Bed bugs migrate due to either lack of nutrition or external irritants affecting them. But migration does not always occur between neighboring rooms. Bed bugs can easily cover considerable distances, running several tens of meters per day. Their most common habitats are polluted, cluttered premises: houses and apartments. But still, they can easily appear in fairly clean owners. Bed bugs usually settle near the sleeping area, i.e. near the bed, sofa and directly in their mattresses.

Bed bug bites

In most cases, they are carriers of dangerous diseases, so they can cause great harm to human health. Its bite is very similar to a mosquito bite and it is quite difficult to distinguish them from each other. And in this confusion, it will be very difficult to promptly detect the first signs of a bed bug infestation because... they create entire hordes, multiplying very quickly. Their lifespan is about two years. A bed bug has a very small need for food. In order to satisfy his hunger, it is enough for him to take 2-3 bites a week. They tolerate cold very well and can go hungry for up to six months. But due to the very rapid growth in the number of bed bugs, it seems that they are insatiable bloodsuckers. When bedbugs fall on hard times, their state resembles suspended animation; they hibernate and wait for a more favorable time for them. In this state they can easily exist for several months. As soon as changes occur in the environment, they immediately awaken and gradually resume all their life processes and go in search of food.

How bedbugs reproduce, lay eggs and larvae

Having chosen suitable living conditions for themselves, they begin to multiply quickly and continuously. A female bedbug can lay 5-12 larvae (eggs) per day, and up to 400 in a year. The laying of bedbug eggs is mainly located in a dark, hard-to-reach place, this contributes to greater survival of the offspring. Finding their nests is very difficult. Such places can be: cavities in walls and wallpaper, cracks in the floor, furniture, baseboards, old books, back walls closets and other secluded places. Bedbug larvae are covered with a thin but dense shell that is resistant to external influences. This is why it is much more difficult to deal with egg laying than with adult bedbugs. The incubation period (maturation) of the larvae lasts up to three weeks. If you have no idea about the location of these nests, then it is almost impossible to detect them with a simple visual inspection of your premises. Having hatched, the young individuals immediately begin to feed intensively, and after another 2 months they also reproduce intensively.

How to Detect Bed Bugs

After 4-5 molts, the nymphs become sexually mature adult bugs without undergoing morphological changes, which is why the development cycle is called incomplete. The larvae move slowly and always live near a food source.

In order to move into the next development cycle, the larva must feed. Only a well-fed nymph molts and increases in size. By 4-5 moults, it becomes three times its initial size and reaches 4.5 mm. By the time of transformation into an adult, the color of the chitinous cover darkens and becomes dark brown.

Appearance

On a note!

Feeding occurs at night, although bedbugs are not exclusively nocturnal.

Features of nutrition and digestion

Bedbug nymphs have piercing-sucking mouthparts. The bug, with the help of a bundle of mandibles and maxillae located in the food canal, is firmly attached to the skin. With jagged mandibles, it clings deeply to the skin, pierces it and pushes the maxillae into its thickness, reaching the blood vessel. In addition to the alimentary canal, the oral organs form a channel through which the contents of the salivary glands, rich in enzymes that prevent blood clotting and have an analgesic effect, are injected into the victim’s body.

The legs of bed or house bugs are only running, but adult individuals move quite quickly. Due to the fact that the larvae move more slowly, they remain on the human body for only 5-10 minutes. During this time, the first instar nymph drinks 0.3 mg of blood. With each growth, this amount increases, and the imago can drink up to 7 mg of the victim’s blood at a time. The photo shows bedbug larvae.

Appearance

Interesting!

Bites

Bites from bedbug larvae occur with equal frequency in both sexes and do not depend on blood type. By carefully examining what bedbug larvae look like, you can determine by the color of their abdomen how long ago they fed. Nymphs that have just “dined” have a bright red color. Gradually the blood coagulates, darkens and after a few hours the color becomes brown, and after a few days it becomes black. Larvae can survive without food for only 7-8 days, while the adult generation can survive 18-20 days without food.

