Bed vampires or what do bedbugs look like?

What do house bugs look like?

If you suspect that there are parasites at home, you should determine where they live - find a nest.
Otherwise, insects will appear again and cause further inconvenience. Considering that the external signs of bed parasites at different stages of development are similar to cockroaches and ticks, you should first understand what furniture bugs look like. Eggs, larvae

The size of the young animals is small, as are the offspring of ticks and cockroaches. If we consider the laying of eggs, they look like oval-shaped neoplasms no more than 1 mm long, and more often 0.8 mm. Domestic insects at the first stage of formation are characterized by a light shade. On one side, the egg has a kind of cap, from which a larva (aka nymph) subsequently appears.

Pest eggs and larva, light-colored - nymph

What do bedbugs look like at an early stage of development? After the larva emerges from the egg, its size is small - 1 mm. However, in terms of external characteristics, the domestic insect already resembles an adult. There are few differences: inability to mate; a light shade of the body, which still has an elongated shape. Immediately after the first meal, the larva will change its color to a light brown hue. Transparency is maintained and food can be seen through the walls of the abdominal cavity.

Pest larva fed on blood

As the nymph sucks blood from the victim, its body size gradually increases, as happens in adults.

At the nesting site you can find husks - the former shells of parasites. The food source for both nymphs and adults is the same. For this reason, from the first days of life outside the egg, larvae can have a piercing-sucking oral apparatus; it looks like a proboscis.

Adult

What does a bedbug look like after the formation process is complete? Outwardly, they slightly resemble a tick; this is facilitated by the almost identical size of domestic insects. Their body is characterized by a rounded shape, covered with stripes. In a hungry state, it is flattened; after eating, the parasite looks larger and more round. The size of a domestic bug varies from 3 to 8 mm, however, individuals 5-6 mm long are more common.

How the shape and size of an insect’s body changes during feeding.

Another feature is the absence of wings. During evolution, insects of this species have lost the ability to fly, which made them less vulnerable. And, it’s true, in a hungry state, when the pest’s body is flat, it is extremely difficult to destroy it. But pests that have just finished eating are easy to deal with. To move, parasites use three pairs of paws located closer to the head.

Small triangular head. On its underside there is a long proboscis formed by fused jaws.

Reproduction of a domestic bug

If measures are not taken in time to disinfect bedbugs in the apartment, then the epidemiological situation becomes more and more deplorable every day. House bugs multiply in an apartment at an enormous rate . Traumatic fertilization, which is typical for this type of insect, allows them to reproduce without much difficulty in completely different conditions. After all, it doesn’t matter where the male injects his seed, into a limb, back, or even into the female’s head. Through the insect's lymph, everything will get to the reproductive organs and after a short time a new generation of bedbugs will be born. House bugs cannot distinguish between male and female individuals, and it often happens that the male “fertilizes” the male, who in turn can transfer his own and someone else’s seed to the female during further sexual contact. During her life, a female bedbug can lay about 500 eggs.

life stages of a house bug

A house bug goes through several phases throughout its life. Egg – larva – nymph. House bug eggs are about 1 mm long. Females lay eggs where they live. Very often you can find larvae, eggs, adults, molting skins and waste products in the cracks of beds and other places where they live. The female attaches the eggs to the surface with the help of a sticky enzyme secreted by her. After 6-12 days, the eggs hatch into a house bug larva, which needs to drink blood at least once in order to move to another phase.

Who is a friend, who is an enemy, and who is just for fun?

Like any living organism, there are harmful ones and there are useful ones. Also with bedbugs. Someone helps a person and preserves his harvest, and some not only strive to ruin the entire harvest, but also feast on the blood of its owner.

Bed bugs are beneficial (harmless)

These individuals are often identified by their coloring. It is designed specifically for repelling. Some types of bedbugs in the photo look like they are specially decorated. The line bug is a frequent visitor to home gardens and front gardens. A black and red small body, like lines drawn under a ruler. With all his appearance he “screams” - don’t come near!

His main task is to examine all umbrella plants in search of food. Dealing with it will not be difficult - assemble it manually.

Soldiers are the most common victims of children. They catch them and arrange obstacle races for them. The wingless redbug is the correct name for this insect. Hides at the roots of trees, stumps and dry grass. He finds food right there; everything suits him, from seeds, ants, eggs, larvae, dead insects and the remains of living organisms. Useful in your garden as a sanitation worker.

The bug Perillus, It was brought to Russia from Mexico on purpose. He is a threat to the Colorado potato beetle and many other “undesirable” insects. The main target is the eggs of the potato pest.

Flower bugs are specially bred to kill pests indoors. They feed on plant pests - aphids, mites, insect larvae and eggs.

Predators are the number one enemy of beetles that cause damage to agriculture. They live in abandoned houses and basements, finding food and shelter there.

How long can bedbugs live without bleeding?

In general, we can say that bedbugs live for a long time without food. One or two months of hunger strikes are practically harmless for them and do not even require falling into torpor or any inhibition of physiological processes.

If there is no food source near the blood-sucking bug for too long, then it can fall into a state similar to suspended animation, in which the biochemical processes in its body are greatly slowed down. An insect can spend up to a year in this kind of hibernation, remaining alive.

