How do bedbugs or housebugs move?

Anatomical abilities of domestic parasites

Whether bed bugs fly can be determined by their appearance by carefully examining the parasite with a magnifying glass. Flat, flattened body, elastic chitinous cover. There are no wings or fender liners. The question can be answered with complete confidence - domestic bloodsuckers do not fly.

Interesting!

Small insects are able to freely climb on any surface - horizontally, vertically. The bloodsuckers climb onto the ceiling and from there they attack the sleeping person. Parasites float in the air, and for this they do not need wings.

Bedbugs enter a house or apartment not through open windows or doors, but through contaminated things, furniture, and objects. Or through cracks in the wall, sockets, ventilation grilles from neighbors. They parasitize in bed when the victim is sleeping. Photos of pests are presented below.

Are there bedbugs with wings (flying bugs)

Such insects exist. They have full-fledged wings that allow them to rise into the air and fly. However, many insects had wings at the initial stage of evolution and then disappeared. This group includes bed bugs. Other insects have wings only at the initial stage of development, such as stick water striders.

Due to wintering

they lose the ability to fly. This is due to the fact that the muscles responsible for the functioning of the wings atrophy, because they were not needed for a long period.

If you are wondering whether bedbugs fly or not, you need to take into account that in some insects, due to evolution, only the elytra have been preserved. However, these are inferior wings; their capabilities are not enough to fly. It is not always possible to detect the elytra, since they are camouflaged due to the pattern on the shell.

Interesting: Not all types of flying bugs use their capabilities; they fly very rarely, such as the green bug, and the wing on its back is also difficult to see.

The most common flying bugs that constantly move through the air are:

• triatomine, found in America, rarely in Russia, lives close to human habitation, goes hunting when it gets dark;
• smoothy (water flying bug) - lives near bodies of water, is characterized by a black color, up to 4 cm long;
• marbled crop pest - found in Asia, can destroy plantings, moves long distances;
• stick water strider: acquires the ability to fly when it turns from a nymph to an adult (from a larva to an adult), during wintering the muscles atrophy, in addition, they are used by the body as a source of nutrients, they are simply digested, so in the future the pest loses the ability to fly;
• The turtle bug got its name due to its resemblance to a turtle; this insect destroys agricultural crops.

Triatomine bug The bite of the smoothie bug is not poisonous, but quite painful. Under the hard shell of the marbled bug there are wings. WAND- water strider Hydrometra gracilenta Externally, the shape of the shell resembles a small turtle

Most flying insects feed on plants. They do not settle in human homes, but they can accidentally fly through a window. In such conditions they will not survive due to lack of food. Upon contact, pests release substances that repel enemies.

It's an intense smell.

All types of bedbugs have this ability.

Do bedbugs fly or have wings?

Many types of household pests have wings and can fly. You often see them doing this because it attracts attention and is usually within reach.

But all flying insects have nothing in common with bed bugs. Bed bugs cannot fly because they do not have wings. Their evolutionary ancestors had wings like any other beetles. But bed bugs eventually got rid of them so they could hide in small hiding places. They still have wing muscles in their thorax, but no wings attached.

If you see a house beetle flying, it is not a bug, but something else. Below is one version of why bed bugs cannot fly and how they evolved as a species.

Do bedbugs move in the air?

No! This is not their way of transportation. Think a little about the life of a bedbug: most of the time they hide. They live in tiny cracks and crevices in your bedding or near your bed. They don't go outside. Predators rarely attack them, and therefore there is no need to run away.

When they are hungry and want to eat, they crawl towards you. They are lazy and they like the shortest, most comfortable route from your bedding to your exposed skin. But the hungry instinct will bring them from the farthest corner of your apartment. They can even find you across multiple rooms by tracking the heat you generate.

When they want to find a new place to live and a new source of food, they usually wait for it where they are. And the best assortment of future donors is often found in hotel rooms.

If the bedbug was not destined to begin its life journey in a cheap hostel, it will have to crawl some distances, what to find, where and how to hide in human clothing in order to begin to spread in this way.

