Bed bugs are such insects that can not catch the eye of a person for a long time, but at the same time parasitize on him. These rather cunning pests select for themselves such habitats, which are located in the most secluded corners of the apartment. During the day, as a rule, bedbugs rest, breed, and also digest food. At night, parasites move closer to a person, after which they begin to quietly suck blood from him. How to detect bed bugs? This is not always easy to do, you need to know exactly what signs may indicate the presence of these parasites.
General description of bedbugs
Before answering the question of how to detect bedbugs in your room, you need to understand in more detail what exactly these insects are. A bed bug, also often referred to as a bed bug, has the following characteristics:
- The body of parasites is flattened, presented in the form of a match head or an apple seed.
- The shade of bed bugs can vary from dirty yellow to dark brown. Body color will depend on the age of the bug. At the initial stage of development, these insects are almost transparent. However, the older the parasite becomes, the darker its color becomes.
- The size of the body, like its shade, will depend on the age of the parasite, and ranges from 1.5 mm to 9 mm. Thus, the older the insect, the larger it will be.
- The bug has a pair of eyes, a special proboscis with which it pierces the victim's skin, six legs. The bug also has antennae, with which it orients itself in space.
- The bugs eat exclusively the blood of mammals. When the bugs are saturated enough, their body swells up and becomes reddish in color. The speed of its movement will also depend on the degree of saturation of the insect. As a rule, hungry parasites move quite quickly, so it is almost impossible to catch them. Full bedbugs become almost immobile.
- Insects don't have the ability to jump and fly. If the parasite fell from the ceiling or wall, then this means that he simply could not hold on to the surface on which he crawled with his paws.
- Bedbugs are also characterized by disorganization. Although, they form the so-called nests where they gather. However, this concept can only be called conditional. These insects can hide in groups in a certain place, but finding and destroying only one nest will not affect the existence of other parasites in any way. Therefore, sometimes it is not possible to detect bedbugs all at once.
This characteristic allows parasites to be elusive for a long time. The size, shape, and color of the bugs largely prevent the mechanical impact exerted by humans. In order to detect bedbugs and destroy them, you often have to resort to a variety of ways to deal with this parasite.
Where do parasites come from?
Some people believe that the appearance of these insects in the apartment is connected to some extent with the pollution of the room. However, the opinion that bedbugs are found only in unscrupulous hosts is erroneous, since for this type of insect the main reason for living in a particular room is the presence of a person there, so the situation does not play any role here. Talking about how to detect bed bugs, it should be noted that in a dirty room it will be much easier for these insects to hide traces from a person after themselves, and nothing more.
From neighbors
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that quite often the bugs run into the apartment from neighboring rooms. Quite often this is observed when neighbors begin to pickle these insects in their apartment. They, in turn, begin to flee through the existing cracks in the walls, baseboards and doors. Another possible reason for the relocation of bedbugs is the long absence of tenants in the room, because parasites need food to live.
Public places
When asked how to detect bed bugs, it should also be mentioned that they can live in public places, such as clothing markets, shops, hotel rooms, dressing rooms. In this case, a person can become a carrier of an insect on his clothes, because the parasites move very quickly, especially if they have already found a new victim for themselves.
Thus, absolutely any person or piece of furniture can bring new tenants into the room. No one is immune from such trouble. While providing information on how to deal with and how to detect bed bugs, it should be noted that at the beginning of their life, these insects are very difficult to notice. This is because young parasites are pale and small in size.
How to detect bedbugs in the apartment?
Even those who have no reason to worry sometimes wonder about this issue. Speaking about how to detect bedbugs in an apartment, it should be noted that the following factors will help in this:
- Bad smell. The smell from the presence of parasites can be compared to the unpleasant smell of a missing raspberry. However, such a stench will be noticeable only if there are already a large number of insects in the room.
- Blood stains on the sheets. When considering how to fight and how to detect bed bugs, first of all, you should pay attention to the marks left by the parasites on the bed. If a person tosses and turns in his sleep, then he may accidentally crush several insects under him.
- The resulting dark spots on the wallpaper. Such spotsare traces of the life of bedbugs. Outwardly, they are barely noticeable dark dots. But if a large number of bedbugs accumulate in one place, then these spots become larger. In this case, it is likely that the bedbugs have a nest under the wallpaper.