There are known cases where apartment residents wrapped bedbug-infested mattresses with plastic wrap in the hope that the parasites would have nothing to eat and would die without blood in a couple of months. However, even after keeping the mattress wrapped in film for six months, the bedbugs were still alive in it.

It is useful to consider the following nuances:

• adult bedbugs live longer without food than larvae;
• without receiving fresh blood, the female cannot lay another batch of eggs, so the reproduction of parasites practically stops;
• Without receiving blood, the larva is not able to molt, and its development slows down sharply.

Even if several dozen bedbugs live in a house, a person may not pay attention to their bites for a long time. Often, parasites bite only one person in the family, practically not touching the rest of the residents.

Structure of a bedbug

The body of a domestic bug consists of only three sections: the head, thorax and abdomen. The chest and abdomen of this parasite are segmented. All parts of the body of bedbugs are held together by fairly dense chitin, which is covered with short hairs.

The head of a house bug is the most important part. It contains:

1. Protruding eyes, very sensitive to light. Although studies have shown that bloodsuckers have very poor vision, they still perfectly distinguish all shades of red. The red color for bedbugs is associated with relatives, warmth, and prey.
2. There are long antennae on the head that serve as tactile and olfactory organs. Antennae for bedbugs are a kind of antennas, thanks to which insects are perfectly oriented in space. With the help of antennae, a bedbug can find shelter or other bedbugs.
3. The proboscis, with which bedbugs suck blood, is also located on the head. Externally, the proboscis is invisible, since it is curved under the abdomen. This organ consists of piercing bristles. The bug pierces the skin with its proboscis, injects an enzyme and sucks out the blood. Thanks to a special enzyme, at the moment of the bite the animal or person does not feel anything, but notices the punctures only after a while.

The chest of a domestic bug also consists of several segments. There are three pairs of legs on it, and shortened elytra are present. These insects are not adapted for flight, and they do not have wings. Bedbugs are saved only by fast pairs of legs.

The abdomen of a house bug consists of approximately 10 segments. Along the edges of the insect's abdomen there are spiracles. On the body, immediately after the third pair of legs, bedbugs have glands that secrete a secretion with a pungent odor in case of danger. The last segment contains the genitals and the posterior opening.

Average size of bed bugs

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Bed bugs are extremely small insects, so they can sometimes be very difficult to detect.

Their development takes on average from 5 to 7 weeks, depending on environmental conditions: amount of food, temperature, exposure to insecticides, and so on.

Bed bug sizes by week

In the first week, the bug looks very much like a small midge or cockroach. At this time, it is a small, transparent body up to 1 mm. in length.

In the second week, its shell begins to acquire a characteristic brownish color and its size increases to 1.5-2 millimeters.

At week 3, a more pronounced change in the chitinous shell, its color and shape appears. After about 20-25 days, the size of the bedbugs reaches 3 millimeters.

At week 6, an adult bedbug is fully formed; its size can reach from 5 to 6 millimeters, while females are slightly larger than males.

Let's sum it up

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Bedbugs are small insects and they do not grow larger than 0.5 centimeters. In the first stages of their existence, they are very easy to confuse with other insects that can live in residential buildings. However, after 30-35 days they acquire characteristic features that make them quite easy to distinguish.

House bug larvae photo

house bug larvae

House bug larvae reach 1 mm in length and are almost impossible to notice because they are almost transparent or have a light beige tint. As the larva matures, it darkens and increases in size. After the larva drinks blood once, it becomes scarlet in color and looks like a drop of blood. The maturation process takes about 48 days. During this time, the larva will go through at least 5 molts and completely transform its exoskeleton.

Folk remedies

A reliable way is to get rid of pests using high temperature. It is necessary to treat bedbug nests using a steam generator. An ordinary household hair dryer will not work - it will not be able to maintain a high temperature for a long time. Insect nests and possible places of their stay are processed.

Folk recipes suggest using products with a pungent odor, for example, kerosene, vinegar, turpentine. When diluted, these substances are used to lubricate baseboards, bed legs, and furniture parts. But the pungent smell will be unpleasant for humans and pets, and they will have to leave the apartment for a while.

You can use aromatic oils and herbs with a more pleasant aroma for humans. Essential oils of tea tree, eucalyptus, and orange are not liked by bedbugs. Among the plants they do not like tansy and wormwood. But it should be remembered that parasites do not die from odors, but only leave the room. There is a risk that they will return after some time.

Where do bed bugs come from?

The appearance of parasitic insects is possible in any room and does not depend on the cleanliness of the owners

For bedbugs, it is important to have a constant source of food and a favorable temperature. Parasites can appear in the house:

• of their own free will, they are able to migrate from neighbors when the population grows or during disinfestation;
• accidentally, when a person or pet carries an insect into the home on themselves or in things.

Hungry individuals need up to 10 minutes to drink blood, so parasites hunt at night when a person is sleeping. Bed bugs prefer:

• resting places in the house (there may be bedbugs in beds, mattresses, sofas);
• furniture (closets full of clothes, bedside tables, tables, chairs, easy chairs) as the colony grows;
• walls, floor, ceiling (plinths, peeling wallpaper, curtains, carpets, paintings, sockets, etc.). Settles into any crevices, cracks, hard-to-reach places.