But bedbugs are not born to fly. Natural selection did not give them such an opportunity.

Do bed bugs have wings?

Bed bugs don't have wings! Their anatomy is different from that of beetles.

Beetles that can fly have three body parts: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. The wings are usually attached to the muscles of the chest. Beetles typically fold their wings over their abdomens when not in use. Or they can cover them with a shell, like a ladybug.

Bed bugs have a head, thorax and abdomen. They have a shell, although it is not hard or shiny and cannot open like other beetles' shells can. They also do not have wings attached to their thorax (or anywhere else).

And yet they do have one part of their anatomy for flight; they still have small muscles in the chest where the wings are usually attached. These are evolutionary remnants.

The ancestors of bed bugs used to enjoy flight in the air. But at the dawn of civilization they made their main choice and got rid of their wings thousands of years ago. This way they were able to hide in smaller cracks, while their wings got in the way. This is why bed bugs have wing muscles but no wings.

You won't be able to see them with the naked eye. You'll need a microscope to spot them. But anyway, bed bugs don't have wings and never try to fly any other way.

How did bed bugs lose their wings?

The original ancestors of bedbugs probably fed on plant sap. There are thousands more species that are similar to bed bugs that do. Some species began to feed on animals, and it was from them that bedbugs originated.

The ancestors of bed bugs began to feed exclusively on bats. They lived in caves where bats lived. Here they were safe from the elements and had hosts from whom they could constantly feed.

The problem was that bats eat bugs. Thus, if a bat ever finds one of these insects crawling or feeding, it will immediately eat them. They needed to adapt to be safer.

To do this, they began to hide in the cracks of the caves in which they lived. For the same purpose, they learned to flatten their bodies. But their wings were still in the way. Most likely they were scraped off and damaged. But it didn't matter because the bugs no longer needed to fly anywhere.

Over time, bedbugs, born without wings, gained an advantage. They could fit into narrower cracks without injuring themselves while crawling inside. Their cousins, chimney bugs, have a similar story.

When people began to live in caves, these same beetles began to feed on us.

How do bed bloodsuckers migrate?

Bed bugs do not have wings and are not capable of flight. Unlike other wingless insects such as fleas, bed bugs are also not equipped to jump long distances. Bed bugs can travel in rapid marches across fabrics and rough surfaces.

Bed bugs are insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, or true bugs. They are blood-sucking insects that have penetrating mouth parts. Bed bugs undergo a gradual metamorphosis that includes eggs, nymphs, and adults. Nymphs are very similar to adults, the main difference is that adults can reproduce. Female bed bugs usually lay only a few eggs per day.

The common bed bug prefers to feed on human hosts and is not at all fond of pets or other furry animals. They are carried by people, most often in personal belongings such as suitcases, wallets, sports bags or other items that are stored near sleeping areas during trips to other people's residences. Bedbugs are not known to transmit diseases to humans. However, their bites can cause skin irritation, which can be serious in some people.

Bed bugs have become a widespread phenomenon recently. This has left many concerned, potential warm-blooded bite victims with questions about these pesky pests.

Below, find answers to many common questions about bed bugs.

Wild flying

Bedbug populations are numerous. Among tens of thousands of species, some individuals can fly. They have a well-developed pair of real wings, due to which they move through the air.

Flying bugs:

1. Triatomine is a representative of hemipterans. Individuals are dangerous to humans. A bite can spread the deadly Chagas disease. They live in America. In Russia there are single specimens. The tropical insect has a pair of wings. Predators settle near human habitation: in sheds, attics, and courtyard buildings. With the onset of darkness, they fly closer to the prey, which are people. The bug feeds on blood.
2. Marbled pest of crops. Spotted in Asia. Destroys melons and berries, loves vineyards and nightshades. To move long distances you need wings.
3. The smooth water flying bug is a black insect, reaching 3-4 cm in length. It has smooth, hard wing covers. The bite is not dangerous to humans, but the pain is comparable to a wasp sting. Fighting the pest is useless, since families fly across the reservoir very quickly.
4. Stick water strider. It has a laterally flattened abdomen and long legs. From the moment the nymph transforms into an adult, the bug can fly. After wintering, this ability disappears in the water strider. The muscles responsible for the movement of the wings atrophy, are digested during hibernation and are used as additional nutrition.
5. Turtle. A small brown stink bug that is a pest on farmland. Outwardly it resembles a small turtle.

