How to prevent bedbug bites and their consequences?

10/29/201602/15/2017 Maria Ivanova 63 comments

Bed bugs - parasites that bite and suck blood at night - are well known to many. These little vampires not only love to drink blood, but are also capable of introducing a wide variety of infections into the human body.

In order to prevent this from happening, it is imperative to find out as soon as possible, by hook or by crook, what bedbugs are afraid of and how to get rid of them.

It’s just by what means this opportunity is presented, what bed bloodsuckers are afraid of, what they don’t care about and what, on the contrary, they love. These questions require detailed and thoughtful answers.

And only after that, having weighed all the pros and cons of the means and starting from your personal living situation, you need to choose the most suitable options for yourself and begin to remove bedbugs from your own home.

Fighting with herbaceous scents

Before you begin to independently solve the problem using an available remedy, you need to understand that any actions are only temporary, which will only scare off the insects.

Bedbugs are essentially unique creatures with many characteristic features. For example, they perceive and distinguish odors and aromas through receptors located on thin hairs - sensilla, in turn, on which neurons are located. With their help, the existing aroma is determined.

So what herbs can really help when bedbugs bite a person? Which of them, at least temporarily, can get rid of night parasites?

1. Sagebrush. A very effective herb for combating various insects, including bedbugs. Wormwood demonstrates particular effectiveness in complex activities together with other folk or chemical remedies. No less effective for repelling parasites is wet cleaning with a decoction of wormwood. There is only one drawback to using this product – the quick end of the product’s work. Usually after 4 days the effect stops, and the parasites bite again at nightfall.
2. Tansy. Tansy flowers not only repel parasites, but also, due to certain ingredients, lead to temporary paralysis of blood-sucking parasites. To get a similar effect, just scatter the plants in the corners of the bedroom.
3. Ledum. Powder from wild rosemary, mainly collected in September, should be scattered in places where bedbugs live. To ensure maximum effect, you can fumigate the room with flower powder.
4. Air. The effect of calamus is in many ways similar to the effect of tansy. It is necessary to carefully sprinkle calamus powder on those places where the most pronounced accumulations of bedbugs are observed. These are baseboards, animal bedding, etc.
5. No less useful is chamomile , which can be purchased at any pharmacy. And if you mix flowers with saline solution, the effect of the product will be even more pronounced. As a result, bedbugs will disappear, if not forever, then for quite a long time.

All of the herbs presented, perhaps with the exception of chamomile, can potentially harm the human body if used incorrectly.

Therefore, their use against anyone requires maximum caution; after use, the room must be ventilated.

How and when do bedbugs bite?

As you can see in the photo, house bugs are small insects with a flat oval body. They feed exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded creatures, mainly humans. The fact is that the bug's proboscis is not strong and strong enough to pierce the thick skin of animals. Moreover, even after attacking a person, the parasites try to find places on his body with the thinnest skin.

If several people live in an infested house, then women and children will suffer more from bedbug bites, since their skin is thinner than that of men.

Bedbugs find their prey by smell, as they have a well-developed sense of smell. Climbing into bed with a sleeping person, insects select a place to bite. As a rule, these are places free from clothing (but parasites can also get under pajamas).

Bedbug during a bite

Having chosen a place, the bug uses its proboscis to puncture the skin (you can see what a feeding insect looks like in the photo). The parasite's proboscis is internally divided into two channels.

The first is intended for the entry of blood into the insect’s body, the second for the introduction of a special secretion into the body of the victim. The secretion contains anesthetic substances, so the victim practically does not feel the moment of the bite, as well as substances that briefly reduce blood clotting, which makes it easier for the parasite to feed.

House bug larvae differ from adult insects only in size. From the first day after their appearance, they begin to feed on blood. However, the larvae do not produce a secretion that has anesthetic properties. Therefore, the bites of the larvae are quite painful.

By piercing the skin, the bug drinks approximately 1 ml of blood. But such a quantity is not enough for an insect, so bedbugs always make a series of bites, crawling from place to place.

Temperature changes as a way to fight bedbugs

Temperature changes are no less important for combating bed parasites.

It is known that bedbugs generally bite and reproduce at temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius.

Any other temperature, even slightly different from the average, is extremely uncomfortable for bed bugs.

If you provide a low (below +10) or high (from +35) temperature in the room, then such actions are likely to save residents from annoying parasites.

The main thing is to ensure the temperature without fluctuations, otherwise such traditional methods will not be useful, and the bugs will gradually adapt to temperature changes.

Prevention from bedbug bites

However, there is no point in constantly treating bites without taking measures to exterminate the parasites. If special treatment is not carried out, bites will appear again and again.

Therefore, if you find traces of bedbug bites on your body, you need to immediately begin to fight the parasites. What can you do?

• Using traditional methods. There are many means by which our ancestors tried to expel parasites from their homes. However, most of them are unacceptable in urban conditions. For example, it is not possible to find fresh tansy everywhere, and few people will dare to lubricate sofas with kerosene. Moreover, most folk remedies simply repel bedbugs, and this is unpromising in an apartment building. Bedbugs temporarily migrate to neighboring rooms, and when the factor that irritates them is eliminated, they will return again.
• Use of household insecticides. This option is quite effective if you choose the right product and use it strictly according to the instructions.
• Professional pest control. In heavily infested areas, it is necessary to carry out total treatment using strong insecticides, so in this case, it is better to turn to professionals.

conclusions

So, bedbug bites are extremely unpleasant, and sometimes (in case of individual intolerance) even dangerous. Therefore, having discovered signs of the presence of parasites in the house, you need to take measures to destroy them.