Bed bugs, how to recognize where they come from and how to remove them

No one is immune from the appearance of bedbugs, and finding them in an apartment is not at all a sign of uncleanliness of the owners and a reason for shame.

How to recognize a bedbug

By appearance

Bed bugs are small insects that feed on human blood. A newly hatched bed bug larva is translucent brownish in color and is comparable in size to a poppy seed. Adult bed bugs have a flat, oval, rusty-red body about the size of an apple seed. Bed bugs can easily be confused with other small house insects, including carpet bugs, cockroaches and newly hatched cockroaches (nymphs).

By tracks, excrement and eggs

Blood stains, excrement and pest eggs can be found in various places, such as:

• seams and quilting of mattresses, sheets, pillowcases and upholstered furniture;
• gaps and cracks in furniture;
• wall skirting boards.

By bites

Some people do not react to bed bug bites. For those who do react, bite marks may appear within minutes or days, usually on areas of skin that are exposed during sleep. These marks appear as small swellings or large, itchy welts. The scars usually disappear within a few days. Since bedbug bite marks may look similar to those caused by mosquitoes and other insects, the mere presence of a lump or scar is not evidence of bed bug infestation.

Growth and reproduction of bed bugs

Bed bugs are most active while a person is sleeping. They crawl onto unprotected areas of the skin, inject a mild anesthetic contained in their saliva and suck in a small amount of blood. Most people do not feel the bite itself.

Bed bugs need blood to grow and lay eggs. The female lays 5–7 eggs per week, and in her lifetime, if she has sufficient nutrition, she can lay 200–500 eggs. The eggs take about 10 days to fully mature. Bed bugs reach maturity in 2–4 months and can live up to one year.

Preventing home infestation with bed bugs

Bed bugs enter the home along with furniture, luggage and clothing, as well as from adjacent rooms through pipes and electrical wiring.

1. Never bring into your home bed frames, mattress toppers, box springs, or upholstered furniture found outside.
2. Check all used or rental furniture for bed bugs.
3. When stopping overnight during a trip, inspect the bedding and furniture. Do not place suitcases on the floor or on the bed and be sure to check them before departure.
4. If you suspect you have been in a bedbug-infested area, immediately wash and dry your clothing with hot air, or store it in an airtight plastic bag until you have a chance to wash it.

Chemical control methods

When planning to poison bed bugs, you need to remember that they have a high survival rate. And therefore, the most effective chemical control agent can only work once. Then a mutation occurs in the individuals, and they easily tolerate repeated disinfestation with this drug.

Still, chemical treatment of the room is the best way to combat any type of insect. The product used may be:

1. Aerosol.
2. In the form of a solution.
3. Powdery.

A prerequisite when working with any product is to carry out the work in chemical protective clothing. When poisoning insects, you need to wear a mask and gloves. And perform all actions in strict order:

• All bed linen is washed with water above 60 degrees, ironed with a steam generator and hermetically packed in bags.
• Fur clothes, blankets, pillows, mattresses and carpets, everything where insects like to hide, are sent to dry cleaning for processing.
• It is better to burn books and magazines that are of no value. The rest should be sealed for subsequent cold processing.
• The walls and ceilings in all rooms are cleared of wallpaper, ceiling tiles and other similar types of decoration.
• All furniture is moved to the middle of the room to treat the perimeter with a pest control agent.
• Next, all upholstered and cabinet furniture in the house are treated with the product. There is no need to be afraid to spray all things thoroughly. This is the only thing necessary for the remedy to work, and for this method of fighting insects to be effective.
• After treatment, you must leave your home for 4-5 days.
• Upon return, thoroughly wash the floor and perform a wet cleaning.

What do bed bugs look like?

Bed bugs (cimex lectularius) are wingless parasitic insects with an oval, flattened body and a size of up to 8 mm. The color of a hungry parasite can be dirty yellow or dark brown. After the linen bug has had its fill of blood, the color changes to scarlet or black, and the body itself becomes more rounded and inactive.

Bite marks on a person’s body are clearly visible and resemble tracks - several punctures almost on the same line. Quite often, bites in children can cause an allergic reaction. Read about other dangerous bedbugs in our relevant articles.

The larvae externally resemble adults, but are smaller in size and lighter in color, and those that have recently hatched are generally transparent.

It is possible to notice them without difficulty only after the parasite has had its fill of blood. Then the stomach with a drop of drunk blood is clearly visible in its transparent body.

The parasite eggs laid resemble smaller grains of rice. Elongated shape, white color and length 1 mm.

Having glands with a special substance (secret), they have a specific smell when crushed. People call this unpleasant smell the smell of a bug.

Difference from other parasites living in the house:

• The bug, unlike the cockroach, does not have processes in the back in the form of antennae and wings. Its body is more round and smaller in size.
• To distinguish a bedbug from a tick, you will need to count its legs. The tick is an arachnid parasite and has 8 limbs, but the bug has 6.
• It is more difficult to confuse a bug with an ant, but their larvae are very similar. The eggs of the former are wider and shorter.
• The optimal temperature for good functioning of the parasite is +15 – + 30ºС. These indicators are most often present in a person’s bedroom.