Triatomine Smooth Turtle

There are more flying bugs than those without wings. There is no danger to humans. The harmfulness lies in eating vegetation. If you catch a bug, you can “get it in the nose,” since all flying and flightless insects emit an unpleasant odor to scare away the enemy.

Important! If adult representatives are equipped with a flying machine, their larvae do not have wings. Over time, it is noticeable how the nymphs begin to develop elytra.

If you find a flying guest, do not worry. This is an outdoor insect that flew into an open window. Entomologists say insects need wings to move from one territory to another in search of food, from danger, and for settlement. Their flight is short, since the muscles of the wings are rather weak.

The flying representatives of the order look larger than the crawling ones. Most often you can meet them in the fall, when, with the onset of cold weather, they fly into apartments in search of food and shelter from the cold. In private houses the likelihood of such a meeting is higher than in high-rise buildings. Street insects fly to places where there is a lot of tasty greenery.

How long do house bugs live?

The average lifespan of a bed bug is 10-12 months. In particularly extreme conditions (for example, during a sharp cold snap or the absence of a person in the house for a long time), they fall into suspended animation, in which they can remain for more than a year until the return of a source of food or normalization of external climatic conditions.

IMPORTANT! Household bugs are also called bed bugs, and their clutches instantly die at temperatures of +50°C and -10°C.

Lifestyle

Bed bugs are predominantly nocturnal. Only a certain danger or alarm can force them to become active during the daytime, for example, destruction of their habitat or the action of third-party chemicals.

The parasites are most active between 3 am and 6 am. At this time, they are especially dangerous for humans, since they go out in search of food, this is their feature. Insects are mobile and fast, they can get from any corner of the apartment to the bed in a matter of seconds, spend about half an hour feeding and return to their previous shelter.

Bed bugs spend most of their life cycle preferring to hide in various shelters, emerging at night to satisfy their hunger or to find a new home if the old one has been destroyed.

IMPORTANT! Parasites usually eat once every 5-7 days. If you notice new bites on your body every day, this is a sure signal that there are a huge number of parasites in the house.

After a single feeding, bedbugs digest the blood somewhere in a secluded corner of the home.

Reproduction and development

Bed bugs mate through traumatic insemination:

1. The male, using his genital organ, pierces the female’s abdomen and injects seminal fluid into it.
2. After a few weeks, the female begins to lay eggs (up to 5 eggs daily). Over the entire life cycle, one adult female is capable of laying about 250-500 eggs.
3. An insect in an egg will develop to the adult stage on average 30-45 days, but in extreme conditions development can take up to 100 days.
4. Bedbug larvae immediately begin to look for food on their own, because to move to the next stage of development (and to molt) they need a certain amount of blood they drink.

Lifestyle of a bloodsucker

The bedbug spends most of its time hibernating. The greatest activity occurs between 3 am and 6 am. At this time, the victim is fast asleep and will not be able to prevent him from eating. Hungry, they go hunting. In most cases, the parasite prefers to settle as close as possible to a person in order to have quick and direct access to its food source. Having had enough, the individual very slowly returns to the nest.

Experts say that the sense of smell is the most developed organ of the night guest. Thanks to him, he can smell a person even several meters away. A bedbug will quickly detect a person by the carbon dioxide released during respiration. The bloodsucker can detect the smell of sweat even tens of meters away.

Interesting!

At one time, the bug drinks an amount of blood that is 2 times its own weight.