Exposure to sunlight and chemicals

Bed bugs are parasites that lead a nocturnal lifestyle; therefore, in sunlight, they begin to scatter to their nests, which are abundant in any apartment.
They bite, as a rule, from three to seven in the morning, and when sunlight appears, they prefer to sit out in dark places.

However, knowledge of this feature in many cases is not useful, since even when bedbugs discover their home, they quickly find a more convenient place to stay.

When bedbugs bite at night, and folk remedies based on herbs do not help at all, you need to leave ineffective methods alone and move on to serious chemicals. The most relevant home remedies are:

• denatured mixtures;
• ammonia;
• vinegar essence;
• acetone-containing liquids;
• transformer oil.

Any of the listed substances has a strong and pungent odor, but is not able to completely get rid of bedbugs.
This means that after some time, most likely, the parasites will return again and will poison people’s lives. In order to evaluate how effective the drug will be, it is necessary to prepare a highly concentrated solution based on any of the listed products and thoroughly spray the room and carry out wet cleaning.

Then ventilate the room and wait. The more active the “aroma” left behind is, the more likely it is to get rid of unexpected guests.

Folk remedies based on perfume compositions are no less effective for the fight.

For example, any cologne with a clear specific pungent odor or eau de toilette, which can be sprayed on bed linen and skin at night, creates a temporary barrier and repels harmful insects.

How to avoid bedbug attacks?

Bed bugs cannot tolerate the smell of alcohol. Good protection is provided by products containing alcohol. To prevent bedbugs from biting, you can apply a small amount of perfume or alcohol tincture to exposed areas of the body before going to bed. Insects will try not to get close to an odor that is aggressive to them. It's better to do this before going to bed. Otherwise, the protective mixture will evaporate before the bugs go hunting.

Essential oils are an excellent substitute for perfume. The main thing is to choose an oil that suits the person. The oils have a persistent aroma. If you inhale an unpleasant odor for a long time, you may experience headaches, dizziness and even suffocation.

Fish oil can also protect against blood-sucking attacks. You just need to wait until the product is absorbed, otherwise greasy stains will remain on the bed.

Herbal medicine is a reliable means of repelling bedbugs. Tansy and some herbs can even kill parasites. It depends on the concentration of the infusion. An easy way to use herbs is to place fresh plants in the room under the bed, along baseboards and near the door. In winter, alcohol tinctures and dried herbal powder are used.

Preventive measures against bedbugs

Prevention of the appearance of such bloodsuckers in premises is often very effective, so it should not be neglected. The following measures are considered the most effective.

1. Wet cleaning of residential premises with certain hygiene products. You should also regularly shake out rugs and carpets, carefully sweep away debris and dust from corners, and pay attention to bed linen as often as possible.
2. In case of obvious bedbug infestations, such measures as cosmetic repairs are also recommended. All existing cracks should be filled with sealant, and in the case of parquet floors, as in the presence of baseboards, be sure to open and inspect for the presence of parasites.
3. When moving to a new place of residence, be sure to disinfect the apartment using insecticides. It is also worth inspecting furniture when purchasing - both new and second-hand.

Finally, it is worth dispelling certain folk myths, because quite often there are real legends about harmful bedbugs.

What are bed bugs?

No person is immune from an infestation of bed bugs. If you live in a high-rise building and your neighbors have parasites, be prepared for them to come to you.

Insects crawl through door cracks, cracks in walls, ventilation systems and electrical wiring. In the warm season, they reach people from the outside of the house.

The main source of food for bedbugs is human blood. In case of unbearable hunger and lack of food, they can attack animals. But most often, bedbugs get into the house from the street, clinging to the fur of pets. In one night, parasites are capable of inflicting up to 500 bites, as they live in groups.

Bedbugs feed using a special organ - the proboscis, consisting of two jaws. With one they inject saliva containing an anesthetic into the human blood, and with the other they pierce the human skin.

Due to the anesthetic contained in the saliva of bedbugs, a person does not always feel the bites. Bedbugs operate mainly at night or early in the morning, when the victim is sleeping.

Busting myths: that bedbugs are not afraid

Many people, when they are bitten by bedbugs, use a wide variety of methods that, in principle, do not affect anyone, including bedbugs.

Their use will bring nothing but additional costs, inconvenience and even health problems. These include the following activities.

1. Despite frequent advertisements for ultrasonic devices, it has been proven that bedbugs are simply indifferent to them.
2. Many grandmother's recipes, which include salt and soda dissolved in water, will also not bring the desired result.
3. Magnetic resonance fields, to which particularly thoughtful creators of various devices switched, are completely useless. Whatever the advertisement that colorfully describes the effectiveness of the device, you should not believe it.

And, naturally, a wide variety of conspiracies and prayers will be ineffective and ineffective in the fight against bedbugs, which, despite modern times, many hope for, often out of despair.