REFERENCE! At low temperatures down to -15ºС, the parasite does not die, but only falls into suspended animation. As soon as the conditions for survival improve, he moves away from this state and safely continues his life activities.

What bed bugs look like: photos, what furniture they live in, how long they live, how to get rid of them in Moscow

The Moscow Sanitary and Epidemiological Station Department of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control gives a 1 year guarantee for the destruction of bedbugs in Moscow! The conclusion of an agreement is mandatory. Call by phone. Consultation is free.

Having discovered bites on their body in the morning, many attribute them to the presence of mosquitoes and are not at all aware that there are bed bugs in the room. More obvious traces of their presence can be observed only after their numbers increase, when bloody spots and remnants of their vital activity appear on the bed. Even the cleanest house is not a guarantee that any type of bedbug will not find a home in it. What kind of parasites are these, where do they come from, how to recognize their presence and what measures exist to combat them.

Features of the structure of domestic bugs

To answer the question of what bedbugs eat, you need to study the structure of their body. House bugs have piercing-sucking mouthparts, which means that the parasites mainly feed on liquid food. The arthropod has a modified lower lip, which has the shape of an oblong, sharp tube. The sharpness and strength of this tube is quite enough for bedbugs to pierce the skin of a person or plant.

In order to start feeding, bedbugs choose a victim and a place to bite, after which the insect places its proboscis on the skin, rotates its head, while the oral tube bends slightly and a small needle emerges from it, which pierces the victim. After the body is pierced, the proboscis immediately enters and the nutritional process begins to occur.

Since bedbugs are small parasites, they only bite the victim where there is no hair. That is, these parasites will definitely not bite in the head and groin area. If a person sleeps in underwear, then bedbugs are unlikely to crawl under it; their task is to find exposed parts of the body.

The peculiarity of the body structure of bedbugs is that when the insect is hungry, its body has a flat figure, and after the parasite is filled with blood, the body begins to swell and the bug increases in size, while the color of its body also changes to a more distinct shade of gray.

The digestive system of bedbugs consists of two channels, food enters the first, and it is digested in the second. Blood-sucking insects produce a special anesthetic enzyme that is injected into the victim. Accordingly, the victim does not feel anything during the bite and continues to sleep.

Parasites do not feed only at one time, they first consume about 1-1.5 µl of food, and then make a second visit. This can last up to 7 times. This is why victims often experience a red carpet of bedbug bites.

It is important to remember how often bedbugs feed, because they do not do it regularly and therefore about a week should pass after the first meal. Only then does the parasite re-enter

What do bedbugs eat?

The question arises, how do bedbugs survive without human blood if the owners of the apartment have moved out for a long time. It seemed that the simplest explanation was that bedbugs begin to eat everything, for example: wallpaper paste, fur, dust, other insects, and so on. But all this is not true, since bedbugs feed exclusively on blood.

If the victim is absent for several days or months, the parasites may not even notice it. And if a person has been gone for a longer period of time, then amazing self-preservation reactions begin to occur in their body. This is how bedbugs stop reproducing, moving, growing and generally functioning. They turn into dry little bags, but as soon as food appears again, these parasites begin to live actively again and try to completely restore their supply during the absence of humans. Therefore, exterminating bedbugs in Moscow by leaving the apartment for a while is a very bad option and in the end will not give any results, because the answer to the question of what bedbugs eat if there are no people is quite simple - nothing.

What do bed bugs eat in the wild?

As you know, not all bed bugs live near a person in an apartment; some can simply live in the wild. The question arises, what do bed bugs eat in the wild? Even with such a rare phenomenon as life, far from humans, bedbugs still continue to feed on blood. Any mammals become victims. Often bed bugs can be found in caves where the same temperature is maintained; in these places the parasites feed on the blood of a bat. The choice of these victims is that in bats there is no hair under the wings, and the bugs have easy access to blood vessels.

Insect lifestyle

Both males and females are characterized by a parasitic existence. They feed exclusively on blood. In the dark, from 3 to 7 am, parasites crawl out of their shelter. During the daytime they rest in warm and dark habitats, using this period for breeding.

Important

! Hungry individuals can even attack exposed areas of the body of a person or animal during the day.

On average, the life of blood-sucking representatives is 1 year. The maximum threshold reaches 14 months.

Life activity depends on temperature conditions. Sometimes they remain in a state similar to suspended animation, maintaining vital functions at low temperatures for more than 1 year. Uncomfortable conditions force people to move to other rooms of the apartment building through ventilation pipes, and in the summer - outside along the walls. At the same time, adult representatives are able to cover a distance of more than 1 meter in 1 minute.

Advice

! Instant death of domestic bed parasites and their eggs can be achieved at temperatures below 17 degrees.

A developed sense of smell allows insects to feed on blood at any stage of development. The transition to the next instar stage in the larva occurs after consuming a full portion of food. From this moment on, another moult occurs. She can drink up to 1/3 mg at a time. Subsequently, the rate increases with age; in an adult female it reaches 7 mg. Regular feeding occurs every 5 – 10 days.