Relationships between insects

The house bug is a small individual whose body has a flattened shape. The body is from 2 mm to 8 mm long. After feeding, the size of the bug increases in proportion to the blood it drinks. The parasite is brown or black in color. After eating, it takes on a scarlet or burgundy hue. There is a sting to pierce the skin and suck out blood. The bite of a bug is not felt by humans or animals thanks to a special substance produced by the bloodsucker's gland.

House bugs

The insect has a standard set of legs in the amount of 3 pairs. Their structure allows the bloodsucker to move quickly, and their flat body makes it possible to get into the narrowest crevices. This ability quickly disappears after the bedbug takes food. A well-fed individual is passive, moves very slowly and reluctantly.

The relationship between bloodsucking bugs and other insects that live in apartments is very complex. Due to constant bites on the body, people often resort to fighting bloodsuckers. While with ants and cockroaches it can live for a long time. Insects also become dangerous to each other. What can happen between parasites:

• Cockroaches enjoy feasting on bedbug eggs. Regardless of the fact that the habitats of these pests are different, the larvae of cockroaches are able to penetrate into the shelters of bloodsuckers and destroy their clutch.
• The poisonous glands of ants are fatal to the bug. They do not purposefully fight among themselves, but parasites cannot settle nearby. In addition, adult ants are also not averse to eating beetle larvae.
• Centipedes happily catch and kill even adult bloodsuckers. However, the centipede itself is a rare occurrence in human habitation.

Bedbugs themselves cannot harm anyone except people. Interestingly! Cats hunt for any insects that move around the rooms, but do not pay any attention to bedbugs. This may be due to the specific smell of the parasite.

Myth 4: Bed bugs are microscopically small and impossible to see.

A lot of people really think this way. As a rule, this happens when people are bitten by fleas: in many cases of such bites, the person does not have time to notice the parasite, and while he involuntarily scratches the bite site, the flea is already detached from the skin and runs away, or rather, jumps away.

The most typical situations here are:

• A person sits down to watch TV in the evening and feels a bite on his leg, scratches it, examines it and sees a swelling. At the same time, he does not have time to notice the insect itself;
• A person gets into a car and feels insects begin to run along his legs, after which painful bites begin. By the time he gets out of the car and rolls up his trouser legs to inspect his legs, the fleas are already falling off;
• People feel similar bites in the garden.

In all such situations, it is definitely not bedbugs that bite a person, if only because bedbugs do not touch a sleeping, moving victim at all, much less they will not attack in sunlight or the lights are on. Moreover, a bug is not able to escape from the body so quickly that a person will not have time to notice it.

Most of all, such situations resemble flea attacks.

Firstly, fleas can bite during the day and attack active, awake, moving hosts.

Secondly, they very quickly jump away from the bite site when there is danger and you really may not have time to notice them.

But the main thing is that they are small, much smaller than bedbugs, and people with poor eyesight may not even be able to see them on the skin.

The bugs are quite noticeable. Their smallest nymphs are slightly smaller than a flea, but such nymphs attack only at night. Adults and larger nymphs are about the size of a ladybug, but with a flatter body. They can be seen with the naked eye.

Consequently, in all situations in which it seems that some microscopically small bugs are biting, in reality it is either fleas, body lice, or rarer parasites who are biting.

Due to such errors, the room may be processed incorrectly. To remove fleas, you need to treat pets' resting areas, cracks in the floor and baseboards. To remove body lice, you need to treat clothing and bedding. If people mistake these insects for bedbugs and fight them as if they were bedbugs, then they treat the places where the bedbugs hide, and the parasites themselves - fleas or lice - remain unharmed. And therefore, then they continue to bite.

Therefore, we remember: bedbugs can be seen with the naked eye. If this cannot be done, then it is not bedbugs, and you need to figure out who is actually biting, and only after that take measures to destroy the detected and correctly identified parasites.

How to deal with flying and non-flying bedbugs

To destroy flying insects, do not use special means, because they move quickly. In addition, they are not found in large numbers indoors. If one pest gets into the house through a window, it is destroyed mechanically (with a slipper or other heavy object) when the insect sits somewhere.

Often street bugs die indoors from lack of food.

