How do bed bugs get in the mattress and how to get rid of them?

Bed bugs are unpleasant guests that can often be found in houses or apartments, even with ideal sanitary conditions. We will describe below what these harmful insects look like, how to find out about their appearance and how to deal with them.

Bed bugs have several names: linen, book, furniture, mattress and others. They all represent one type of parasite that are frequent guests of many houses and apartments. At the same time, they can live and hide anywhere: small cracks, furniture, folds of clothes and curtains, books - all this will be a good refuge for them.

The appearance of the parasites depends on whether they are hungry or well-fed. So, a hungry bug has a flattened body and a yellowish or brownish color, and a well-fed bug looks more round, its body color can be either deep red or black. Their size can vary within 3–8 mm, while females look somewhat larger than males.

As for the eggs, they, unlike the eggs of other insects, are quite large, and therefore it will not be difficult to find them. But the hatched larva will be much more difficult to see, since its size does not exceed a millimeter, and its body is transparent. Unlike other harmful insects, bugs reproduce relatively slowly. An adult female is capable of laying only a few eggs per day.

The main source of food for these insects at all stages of development is human blood. However, they do not disdain the blood of pets, birds or mice. Provided they receive food regularly, these insects suck blood at night. Otherwise, they can attack a person or animal in the daytime.

The lifespan of mattress bugs can reach 12-14 months in the presence of favorable conditions. With a shortage or complete lack of food, the parasite goes into hibernation. This state implies something similar to hibernation: the life processes in the bug's body practically stop. In hibernation, the bug can stay for about 5 months at room temperature and about a year at a temperature of + 10 °.

Low or, conversely, too high temperatures for an insect are destructive. So, at -17 °, an adult can last no more than a day, and at + 45 ° it can live for about 45 minutes.

Bed bugs appear in the house in different ways. Even frequent cleaning, new clothes and perfect sanitary conditions cannot prevent this. Bedbugs can climb into an apartment through ventilation channels, small cracks, through neighboring windows, climbing the walls, or from the basement.

It is not difficult to transfer them to the house on clothes from the street. They are especially often turned on after travel, the reason for which is hostels, motels or trains, which were the original home of parasites. If we talk about the private sector, then harmful insects can easily move into the house from the chicken coop infected with them.

It is possible to determine the presence of bedbugs in the house by the presence of marks on the human body, which indicate that the parasites have already managed to feast on blood.These marks look like small pinkish or red spots that can itch and swell a little. Most often, these spots are a small path of several bites.

At the same time, we note that it is extremely difficult to catch a parasite at the time of feeding, since a person does not feel pain at this moment. This happens due to a special substance that is contained in the saliva of the insect. The consequence of this kind of bites is most often an allergy, while the degree of its severity can be different. To check for sure whether there are bed bugs in your home or not, you need to look at some factors.

• The remains of the life activity of bedbugs, which look like small black dots, in size not exceeding poppy seeds.
• Remnants of chitinous membranes that insects shed during molting.
• Small red blood spots on the mattress. They remain from crushed parasites, which have already managed to get enough of human blood. There is no such trace of hungry bugs, and it will be somewhat more difficult to crush them.
• If a large number of parasites are bred in the house, then you can notice a special smell, similar to the aroma of spoiled cognac.
• Detection of the parasite itself.

There are many ways to fight.

Since bedbugs try to avoid too high and low temperatures, the best way to get rid of them is to create the most unfavorable conditions. In winter, you can easily take advantage of the weather conditions and take the mattress in which the parasites live out into the cold. It is necessary to leave it there for a couple of days. With an outdoor temperature of -20 ° and below, you can easily get rid of parasites that may have lurked deep inside.

To fight bed bugs, you can resort to using a steam cleaner or steam generator. It is enough just to thoroughly treat the problem area with steam, which will quickly destroy all insects. However, keep in mind that steam can only penetrate to a specific depth, and therefore in some cases, for example, with an old mattress, it may not help.

Another way to remove harmful insects is to warm up the room well with dry heat. This should be done for about 8 hours, while the temperature should not be lower than + 48 °. This method will help completely get rid of bed bugs in your home.

If bed bugs are in your apartment, then chemicals will be most effective in combating them. However, in order to exterminate them completely, it is necessary to become familiar with the system to combat them. At the same time, keep in mind that chemicals are quite toxic, and when using them, you must strictly follow the instructions and follow safety rules. Chemicals are divided into 2 types: ordinary aerosols and concentrates.

The first are affordable and easy to use, these include tools such as "Clean House", "Raptor", "Raid", "Combat" and "Dichlorvos". Please note that such drugs are not highly effective, and you will have to use them at least 2 or 3 times. In this case, the parasites remaining after processing can breed, and their offspring will develop addiction to such a remedy.

The second drugs are highly effective, but they are more difficult to use. These include the following tools: Delta Zone, Executioner, Fufanon-Super, Force Site and GET. Please note that they are highly toxic and require protective equipment, including a mask and rubber gloves, to use them.

The most rational solution would be to call the specialists who work in this area, since they have not only special equipment and means, but also experience in the fight against harmful insects, as well as a working system for their extermination. Thus, you can definitely get rid of all parasites.

Such means of control are not highly effective and will not be able to completely remove harmful insects. However, for all those who oppose the use of chemicals, it will be useful to know about them. So, in the fight against bed bugs, you can use bunches of such plants:

• tansy;
• calamus;
• chamomile;
• sagebrush;
• wild rosemary.

All of these plants should repel insects, which will prevent them from appearing in your home. Regular treatment with vinegar or vinegar essence will also be useful in the fight against parasites and for prevention. Solutions based on ammonia, denatured alcohol, benzene, as well as the use of gasoline or turpentine can help you.

Note that no matter what method of removing bed bugs you use, none of them can insure you against the reappearance of insects. However, at the first sign of the appearance of these parasites, it is necessary to begin a fight with them in order to prevent them from multiplying.