unless it settles in your fabric case, in order to glorify itself in front of descendants, as a pioneer, and courageously go in search of food in new houses and apartments. This is how you can make your friends or work colleagues happy.
In the age of electronics, bedbugs keep pace with the times. If your laptop is lying under the bed for a long time, then there are sure to be curious bed bugs who want to try on the title of computer bugs. The habit of sleeping in bed with your laptop will help you breed this new breed.
Basements and attics
- From time immemorial, neat housewives have been worried about the question: where do the bugs come from?
- What to do if bedbugs start in the basement or in the attic?
- It depends what you store there!
The basement provides two things that insects crave: darkness and dampness.Insects that most often hide in basements: centipedes, bugs, silverfish, spiders, crickets, ants. Bed bugs can live in your basement only with homeless people.
Could bed bug infestations come from the attic?
If no one lives in the attic, it is simply too far from any food source for the bugs to choose it as a place of residence. If you bring bed bugs home with you (which is the main cause of bed bug infestations), they probably aren't going to make their way into the attic! They are going to find a place near you to hide.
But does that mean you shouldn't have to worry about bed bugs in your attic? Bed bug infestations are not common in attics, but they can occur.
When you move into a new home, you may not know the history of the attic. Don't be afraid to ask if people have slept in it. If the answer is yes, inspect the attic for signs of infestation. Bed bugs can go months without food - sometimes longer than a year.
An existing loft bed bug infestation can easily spread to the rest of the house if you are not aware of it. If there are bed bugs in there, you can be sure they are just waiting to get to where people are staying.
If you keep your luggage bag in the attic, thrown there right after the trip. If you have a dump of used furniture there. If unnecessary clothing is stored there. All of this can be a problem.
If pigeons or bats live in your attic, then with their help, a nest of bugs can also form.
Untidy guests and visitors
Bedbugs travel in public. Their personal taxi is your suitcase, wallet, backpack or clothes. This is one of the most common ways bed bugs get into an apartment. If people who have bugs at home come to visit you, then they can simply share with you these night bloodthirsty treasures, so do not be surprised where these copper-skinned creatures came from.
On animal hair
Pest control experts have seen bed bugs feeding on pets, but no one knows if they prefer animals. Reflecting on what causes bugs in an apartment, we can assume that they enter the house through the hair of cats and dogs, but they will not live there permanently, like fleas. However, a pet can carry a bed bug from one room to another.
Since bed bugs rarely feed for more than 10 minutes, and their legs don't touch the hair, twenty minutes of haircuts outdoors can help you unwind.
The main recommendation on how to get rid of an annoying insect: turn on common sense. We try to check all our bedding and bedding and pet cages, wash and dry clothes and clothes (hot for 60 minutes) or freeze (within 2 weeks).
Examine furniture, floors, and walls near your animals' sleeping areas.
Repairs
After major reconstruction or renovation, new residents may arrive. Where do they come from? It's simple: bugs can live in crevices, between walls, but he does not like to be disturbed. And if someone has started a renovation nearby, they can move to you, since proximity to food is more important to them, and they prefer cluttered and old apartments, rather than freshly renovated ones.
However, repairs are not a panacea for destroying bedbugs forever, and do not have the illusion that if you changed the wallpaper and covered up the cracks, then you cleverly got rid of the previous bloodthirsty tenants. The solution to the problem, what to do if there are bugs in the apartment, may be as follows. Consider all the options for how bedbugs appear in the apartment. It is better to carry out a complete disinsection before starting the repair. And all things, before placing them, additionally inspect, in case of lurking there, in anticipation of a better life, furniture bugs.
Purchases
Be careful when buying used clothing. Make sure you take a close look at it. Carry clothing in a sealed bag so that nothing can enter or leave the container. Once you get home, clean your clothes following the tips for handling fabrics and items.
Do not bring home used items in poor condition purchased on Avito. Mattresses, springs, wooden or upholstered furniture are especially dangerous. Bed bugs can infect these items.
If you want to take one of these used items home, take a close look at them. Steam them with hot steam. Place mattresses or spring mattresses in an insect repellent cover after hot steam.
Do bedbugs live in a private house
These hardened red dwellers are everywhere where people live, their main source of food. Therefore, there are all the reasons for the appearance of bedbugs in the house. A private house is a very comfortable home for them. And they can initially get into your house, as it was written above in things that arrived from infected places.
Where do bedbugs come from in a private house in winter
If you live in a private house in winter, then why don't bedbugs live next to you? Only if the house is empty all winter and the temperature in it is -18 degrees, they will die. However, keep in mind that in this method of struggle, not only bedbugs will freeze, but also all your communications in the house.
Professional destruction based on the temperature method
Sanitary and Epidemiological Services use two methods - hot, cold fog treatment. The effect of temperatures is combined with insecticidal agents. The methods give 100% results, are considered the most effective.
Hot mist treatment
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Air is pumped into special equipment - a fog generator. An insecticidal substance is also served there. In the process, the poison comes out along with the hot air in the form of tiny droplets. A cloud of fog is created in the room, which lasts for 10 hours.
During this time, hot particles of the insecticidal agent penetrate into all the cracks of the room. When cooled, they settle on the surface, thereby creating a layer of poison. Professional processing gives 100% result.
However, it is recommended to enter the premises in a day. Otherwise, you can get poisoned yourself. Hot air slightly increases the humidity in the room, which is one of the advantages of the method.
Cold fog treatment
The principle of operation is similar. Only hot air comes out, but cold air. The molecules of the insecticidal agent are much larger, so they settle faster. The fog cloud lasts only 4 hours. During this time, the poison spreads throughout the room.