How to destroy bedbugs: folk methods

In farmland conditions, bedbugs are destroyed in different ways: traps made from plastic bottles and sweet baits are used. However, bed bugs cannot be killed in this way, because they do not react to other food sources, they are attracted to blood. At home, they are destroyed using kerosene, denatured alcohol, naphthalene, and turpentine.

Each of the components can be used

separately or make a mixture. This product is used to treat bedbug nests and various surfaces.

Be sure to follow safety precautions when working with denatured alcohol.

Myth 1: Bed bugs only live in beds

Likewise, we come across similar but less common options: couch bugs only live in the sofa, bed bugs only live in the bed, and so on. In general, people believe that the bed bugs that bite them live only in sleeping areas. This myth is due to the fact that bedbugs bite people only when people sleep in their sleeping places and it seems that they also live only in these sleeping places.

And this misconception leads to the fact that people try to destroy bedbugs only in sleeping areas. Only the sofa or just the bed is treated with the same insecticides, or, for example, steam from a steam generator, and the person believes that after such treatment the bedbugs should disappear.

But they do not disappear, because in fact, in most apartments and houses some of the bedbugs live outside the sleeping areas. If a full inspection of the premises is carried out before baiting, then bedbugs are usually also found behind baseboards, behind furniture, behind household appliances, and sometimes even behind loose wallpaper, in computer system units and in books. It is clear that if in such a situation only the sleeping place is treated for them, all other bedbugs will remain alive and will safely bite a person and reproduce even after disinfestation. That is, it will not be possible to withdraw them.

Another way this misconception goes wrong is that people throw out a sofa and assume that all the bedbugs have gone with the sofa. You probably already understand what the result is.

Therefore, in order to destroy bedbugs, they need to be poisoned not only in sleeping places, but wherever they are. To understand where they are and what places need to be treated, before treatment you need to inspect all the cracks, niches and cavities in the room into which bedbugs can theoretically climb. After this, you will know where the bedbugs are, destroy all of them wherever they hide, and there will be no more of them left in the room.

How do bedbugs fly around the world?

Bedbugs seem to suddenly appear uninvited out of nowhere. Because of their sudden appearance, some people ask themselves: “Did bedbugs fly into a window or an open balcony door?” Luckily, no, bed bugs cannot fly.

But bed bloodsuckers crawl perfectly on six legs, so they don’t need wings. Any rapid transportation of bed bugs may be associated with human activity, which becomes not only their food, but also their personal means of transport. They attach to your luggage, clothes or even your skin and travel with you in the car, on the bus, on the train, or on the plane.

Flying bugs in the apartment

Flying bugs look much larger than bed bugs. The color of their back is from gray-brown to green. The wings are clearly visible.

Street bugs bother residents in apartments in the spring or summer. And in warm regions, bedbugs fly en masse into apartments, houses and gardens in the fall, especially after a hot and rainy summer. These individuals are herbivores and can cause minor damage to plants in the garden. The flying bugs' season ends around October or November - at the same time that they begin searching for food and warm places in people's homes. A massive invasion usually does not last long - 3-4 weeks, in rare cases - up to 2 months. Even high floors in apartment buildings are not protected from large numbers of flying bugs entering an apartment, especially if the house is located near a forest or park.

For prevention, traps can be used as a measure to reduce the number of this species within the home. One of the homemade options is a trap for flying insects in the form of a cut-off plastic bottle, closed with a lid with a narrow hole. A sprig of raspberry or other plant should be placed inside the bottle, or sugar syrup mixed with the berry should be poured. As a trap for flying bugs, you can try laying out ready-made poisonous boxes for cockroaches with luring substances inside. However, the effectiveness of this method is questionable, since the attractants contain substances that are not preferred by stink bugs.

It is quite difficult to completely get rid of flying bugs in an apartment, because they will still fly towards the heat. Entomologists usually advise just waiting out the season of their vigorous activity, and besides, it is not that long. During the period of invasion, you can try to remove bedbugs that fly with repellents and regular cleaning.