The whole truth about bed bug bites

The main thing is to remember right away that, apart from physically unpleasant sensations, bed bug bites do not have any special consequences for the human body. In fact, there is no evidence of transmission of viral or bacterial infections through a bite.

• typhus;
• plague;
• brucellosis;
• anthrax, etc.,

however, all elements of such viruses have been identified exclusively in the feces or in the bodies of the bedbugs themselves, but not in bites!

As scientists themselves explain this phenomenon, the reason for such an attitude towards a person is simple: the healthier and more full-blooded a person’s body is, the correspondingly more and longer the bug will have food! The simple essence of any parasite and no altruism!

But you still shouldn’t treat bedbug bites completely carefree, and here’s why:

• A bedbug bite almost always causes allergic reactions in everyone. Itching, pain, redness, and sometimes anaphylactic shock is possible.
• Scratching of bite sites by a person can also be considered indirect damage to health. The resulting open wounds are a gateway for various bacteria and viruses.
• Children! A body weaker than that of an adult can be seriously damaged by bedbug bites if they are constant and multiple in nature. It is even possible that a child’s blood composition may change as a result of exposure to insect saliva!

It is quite simple to distinguish traces of bedbug bites from traces left by other insects: the bedbug, the only blood-sucking parasite, sucks the blood of the victim in turn from several wounds. Thus, the consequence of bed bug bites is a “path” of three to five itchy wounds.

Appearance of bed bugs

What kind of bugs are they?

The soldier bugs that everyone encountered in forests and parks in the spring are very similar to bed bugs, the only difference is in color and size. But the general appearance of almost all existing bedbugs is quite similar. The common features of all bedbugs are an elongated body, wings with ornaments and a clearly defined head with a proboscis.

Bed bugs belong to the semi-coleopteran order, but in the process of evolution, bed bugs lost their wings due to the transition to a parasitic lifestyle. They are no longer necessary. When hungry, the bug has an almost flat body, which makes it less noticeable and allows it to hide in the narrowest crevices. Bed bugs do not have patterns on their bodies; they are mostly monochromatic and brown in color. The older, the darker. Also, as the bug becomes saturated with blood, it darkens. Young bedbugs can be almost transparent. If you find a nest of bedbugs in your home, you might think that it is young cockroaches. But unfortunately this is not the case. In bedbugs, the abdominal segment is clearly separated from the head. Adult bedbugs have stripes on their bodies.

The main features of the structure of bedbugs:

• no wings
• no pattern on the body
• clear separation between head and body

To forever remember what a bedbug looks like, you just have to see it once.

In a state of hunger, a bedbug is flat and light-colored, while a well-fed bedbug is more elongated and convex. A bug that has drunk blood becomes more vulnerable than a hungry bug. It can be crushed in your sleep and easily caught with your hands, which is almost impossible. In order to kill a hungry bug, it must be crushed with something hard. For example, a coin or a nail. Bed bugs have an elongated feeding apparatus on their head. These are the upper and lower jaws, which, as bed bugs evolved, stretched out and took on their real appearance. In the proboscis of a bug there are 2 channels through one the bug injects saliva, through the other it drinks blood. The bug bites through the skin in the immediate vicinity of the capillaries about 4-5 times and drinks blood at each bite site for about 2 minutes. This is how the trail of bites is formed, the main sign that you were bitten by a bug. After satiation, the bug crawls into a quiet, secluded place and the next time it goes hunting in 2-3 days.

The size of bedbugs ranges from 0.5 cm in a state of hunger and can grow, lengthening almost 2 times after saturation. Young bedbugs are almost transparent or have a yellow tint and are extremely difficult to distinguish.

Water bugs

This species is found in almost any body of water. A small insect with very long legs and chaotic movement on the surface of the water. No matter how much you try to catch him, it is unlikely to succeed. The water strider is nimble, fast and sharp.

She manages to change direction much faster than you can follow her with your eyes. The special structure of the legs, on which there are many bristles and a fatty layer covering them, gives the water strider bug speed and lightness. It glides briskly and attacks small insects that have fallen into the water. It feeds on animal remains, small fish, mollusks, tadpoles, etc.

The water scorpion vaguely resembles a land arthropod. The bug also has front legs very similar to claws and a stinger on its abdomen, like a regular scorpion. Its element is shallow water, the insect is not able to swim. And for food it prefers small insects, frogs and tadpoles.

Bed bug sizes

Millions of years of evolution have made the bed bug an ideal ectoparasite.

The miniature size and flat body of a hungry insect makes it invulnerable to mechanical stress, and the ability to develop immunity to various types of insecticides increasingly complicates the process of fighting bloodsuckers. According to entomologists, in the near future humanity will face massive “bedbug epidemics” around the world.

Depending on the stage of insect development, the body length can vary greatly and have the following values:

• ripening eggs - no more than 1 mm;
• first stage larva – 1.5 mm;
• second stage larva - 2 mm;
• third stage larva – 2.5 mm;
• fourth stage larva - 3 mm;
• fifth stage larva – 4.5 mm;
• adult insect – up to 5.5 mm.