Stages of development from egg to adult bedbug

A special feature is traumatic fertilization. The male's genital organ has a sharp tip, with which he pierces any part of the female's body. The injected sperm are transported through the hemolymph flow into a special Berlese organ, characteristic only of bed bugs. It is used not only for long-term storage of sperm, but also for regeneration of the female’s body after injury.

With the flow of hemolymph, the seminal fluid migrates into the ovarioles, where the eggs are fertilized. Over the course of its entire life, one female can lay about 500 oblong larvae, equipped with an operculum for the exit of larvae. The number of eggs depends on the amount of sperm entering the body, temperature environment and nutrition.

Eggs

The female lays an average of 5 eggs per day, appearance resembling a tiny transparent capsule. A durable sticky shell reliably protects the embryo from external influences and chemicals. Most do not destroy eggs; they can be eliminated either mechanically or by using temperature regime. : -20°С, +50°С.

Already 3-4 days after the fertilized eggs are laid, the first generation larvae appear. An adult can live up to a year in favorable temperature conditions. Even one female bedbug is capable of founding a large colony.

Pairing

• pheromones - to attract individuals of the opposite sex;
• indications of the presence of a food object - pheromones of the “food trail”;
• danger warning – alarm pheromones.

The glands also produce kairomones, substances that repel predators. When there is a large population of bedbugs, you can feel them strongly. What is unique is that during feeding, the larvae secrete pheromones that attract “relatives” to the “table”, and when they finish feeding, they release kairomones that repel predators.

Between the next molt of the larva and its transition to next stage development takes one week. The entire development cycle takes 1-2 months per favorable conditions, and with a decrease in temperature it can stretch up to 80-100 days.

Favorable and unfavorable conditions

Bed bugs, whose development stages depend on the microclimate, are very sensitive to environmental temperature and humidity. The most favorable temperature for life is above 16°C. Below this value, adults fall into a state of torpor and can exist like this for a long time. At a temperature of -10°C, adult insects live no more than 5 days, and the larvae die within a few hours. At -32°C, larvae and eggs die instantly, and adults die after 10-15 minutes.

Death temperature

Bedbugs tolerate low air humidity quite well. At a temperature of +35-40°C and low humidity, they survive even after losing 1/3 of the liquid. But what younger age larvae, the more susceptible it is to temperature and humidity. Upper temperature limit for bedbugs is + 45°C.

To get rid of bedbug larvae, you need to freeze or warm bedding, furniture and places where insects hide. high concentration of CO2, but can feel tolerable in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen. In experiments, they maintained such conditions for 72 hours.

Formation of bedbug colonies

In the house

Insects are mainly kept in shelter, which protects them from predators and the threat of destruction, reduces the impact of microclimate and provides great opportunity when choosing a partner. Pheromones help bed bugs gather in colonies; in them they can communicate not only with the help of volatile substances secreted by the glands, but also with the help of mechanoreceptors located on the antennae of insects.

Females often leave colonies in order to find new places to lay eggs and new sources of food. While in the colony, males secrete odorous substances that attract unfertilized females and repel other males.

There are always bedbugs in the house a big problem, but it is not enough to get rid of only adult individuals, since
the larvae will soon grow into new bedbugs again

Appearance and life cycle of larvae

Unlike many types of insects, bed bug larvae emerge directly from the egg, bypassing the pupation stage. This type of development is usually called incomplete transformation.

An adult female after fertilization is able to lay up to 10 eggs within 5-6 hours. The lifespan of a bedbug can reach one and a half years. It is not difficult to calculate how many offspring a female can leave during the entire period of puberty.

In this video you will learn about the signs of a bedbug infestation in your home:

Bedbug eggs are usually white. They have an oblong shape and resemble grains of rice in appearance. The shell is very durable, resistant not only to penetration of chemicals, but also to mechanical stress. The only way to kill the larva in the embryo is pour boiling water over eggs.