To find out what kind of plant you can plant in your yard to prevent bedbugs from getting into your house, watch the video.

Are bed bugs ready to jump?

Many of us have become acquainted with these insects, and it is well known how much harm it can cause. But not everyone can answer the question: do these parasites jump or crawl?

But the legs of bedbugs are completely unprepared for jumping; they have a completely different structure and, accordingly, purpose. Therefore, neither adults nor small nymphs are able to jump. The Spanish bug is capable of running, but only for short distances. The speed of movement is 1 meter per minute. What is natural: they do not need to run long distances, because they live close to humans. Therefore, housing and food can be said to be conveniently located for these bloodsuckers.

Can these creatures fly? - The answer is obvious: no! They have no wings and no ability to fly. Therefore, you should not be afraid that they will land on your head or fly into your apartment through the window.

It is important to clarify that bed bugs do not jump or fly. They settle in our homes, and often we are unaware of their existence. Until they start leaving bite marks on our body.

The bed type is the most common among all types, but therefore there are many methods to combat it. So what kind of bloodsucking creatures jump?

How to deal with them

The pest's lifestyle depends on the development of its wings. When a bug eats vegetation, it needs to travel long distances. If the individual is near the victim, then it does not need the ability to fly.

The control method is chosen depending on the type of parasite - flying or crawling. They get rid of flying creatures using traps and special repellers.

A crawling bug is harder to catch because it hides. To eliminate it, you will need disinfestation agents. The fight is against pests that destroy berry plantings and farmland, as well as against domestic blood-sucking insects. When a room is infested with many individuals and you don’t know how to get rid of them, you need to contact special services.

At home, you can install a sticky trap, sweet fertilizer, tape, or a do-it-yourself device made from a plastic bottle.

There is no point in fighting one flying bug. It must be caught, released into the street or destroyed. To prevent insects from disturbing them, mosquito nets are installed on the windows, cracks on the window frame and balcony are sealed with sealant, and a cloth soaked in vinegar is laid out on the windowsill. If the bedbugs do not disappear, then insecticides are used.

How to tell if your home is infested with bedbugs

Many people underestimate the danger of bedbugs in their home.
Therefore, everyone needs to be able to determine whether their home is infested with bedbugs. Detecting the presence of pests in your home is not that difficult. Like all living creatures, bedbugs leave behind signs of their vital activity in their habitats. The sooner you can notice the appearance of bedbugs in an apartment, the easier and faster it will be to destroy them, and you will not spend large sums and your time fighting an already big threat. Bites on the arm after sleeping in a bedbug-infested room

The first and most obvious sign of bedbugs in the house is bites on the body. Blood is the only food option for bedbugs, so they bite very quietly. Most often, while a person is sleeping, the bug attacks open areas of his body with the help of his sharp mouthparts and sucks out the required amount of blood. And at the same time, with the help of its proboscis, the bug secretes a liquid that makes the bite area insensitive for a while, so you won’t wake up from the bite, but will notice it in the morning. A characteristic feature of bedbug bites is that after the first consumption of blood, it moves downwards, creating something similar to bite tracks on the human body.

Signs of a bedbug bite are itching and burning of the affected areas of the body. Often the bite site swells and begins to turn bright red. Bedbugs do not touch areas of the body with rough skin and hair, which should be taken into account and not be confused with any type of allergy. Bedbugs bite everyone, but most often they choose women and children as their victims, because their skin is thinner and easier to bite through, and it is much easier to get to blood vessels.

Another factor in the appearance of bedbugs is their characteristic odor. The smell of a special secretion that is secreted by their special gland. That is why the famous expression appeared: “The apartment smells like bedbugs.” Their smell will be felt most strongly in their habitats: in the bed, behind the closet, behind the window sills and other similar places. People describe this smell as a slight stench of spoiled wine or sour wild berries.

Symptoms of infection

The most obvious evidence that there are bed bugs in the house is the discovery of an adult bed bug. At the same time, sometimes a living insect may indicate that the neighbors are being disinfested, and the surviving bloodsuckers have found a new home. Thus, when an adult is identified, the potential habitats of these parasites should be immediately inspected.