The female bug is usually larger than the male. In the normal state, an adult male specimen reaches a length of 4 mm, and a female specimen reaches 5 mm in length.

Nymphs hatched from eggs are an exact copy of an adult insect, the only difference is that they are not able to reproduce and are almost white in color, while mature individuals are brown. From the first days of life, nymphs thirst for human blood, because without it they will not be able to change their chitinous cover and move on to the next stage of development.

The size of a domestic bug (aka bed bug) is greatly influenced by the degree to which the insect is saturated with human blood. While eating, the body of the sucked parasite can lengthen by 2 times, while the insect becomes slow and clumsy, and the body takes on a rounded shape.

Bed bugs, despite their body size and age, will equally cause painful itching and allergic reactions in a person with their bites, not to mention mental disorders. Therefore, if you find blood-sucking insects in your apartment, you should take immediate action, because the health of you and your family is at stake!

Where do house bugs hide in an apartment?

Scientifically, they are known as Cimicidae or bed bugs. Tiny parasitic insects that feed on human blood. They are attracted by the warmth of the human body and the carbon dioxide that we produce in the process of our life. Domestic bugs live in places in close proximity to humans, as a rule, these are places of rest. Beds, sofas, mattresses and everything that is nearby. House bugs prefer a nocturnal lifestyle.

Where to look for bedbugs in an apartment

If you notice at least one individual or have suspicions that you have them, you should look for bedbugs in the apartment in daylight. House bugs live on almost all surfaces if there are a lot of them, house bugs mostly live in sofas, beds, mattresses and bedding, but house bugs can also live under wallpaper, behind baseboards, in floor cracks, under ceilings, behind paintings and on the walls of the closet. Our operator or master disinfector can tell you where to look for bedbugs, how they live and live in the apartment.

Where to look for bedbugs in an apartment

Signs and symptoms of an apartment infestation with house bugs

The most obvious sign that you have bedbugs in your apartment is if, when you wake up in the morning, you find traces and spots of an incomprehensible nature on yourself, similar to an allergic reaction. Do not rush to drink Suprastin. Perhaps the fact is that you have domestic bugs.

Signs that there are house bugs. The appearance of bedbugs in an apartment does not happen without leaving a trace. Let’s also consider the symptoms and signs that bedbugs have infested the home:

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• Inspect your sleeping area. Look into all the smallest cracks, cracks and seams. If you find “black dots” there, these are insect waste products. Cysts.
• Having encountered the parasite itself, you can rest assured and urgently call our specialists to exterminate the bedbugs.
• They can be found behind peeling wallpaper, baseboards, in sockets, books and cabinets. Don’t rush to get rid of everything; perhaps household items infested with bedbugs can still be saved. A specialist from our disinfection center will be able to answer this question during your examination.

Types of bedbugs

Bedbugs are divided into the following types:

• useful;
• harmful;
• harmless.

The soldier bug belongs to the last category. The insect wakes up in early spring. The peculiarities of these bugs lie in their numbers and bright colors. They feed on the sap of young vegetation, seeds and dead insects.

Another harmless bug is the alder bug. It lives on the leaves of birch or alder.

Beneficial bugs

Small ground bugs feed on eggs, larvae and small insects. These nutritional features are used in biological plant protection in greenhouses.

The bug Macrolophus nubilus is used against spider mites, aphids and whiteflies. This type is specially populated in greenhouses. During the period, they first eat insects of a given species, and then destroy others.

To control pests indoors, bugs from the genus Orius are used. The size of these small insects is only 2 mm. Orius breed equally well in wet and dry places. These bugs destroy thrips and spider mites, whiteflies and aphids.

Parasitic bugs

There are 2 types of bedbugs that parasitize people and animals, these include:

Types of bedbugs parasites.

• bed bug;
• kissing bug.

There are up to 100 types of bedding. The insect does not have wings, but has a good sense of smell, which helps to find blood vessels. If the pest has a choice between an adult and a child, it will bite the latter.

The kisser carries a mortal threat because it suffers from Chagas disease, which can only be cured at the initial stage.

The following species harm plants:

• the cabbage bug is an enemy of cruciferous plantings, sucking juice from the leaves;
• rapeseed - destroys radishes and radishes;
• light green shield bug - prefers berry juice and plant leaves, can feed on carrion;
• lined scale insect - loves the juice of parsley, dill and carrots;
• harmful bug - spoils wheat, barley, oats and corn;
• berry - lives on currant, raspberry, and gooseberry bushes.

The majority of bedbugs are herbivorous; pests include those that destroy agricultural crops.

House Pests: Bed Bugs

In the modern world, most people live in big cities. The population of the villages understands insects from experience and does not allow their breeding in their homes. City dwellers, on the contrary, are far from entomology, and therefore cannot always not only notice, but also identify a bug in an insect. The latter, in turn, multiply extremely quickly, so within a few months the apartment can turn into a bedbug infestation. In general, there are the following types of bedbugs:

• water bug - lives at the bottom of the river, feeds on small fish and crustaceans. A person may encounter a water bug while swimming in a river or pond - insect bites are harmless, but very painful;
• forest bug - it is easy to spot on green leaves while walking through the forest. It has a brown color and a flat body, which allows it to hide in the bark of trees.
• green bug and lined bug are types of bugs that actively manifest themselves in agriculture. They love to feast on cultivated crops, and therefore often spoil the harvest for young gardeners.
• red bug - found in the warm season near stumps, trees, and at the base of fences. They live in colonies and feed on plant sap.
• bed (house) bug is a species that harms humans more than others. Bed bugs lack wings, have a distinctive color and a well-developed sense of smell. This insect lives only indoors and is a predator.