There is a hypothesis that low temperatures can also destroy offspring. But in practice it doesn’t work out quite like that. Larvae are indeed more vulnerable to high and low temperatures than adults, but eggs laid in mattresses or other protected places may well survive this process, slowing down the development of the embryos.

The time it takes for the embryo to mature in the egg can range from 1 week to 30 days. The more comfortable the environment, the faster the process. Then a larva emerges through a special hole at the base of the egg.

The young generation of bedbugs are called nymphs. The newly hatched larva looks like an adult insect. It can be distinguished from a sexually mature individual by several characteristics:

• size less than 5 mm;
• abdomen flattened and elongated;
• color from transparent white to brown;
• slowness.

Nymphs immediately after birth need food, and since they move slowly, mature females prefer to build their nests closer to humans, for example in mattresses. For this feature, insects began to be called bed bugs.

Because, what bed bug larvae look like, you can judge the degree of their maturation. Newborns are usually white and no more than 1.5 mm in length. From the moment it emerges from the egg until it becomes an adult insect, the nymph must survive five molts. As they grow older, the shell on their body becomes too small, and they have to change it.

This process lasts up to one and a half months. With each molt, the nymph's color changes until it becomes brown, like the adult's. The size of the insect can reach 5.5 mm.

Habitat

The active phase of life for these insects is night. During the day, they prefer to hide in various crevices in the house and inside furniture. Mature females lay eggs there as well. It is very difficult to detect them on your own; this causes the rapid spread of insects in the apartment.

Methods for detecting bedbugs

Detecting the presence of night bloodsuckers is not difficult, especially if their population is quite large. You can do this yourself. To do this you should:

• carefully examine the body for bites;
• suddenly turning on the lights at night - check the bedding (bugs cannot move quickly, so you can notice several individuals);
• observe the behavior of pets (cats and dogs usually show anxiety, refuse to sleep on the bed, and constantly itch).

If an insect pale color And small size, then this is a larva, which means that the reproduction process has already begun, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to stop it on your own. Having discovered even one individual, you should immediately take measures to treat the room from bedbugs. If this is not done, insects can become a big problem for many years.

In some insects, the larvae differ significantly from the adults. Representatives of this type are. The larvae are white worms. How is it going with bed bugs? For people who have never encountered them before, the name alone is terrifying. What do bedbug larvae look like, where to look for them, do they bite humans?

During its development, the larva goes through 5 stages. Each time it sheds, it increases in size. She needs food not only to replenish energy reserves, but also for transformation.

A variety of domestic bedbug larvae

Initially, a small bug is visually almost invisible. Its body length is only about 1.5 ml. For a week should pass before the transition to the next stage of development. The larva is growing. The shell becomes too small. She throws it off. Becoming again light color, and after a few minutes it is already 2.5 ml long and dark in color. You can already see such a bug. It has 3 pairs of legs, a flat body, and long antennae on its head. The color also changes depending on food. Because the blood is saturated scarlet color, and the insect’s cover is translucent; after a meal, the larva becomes almost red. After a while the blood clots, by the end of the week the bug is gray Brown. The shedding process is not as simple as it seems. Many larvae fail to cope with this task and die without ever getting out. Those who are lucky are looking for a power source again.

After each molt, the larva increases by 1-2 ml. At the end of its development, the body reaches a length of 6 ml. Moreover, the female is always larger than the male. The entire process of larval development from the moment of birth takes about a month. It develops in the egg for a week. The development of an insect is influenced by food and temperature conditions. At low temperatures, development slows down. The larva does not move on to the next stage of its development; the adult bug appears much later - 2-6 months.

• from the back of the furniture;
• in canteens, shelves;
• books;
• toys;
• paintings;
• decor items;
• carpets;
• photographs;
• hours;
• household appliances;
• lamps;
• in sockets;
• under the wallpaper;
• laminate;
• in flower pots.