- When considering how to detect bedbugs at home, you should also pay attention to the bites of these parasites. As mentioned earlier, insects feed at night. Bedbugs prefer to bite a person on those parts of the body that are open during sleep.
Before you start the fight, you need to know exactly how to detect bedbugs in the apartment yourself. Basically, these insects organize their nests closer to humans, since it is the main source of their food. First of all, you need to carefully clean the apartment. Thanks to this, you can not only notice insects, but also check if there are any things at home that can contribute to the reproduction of parasites.
Also, considering how to detect bedbugs and how to deal with them, it should be noted that they settle in places where a relatively stable air temperature is constantly observed, and also where there is little light. More attention should be paid to the places where a person sleeps, for example, a sofa, mattress, bed. When answering the question of how to detect bedbugs at home, you should also not neglect other household items, be it paintings, toys, switches, carpets, sockets and electrical appliances.
Before you start fighting insects, you need to know whereSpecifically, these parasites can hide. To do this, you will have to examine all the hidden corners in the apartment.
In the mattress
How to detect bed bugs, or rather in the mattress? It will be very problematic to do this, since they mainly settle in the folds or seams, and sometimes in the very depths of the filler. To detect these parasites on the mattress, you need to free it from bed linen, carefully examine the surface, check for yellow spots on it. If there are no such external signs, and the mattress is the only unexplored place, then it will have to be opened and examined from the inside. If the mattress is old, it would be better to get rid of it.
In pillows
Bugs rarely settle in pillows. This is due to the fact that the pillow is much more likely than other bedding to be affected by a person, since he can turn it over several times during the night, and bedbugs love peace. Inconvenient for these parasites are also unevenly distributed fillers in pillows, whether it be feather, down or synthetic material. It is quite difficult for insects to cling to such fillers, but if there is a suspicion that the bugs have settled in the pillow, you need to carefully examine all the seams on it, the folds, as well as the slots for the locks.
In new furniture
How to detect bed bugs in a sofa or other furniture that has been recently purchased? These parasites can also be felt during sleep. The appearance of parasites on new pieces of furniture suggests that they have fled fromold furniture or clothes into new ones. Also, bedbugs can be spread by pets, or rather, their wool. It is necessary to explore the most hidden corners in new furniture. For example, if it is a sofa, then you need to look at its armrests, seats, back, junctions, as well as internal drawers.
In the car
Rarely parasites can be found in the car. The reasons for the appearance in this place are still the same: the transfer of insects in a bag, clothes or other items that are transported in a car. Most often, bed bugs in cars are found in taxis. People who have these parasites at home can carry them to any other place, including a car. To find them in the car, you need to free the interior from unnecessary things, carefully examine the rugs, seats, and also the luggage compartment.
Clothed
If the bugs are wound up in clothes, then this is fraught with the massive spread of these insects. It is worth paying attention to the fact that clothing for these parasites is not the best shelter. However, as a temporary hiding place, wardrobe items are ideal for bed bugs. They can move to clothes from the closet, sofa, bed. In the summer, you should pay attention to the fact that all fur clothing should be excluded from suspicion, since bedbugs do not like to hide in it. Even for temporary shelter, parasites will not live in fur. To find them in clothes, you need to carefully examine the hard-to-reach places on the products: locks, seams, linings.
What do bites look like?
Beforefind these parasites in their apartment, many often find the bites of these insects on their bodies. As noted above, bedbugs feed exclusively on human blood. For safety reasons, they only hunt at night.
Insects prefer to bite mostly smooth areas of the skin, so they bypass hairy surfaces. This is the reason parasites do not bite pets.
Many quite often confuse bedbug bite marks with an allergic reaction. After a bite, a red spot appears on the body, which often swells, in parallel with this, burning and itching also appear. In this case, many begin to take various antihistamines, but, as a rule, no result is observed in this case. Then you need to pay attention to how the spots on the body are located relative to each other. The fact is that the bugs leave bites after themselves in the form of a path, that is, the spots are arranged one after another. This is due to the fact that after biting once, the parasite moves on, after which it makes the next bite.
Parasites bite absolutely everyone, but statistics show that there are more children and women among the victims. This is due to the fact that the skin of these people is thinner and more delicate, making it easier for the bug to pierce the skin.
Conclusion
In order to never encounter these parasites, you need to be more careful when purchasing new furniture, as insects often start up in armchairs, sofas still onstore warehouse. You also need to carefully inspect your new items, especially if they were purchased on the market.