Traces of bedbugs on a mattress
Despite the fact that in the process of evolution, bedbugs have adapted to human life, they can be dealt with. But to do this, you need to be able to distinguish them from other insects, recognize them as a threat, and the most difficult thing is to remove every single one of them.

What do adult bedbugs look like?

The size of the insect is relatively small: it reaches up to 9 mm in length and 4 mm in width. The color of the bug can be from pale red to brown-black. Both the color and size of the predator depend on the amount of blood it drinks, that is, its satiety. The comparison in the photo is especially noticeable. A hungry insect has an almost round abdomen and the color ranges from light to brown. A well-fed bug is always elongated in length, the color is red-brown, even black.

Appearance of an adult

The peculiarity of bed bugs is that in the process of evolution they have lost their wings, because as predators they have no use for them. The insect's abdomen is clearly segmented, which is especially evident when the insect extends its length. Regarding body height, this also depends on satiety. A hungry bug is flat and can press against a hard surface, so it can only be crushed with a coin, nail or knife. Once an insect gets enough of blood, it becomes fat and clumsy, so very often in the morning you can find brown spots on the bed: if the victim tosses and turns in his sleep, he may well accidentally crush a well-fed bug.

You can see a photo of an adult bedbug in the picture on the right.

The insect's head looks like a triangle. The fused jaws on its underside form a proboscis, which has two channels. One of them is used to puncture and suck the victim’s blood, and the other injects analgesic saliva into the wound, which numbs the wound for several hours. This is why 75% of bedbug victims do not notice the bite in their sleep. Pictures illustrating the shape of the head in detail are not difficult to find.

Predators bite according to a special pattern: they make a puncture next to the capillary, suck out the blood, rise 2-3 cm higher and repeat everything again until they are satiated. You can cope with a bug: there are many videos about the vital functions of insects, which explain many aspects of their existence.

Lifestyle of bedbugs

Insects living in natural conditions adapt to the climatic conditions of the regions. In winter, bedbugs have to hibernate. This behavior is typical for all species - phytophages, predators, aquatic inhabitants. Insects are looking for a convenient place where they hide from enemies and frost. Forest bugs crawl under the bark of trees or into leaf litter. The winter is spent in a state of suspended animation. When the temperature drops too much, the bedbugs die. For farmers, cold weather relieves pest infestations. In some species, it is not the adults, but the eggs that overwinter.

An increase in temperature brings insects out of sleep; they become active at +10-12°. Phytophages go to feed on the emerging greenery. Then they begin to reproduce. The female lays eggs on leaves and substrate. After 1-1.5 months, a new generation appears. In favorable conditions, insects produce 2-3 generations. The lifestyle of predatory species is quite secretive. During daylight hours they hide in the grass, under the leaves. Active at night, some hunt from ambush. The main prey is small insects - aphids, mites, various larvae.

Representatives of hemipterans have taken root on land and in water, but some of them have settled in human habitation. They can be active at any time, but have adapted to the biological rhythm of their hosts. At night, when the victims are sleeping, it is easier to bite them. During the daytime, bed bugs hide in the depths of upholstered furniture, cracks, and behind paintings. The presence of parasites is not immediately apparent. They are difficult to notice, and the resulting bites are attributed to mosquitoes.

Several factors contribute to the spread of parasites:

• high fertility;
• ability to withstand hunger;
• tendency to actively move.

A colony accumulates in one place, close to a food source. Usually this is a bed or other upholstered furniture. A bedbug sucks blood every 5-10 days. The reaction to its bites depends on the individual’s individual susceptibility. This may be skin irritation, rash, itching. Restless sleep leads to the accumulation of fatigue, nervous fatigue occurs, and performance decreases. The speed of movement of an adult is 1 m per minute, but they are capable of moving between apartments.

House bugs are sensitive to temperature; at 10° they stop reproducing. A comfortable indicator for ectoparasites is 24-30°. Heat kills them faster than cold. This situation is explained by the ability to fall into suspended animation when the temperature drops to sub-zero levels. Only severe frost of 17-21° can kill them. The critical positive temperature is 45°. House bugs are indifferent to animals; they attack cats and dogs, even if they are hungry.

Common types of bedbugs that people often encounter are plant pests or ectoparasites. Besides them, there are many more insects that live peacefully next to humans.

Differences between bedbugs and other insects in the house

Males feed on blood, although in some insect species only females feed on blood to be able to reproduce.

Bed bugs are often confused by name with bed dust mites. Dust mites are very small and cannot bite through human skin; they live in pillows and other parts of furniture. They feed on microscopic particles of skin that fall off our bodies. It is unlikely that you will be able to see a dust mite with the naked eye, but it still causes harm: a person can develop an allergy from its waste products, which is confirmed by tests, and this is what is written in the diagnosis “dust mite allergy.”