To find the nest, you will have to work hard and turn the entire apartment upside down.

First of all, you should check your sleeping area. If it's a bed, remove the bedding
accessories, raise the mattress. Usually the picture is terrible. There are larvae in one place different ages, adults, eggs, skins after molting, excrement. All this is teeming, crawling, and smells bad. If nothing like this is found under the mattress, you should look at the bed frame and legs.

If you have no luck with your search there, then you will have to arm yourself with patience and carry out a real operation. Examine every corner of the bedroom. Flip through the books. Especially those that stand for a long time for beauty. Check the clocks, lamps, shelves in bedside tables, in the closet. If there is peeling wallpaper, you will have to peel it off further. Insects like to hide in such places. In most cases, it is possible to detect bedbugs after a thorough inspection of the premises. But you can’t be sure of finding all the nests.

How long do bed bug larvae live?

The life cycle of the larva under favorable living conditions is 1 month. Affect the process external factors. The person left for a long time, the room became cool or the temperature rose greatly. Comfortable temperature conditions for bedbug larvae are considered to be from +18 to +38 degrees Celsius. In the absence of food, the larva cannot move to the next stage of development. It can remain this way for up to 6 months. For example, an adult bedbug exists for almost 2 years without food. After receiving a new portion of blood, the insect continues to develop as if nothing had happened. The likelihood that the larva will die from starvation is actually low. Only individuals of the first 2 stages find themselves in a dangerous position.

Lowering the temperature works the same way. Moreover, minus indicators are already killing the insect. Thus, the development of larvae is extended over time. The conditions in the room must be taken into account.

Do bedbug larvae bite humans?

And how! Under normal living conditions, they need food every 5 days. While, how adult bedbugs survive without food for up to 10 days. In addition, the larvae bite is quite painful. There is still no substance in their body that can numb the affected area. A sensitive person immediately feels uncomfortable.

The number of bites is also large. Firstly, larvae from each female appear at a time from 5 pieces. They all need to feed on the blood of one person. Secondly, it is difficult to hit the right artery the first time. You have to bite through the skin several times. As a result, numerous bites and large red heels with severe itching appear on the body.

How to get rid of larvae

The fight against larvae is no different from the destruction of adults. They are located in one place, feeding on the blood of one person. It is necessary to decide on methods of struggle and means. It is advisable to start immediately with effective ones, since bedbugs have the ability to adapt to poisons. Weak insecticides act on them like a vaccine.

A small number of insects are removed with aerosols. The drugs are sold everywhere and are relatively inexpensive. You should pay attention to the composition. The presence of several active components increases the chances of winning. If insects develop resistance to one of the insecticides, the second one will work. You will have to carry out at least 2 treatments. Since aerosols do not affect the larvae that are in the egg. The durable shell cannot be penetrated by any chemical agent. The deficiency can be eliminated using the traditional method using steam. Steam is directed onto the nest for 3 minutes, and the soft surface of the sofa or mattress is ironed.

The method using concentrated emulsions is considered the most effective. With strong If a room is infected, it is generally not advisable to use other drugs. Remains on the surface protective film. The bedbugs will gradually become poisoned. Mass infection occurs during disinsection and the first 2 hours after it. Death is observed within a week. After approximately 14 days, a new generation of larvae appears. It is recommended to re-process. But when using new generation microencapsulated products, this may not be necessary. Prolonged action lasts from 1 to 6 months.

Examples of effective drugs from the aerosol category are:

• Raptor;
• Raid;
• Ready house;
• Dichlorvos;
• Combat;
• Carbosol.