The main task is performed by an insecticide. It is he who gradually poisons the entire generation of bedbugs. This method significantly increases the humidity in the room, household appliances may suffer. Before processing, you need to worry about its safety.
The method of generating steam differs from the usual disinsection with an insecticidal agent in the ability to evenly distribute the poison over all surfaces. When using a spray, this is almost impossible to do.
It is necessary to follow all the recommendations of specialists, not to enter the room ahead of time. In developed countries, after disinsection, an apartment is not allowed to enter it for about a week. Which is very correct from a security point of view.
Signs of the presence of domestic bugs
Now that you know the causes of brown bed bugs in your apartment, look for clues on the bed and in the most secluded places. At the beginning of an infestation, bed bugs tend to hide near where they feed. They hide under a mattress and a spring, that is, next to a sleeping person whom they will bite. Bedbugs are able to fill the entire surrounding space.
Here are examples of possible hiding places:
- Springs, seams and mattress bottoms, bedding hems. Headboards, bedroom furniture and drawers.
- Clothes, backpacks, bags and suitcases. Chairs, wheelchairs, sofas and covers. Carpets and curtains.
- Heated skirting board and electrical outlets. Peeled tapestry, frames and posters on the wall.
- Cracks in plaster, wood or floor. Papers, books, telephones, radios and watches.
The larger the infestation, the more bed bugs will spread to other rooms in the home and other areas due to close contact with commonly used items such as clothing, bags, wheelchairs, mattresses, sofas, etc.
To ensure that bedbugs are present, inspect all hiding places.
Avoid applying insecticides on your own to try to get rid of bed bugs. This can harm your health and make it difficult to remove bed bugs.
When you arrive at the hotel, put your suitcases in the luggage racks or in the bathtub. Do not store your clothes and personal belongings in drawers or place them on the floor or bed. The red bug does not sleep! He is ready to hide in your things, because he is always ready to emigrate. This is how they get started with new owners.
Take a quick look around your bedroom, especially your bed. If you find bed bugs in your room, on your clothes, or elsewhere, put all your personal belongings in a plastic bag. Seal the bag and store your belongings in it until you process them. When you return, place your luggage on a hard surface such as the bathroom floor, driveway or garage floor. Check your luggage carefully.
The presence of a specific smell
Do you think that an unpleasant smell has gone through the apartment? And now you're wondering if bed bugs smell? Is this purely academic interest or do you want to search for them by smell?
If we talk about the smell of bedbugs, then the proverb that, how many people, there are so many opinions, works very well. For some, bedbugs smell like cilantro, for someone, cilantro smells like bedbugs. Someone smells the bedbug aroma in brandy, however, there are almost no people who smell of brandy bedbugs.
Bed bugs certainly have a specific smell, but you shouldn't sniff out their scents to find them in your apartment. They are easier to find visually.
And the most reliable: they called sanitation and after that sleep peacefully in the literal sense of the expression.
The presence on the bed of small brown spots and black dots from bedbugs
Interestingly, bed bugs change their shell at least five times before they reach maturity. It is known exactly when they changed it, because then they are white. They are also known to suck blood into a dark red or black spot on their body.
Distinguishing between bed bugs can be difficult as they are small in size and hide in small holes and cracks. However, evidence of bed bugs and bedding can be found.
They leave dark brown or black spots on infected surfaces and have a specific smell (rotting raspberry).
They prefer to hide in thin crevices and dark places where they remain hidden and protected. They emerge from their hiding places on dry surfaces and do not like moisture.
Favorable temperatures for their development range from 18 to 35 ° C. They like a warm home environment and usually show up at night, with a peak of activity between 22:00 and 06:00, but if they are too hungry, they can also during the day.
Bites on the body
Bedbugs bite on the back. Mosquito-like bites also cause itching Bites that appear on parts of the body that are not covered by a blanket or sheet while sleeping during sleep. The first bites may be grouped or in a single line on your skin if you have slept in a heavily infested area.If you continue to live in an infected area, the bites will occur in succession all over your skin.
What to remember
- Bedbugs can get into the interior of the car on clothes, things, in the bags of the person in whose house they are wound up, on the fur of dogs or cats.
- In a car, insects hide in the seams, folds of the upholstery of the seats, in crevices and cracks.
- You can get rid of the presence of parasites with a set of sanitary measures, special means. This takes a long time.
- Chemical treatment of living quarters, garages, cars requires special protective clothing, gloves, respirators.
- To completely get rid of bloodsucking, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures after disinfection once every two weeks.
See you in the next article.
How to prevent bedbugs
Bed bugs can have a significant impact on human health and quality of life. Therefore, it is very important to know how to detect them in order to act quickly to prevent and effectively control bed bug infestations.
Recognition of bed bugs and their eggs.
They are visible to the naked eye. You just need to understand how they look.
An adult bed bug is usually brown in color. When filled with blood, its color ranges from red to dark brown. It is oval in shape and the size of a flattened apple seed, with a length of 4 to 7 mm. He does not jump or fly. He moves with the speed of an ant. Life expectancy is 5 to 6 months. However, it can live for over a year without food when it is dormant.
Bed bug eggs are whitish in color. They are about the size of a pinhead, arranged in groups and attached in various small narrow places. They hatch 10-14 days after laying.
INTERESTING
Bed bugs are most active at night. They mostly live in bedrooms. They avoid light, seeking refuge in dark, narrow and inaccessible places.