Dust mite under a microscope

Unlike ants, bedbugs do not build nests and do not form colonies; they prefer to randomly accumulate near a food source, usually near the place where a warm-blooded living creature spends the night. Ants do not feed on human blood, but can only bite in defense.

Unlike fleas, bedbugs are larger in size and cannot jump. Traces of their vital activity are easier to detect than to understand that there are fleas in the apartment. Scars from flea bites most often appear on the legs, in contrast to marks from bedbugs, which can also cover the upper body.

How to recognize a nest?

Blood-sucking parasites adapt well to any premises, despite their sanitary condition. Unlike some representatives of insects, they do not literally have nests. They accumulate in a safe place close to a food source. The concentration of offspring of different ages represents a habitable and equipped home, which is figuratively called a nest. There is also a clutch of bedbugs and chitinous cover.

Advice

! The use of modern insecticidal preparations will help get rid of blood-sucking parasites safely and odorlessly for surrounding people.

The nest is located in places where insects can easily reach a sleeping person and animal:

• cracks in walls and baseboards;
• places behind the wallpaper;
• furniture holes: sofa, bed, wardrobe, bedside table;
• animal and bird cells;
• clothes, books, carpets, paintings, household appliances, etc.

Dark spots of excrement can be used to determine the permanent location of insects. A moving mass of bodies exists for the purpose of preserving heat. The photo of the nest gives the impression of a dirty and unkempt place.

Differences between bedbugs and other household pests

As we have already said, they are often confused with other insects. To prevent this from happening, we will tell you how they differ from other parasites.

• Most often they are confused with ticks. However, if you look closely, you will notice that the legs of bedbugs are noticeably shorter than those of ticks. Moreover, there are 6 of them, not 8.
• Bedbugs are distinguished from cockroaches by the absence of wings. In addition, cockroaches move much faster.
• Confusing bedbugs with fleas is also quite difficult. Firstly, these parasites are unable to jump like fleas. Secondly, bedbugs are much larger in size.
• Sometimes pest larvae are confused with ants - they are approximately the same color. But ants have a noticeable “waist.” It is by this feature that insects are most easily distinguished.

Recognizing bed bug bites (photo below) is also quite simple. They look like tracks of red dots at a distance of 2-3 cm. The most unpleasant thing about bloodsucker bites is that, by piercing the skin, they introduce poisonous saliva into the body. The consequences are terrible: the skin swells and turns red, itches and hurts.

What makes a person’s home attractive?

For the full development of an insect, humidity, optimal temperature, absence of bright light and food are necessary. There are a lot of such places in an apartment or house. Humidity 60%, temperature around 23 degrees Celsius all year round. Hiding from the light - no problem! However, what attracts them most is the bedroom, or the room where a person sleeps. Consequently, most often they are located under mattresses, in the seams of bedding, in the joints of upholstered furniture. In addition, you can find in any part of the room:

• under baseboards;
• under the wallpaper;
• in crevices;
• in boxes;
• in the corners of cabinets;
• in an accumulation of clothes;
• in books;
• on the back of paintings, photographs on the wall;
• carpets and carpet runners;
• soft toys;
• hours.

The small size allows you to do this anywhere. They even found parasites in the socket and lamp on the nightstand.

It is completely absurd to think that after leaving the premises for a long time, parasites will die out on their own. This may take about 2 years. In other cases, it is simply impossible to leave them without food. Despite the small size of the body, the scale of infection can be enormous. To prevent this, you need to take timely measures.

The most effective and useless methods against bedbugs

When pinning your hopes on certain methods of fighting bedbugs, you need to analyze how effective they will be. Chemicals work well in a neglected room that has not been renovated for a long time and has a lot of old furniture. There are also a lot of cracks, holes, torn wallpaper - possible hiding places for parasites. Traditional methods will be ineffective in this situation. You will have to use strong chemicals. Re-processing may be required.

In a room with a new, high-quality renovation, with a small infestation of bedbugs, it is quite possible to get by with aromatic oils from folk recipes. If bedbugs were accidentally brought in with things from a trip, it will be enough to wash things at high temperatures, wash the floors several times with the addition of essential oils, and spread dry grass around the apartment.

The use of kerosene, vinegar and other strong-smelling substances does not bring the desired result, and the smell from things remains for a long time. Turpentine cannot be removed from clothes; it is easier to throw them away. It is better not to use such methods against bedbugs.

It is important to constantly change anti-bed bug products because the parasites become accustomed to the substances and do not respond to them. Prevention of recurrence

Prevention of recurrence

Preventive measures will help protect the premises from the reappearance of parasites. As a preventive measure after removing bedbugs, you need to do the following:

• regularly carry out wet cleaning by adding a few drops of essential oils to the water;
• seal cracks in the apartment, glue baseboards and torn wallpaper;
• wash items at high temperature after traveling;
• iron bed linen with a hot iron on both sides, this way you can get rid of clutches of eggs;
• throw away cardboard packaging from furniture, parasites often live there.

Prevention will prevent parasite eggs from being transferred into the apartment, which will prevent re-infection.