Concentrated emulsions:

• Tetrix;
• Executioner;
• Xulat;
• Forsyth;

You can reduce the number of insects using the folk method - freezing and heating. Open windows and doors when it is below 10 degrees Celsius outside and leave them for 2 hours. Take care of in advance indoor plants, heating system, household appliances. Or they heat the room temperature above 45 degrees Celsius. The effect also lasts for 2 hours. The boiler is most often used for these purposes. individual heating. Pillows, a mattress, toys, a sofa are taken out into the cold, under the rays of the bright scorching sun.

Bed bugs are among the oldest on the planet, surviving thanks to their adaptability to different conditions and the ability to reproduce quickly.

To start getting rid of bedbugs, you need to understand how to detect them and what they look like. They can be detected by excrement, unpleasant smell or other traces. There are many ways to kill bedbugs. Some people use traditional methods or use chemicals, such as Karbofos. Now let's take a closer look.

Bed or furniture bugs feed on the blood of mammals, whether human or small

Bed (clothes) bug

animals. Several species of insects live in human housing, others coexist with small rodents and birds in burrows and nests.

Insects are characterized by inactivity, although at first glance it seems that they move quite quickly. Why did the species survive due to external vulnerability and the danger of complete destruction, and did its population and reproduction rate not decrease? This happened due to the peculiarities of the insect’s body. Its saliva contains an active substance with anesthetic properties, which allows the victim not to feel the bite.

Bed bugs are flat and wide insects ranging in size from 4 to 8 millimeters. Since bedbugs are blood-sucking insects, they have a long proboscis and an oval-shaped body.

Bed bugs do not have wings, and unlike other species, they cannot fly. The body of an adult insect is brown. A hungry individual looks quite light, but after saturation it darkens, acquiring a brownish-red hue.

Insects have three pairs of underdeveloped short legs, as they move short distances and slowly.

A distinctive feature of insects is the specific unpleasant odor that is secreted by the mammary glands of the insect. It plays a unique role as a pheromone, which is necessary to attract individuals of the opposite sex, and its intensity depends on the amount of cymic acid in the insect’s body.

Why are house bugs dangerous?

In nature, insects often become carriers of various infectious diseases that can be dangerous to humans.

Life cycle

Growth of a bedbug from larva to adult

In favorable conditions, bed bugs live a little over a year, about 13-15 months. The larva can turn into an adult insect within a month. Poor conditions delay the development of the insect for up to three months.

When the temperature is low or there is not enough food, bedbugs go into a state of suspended animation. But this does not affect their life expectancy in any way. Finding itself in an unfavorable environment, the insect will first try to find Better conditions. In search of food and warmth, an adult insect can cover up to one and a half meters per minute, and the larva can cover up to half a meter.

Where do they settle?

Bed bugs quite often live next to a person who may not be aware of their presence. Crevices in doors and old furniture, layers of wallpaper. They move quite quickly from room to room or from apartment to apartment in a house.

Most often they settle in clothes and bedding, where they multiply very quickly. Bedbugs have a very good sense of smell, which gives them the ability to sense victims.

How to detect bedbugs

You can detect bedbugs in places where larval cases accumulate

Sometimes a person may not even be aware of an unpleasant neighborhood. This allows insects to reproduce quickly.

• However, the presence of bedbugs in the house will be revealed bites. Most victims notice sudden redness on the skin, unpleasant itching and burning, and sometimes pain.
• The presence of insects will be indicated by multiple excrement in the form of dark brown dots.
• May be the case cutting characteristic of insects smell, reminiscent of the smell of spoiled raspberries or cognac.

Particular attention should be paid to the presence of clutches of eggs in things.

Therefore, if there are suspicions about the presence of furniture bugs in the house, it is necessary to check the possible habitats. And if insects, eggs or larvae are found, it is necessary to urgently begin their destruction.

Bedbug eggs

Description

If traces of insects were found, it means there is definitely a clutch of bedbug eggs and more than one, laid in different places. To quickly detect masonry, you need to know what do bedbug eggs look like and places of their possible accumulation.

Since the eggs are very small, about one millimeter in length, to find them you will need a magnifying glass or a bright electric lamp.