Bites on the body

The main symptom of bedbug infestation is bites that regularly appear on the skin. Red marks appear on the neck, back, cheeks and arms. Parasites do not bite in hairy areas; they choose places where the skin is thin and smooth. For this reason, children and women suffer more from these insects.

Bed bugs become active at night, so new bites can be detected in the morning immediately after waking up. Small red bumps are sometimes confused with an allergic reaction.

In this case, the bedbug bites are close to each other, forming a path. The number of red bumps on the skin increases every day along with the insect population, which is rapidly increasing. If the fight against parasites is not carried out, then a person can be bitten up to 300-350 times during the night.

Traces of blood on the bed

The substance that the parasite injects under the victim’s skin disrupts blood clotting. For this reason, a drop of blood appears at the site of the lesion, which, falling on the bed, leaves a mark. Bedding and waste products contaminate.

To remove stains, rinse the fabric in cold water. You can also remove traces with hydrogen peroxide (3-5%).

Hydrogen peroxide removes traces of blood stains after a bug bite.

The appearance of blackheads

Bedbugs are living creatures, so they have a digestive process and waste. Parasite feces are liquid and dark brown in color, but they quickly cool and become hard.

You can find excrement anywhere in your home. Most often, parasites accumulate near or on the bed. The smell of bedbug waste resembles bad cognac.

When the larva hatches from the egg, it molts several times as it grows. Each time it sheds its chitinous coating, which can be found on the floor, furniture, and windowsill.

Unpleasant smell

The sense of smell is a way for bedbugs to navigate in space, mate and notify their relatives of danger.

The aroma that these parasites exude is pleasant - sickly sweet, reminiscent of the smell of almonds or rotten raspberries. If there are a lot of insects in the apartment, the aroma becomes constant. If you smell this smell at least once in your life, you will no longer be able to confuse it with any other.

Myth 5: Bed bugs jump

This is an analogue of the previous misconception. It occurs when a person sees an insect that bites him, tries to catch it, and the insect jumps, and does it so quickly that it seems that it simply disappears from the place where it was sitting before. At the same time, the person either does not know anything about fleas, or is sure that fleas in the room do not bite, and if someone here attacks a person, then it is bedbugs. Accordingly, he believes that these are some special jumping bugs, or simply concludes that ordinary bedbugs can jump.

The result of this misconception will be the treatment of insects in sleeping areas where fleas do not live (the person thinks that they are poisoning bedbugs), and untouched places of their usual habitat - baseboards, cracks between boards in the floor, resting areas for pets, carpets and dusty corners . Consequently, fleas do not disappear after such events.

In reality, bedbugs cannot jump due to the weakness of their legs. If the insect is jumping, then it is not a bug. Indoors it can be either crickets or fleas, and only fleas bite people. To destroy them, you need to find places where both adult fleas and their larvae accumulate - the latter can swarm in dust, in dirty corners, in accumulations of garbage, in the latrines of pets. And after the examination, all these places need to be treated with means to kill fleas.

Interesting facts about insects

The first record of a bedbug was found in chronicles of the 400s. BC e. Aristotle claimed that these insects could cure the effects of a snake bite and get rid of ear infections. In the 18th century, bedbugs were used for medical purposes as a remedy for hysteria. In the 19th century began to invent ways to combat parasites - “bug cookers”, rubbing with perfume and even special spells.

In Thailand, large water bugs are a tasty treat offered to tourists in expensive restaurants and street stalls.

Predatory bugs Acanthaspis petax hunt ants, whose skins they wear on their backs. A kind of shield scares away spiders, which will never attack ants that have accumulated in large numbers.

The water bug Micronecta scholtzi is capable of producing a sound with a volume of up to 99.2 dB, which is comparable to the roar of a moving locomotive. Males chirp to attract females. To do this, they scratch their belly with their genitals. However, a person does not hear these sounds, because all the action takes place under water.