Usually there are up to 10 eggs in one clutch. The female insect lays each clutch in a new place, which increases the offspring’s chances of survival.

Locations of detection

The location where the masonry is placed must be dry, dark, poorly ventilated and always warm.

As a rule, bedbug eggs can be easily found near the sleeping area. Insects place the clutch next to a food source, since the emerging larvae immediately feed on the blood of the victim.

Bedbug eggs

You can see what bedbug eggs look like, photos of old mattresses, folds in furniture upholstery, and damp things.

Usually the female places the eggs in hard to reach places. Small cracks in baseboards and walls can become such shelters. cushioned furniture, thick carpets, picture frames, ventilation holes. Masonry can be placed in bedding pet or on the seams of clothing.

It is very important to know how to destroy bedbug eggs. It must be remembered that the capsules have a hard shell that protects them from the effects of toxic substances. As a result the most powerful agents lose their effectiveness and do not lead to the death of the masonry.

There are several ways to get rid of eggs. After finding the location of the accumulation, wearing rubber gloves, you need to destroy each egg with your hands. This method is simple, but hardly effective.

You can destroy masonry using steam and hot water, since eggs die from exposure high temperature. Thermal method tested and is the most effective.

Bedbug larvae

Description

Scientists - entomologists call bedbug larvae nymphs, that are an exact copy adult insect.

Externally, the larvae differ from adult insects only in size and very light coloring of the cover. These bugs look very small, transparent or red from drinking blood. Over time, they increase in size and acquire a darker chitinous color.

At different stages of development, the nymph is no different from the adult insect. By the way bedbug larvae look, you can determine its approximate age. The hatched larvae reach a length of about one and a half millimeters and are practically invisible, but after several molts they triple in size.

Due to the small size of the abdomen, the larvae very often emerge from their shelters. But having a low speed of movement, they try to stay close to the place of food.

Unlike adult insects, nymphs easily tolerate hunger and temperature changes. They grow and develop very quickly. Once every six to seven days, the larva molts and sheds its chitinous cover, the remains of which can be used to determine the presence of bedbugs in the house.

Places of congestion

It is almost impossible to detect bedbug larvae. Nymphs usually go out hunting early in the morning, when a person is fast asleep. Since the larvae have underdeveloped glands that produce an anesthetic composition, the nymphs’ bites are noticeably noticeable.

Usually the larva's habitat becomes the shelter of an adult insect.

How to kill bedbugs

Bed bug bites

There are many ways to kill bedbugs. Some use modern chemicals, while others, having discovered unwanted guests in the house, resort to inexpensive improvised means or use folk methods.

Traditional methods

Means of combating bed bugs have not changed since ancient times. Most of them are based on

• The most commonly used mechanical method is based on thorough cleaning of the room using a vacuum cleaner. To combat insects, boiling water, steam, or sudden changes in temperature are used.
• One of the most effective ways the use of plants such as wormwood, tansy, wild rosemary, peppermint, medicinal chamomile.
• Some opponents of purchased insecticides prefer to get rid of blood-sucking insects using chemicals with a pungent odor: acetic acid, ammonia, turpentine, kerosene, naphthalene, transformer oil. The resulting solution must be treated with a room or individual furniture.

When killing insects with such means, you need to remember that the solutions are no less toxic than ready-made insecticidal preparations. They not only leave an unpleasant odor in the apartment, but can ruin things.

Chemical method

The high effectiveness of chemicals is ensured by the strong toxic substances they contain. The disadvantages include a very high concentration of toxic substances that can cause allergies or poisoning.

It should be remembered that if the treatment does not give positive result, it will have to be repeated using another means. Insects that survive treatment adapt to the products used, so the drug used is unlikely to be effective.

Repeated processing may be due to the fact that a single use of the drug will not completely destroy the population. It can be replenished with larvae hatching from eggs.

Carefully check the cracks of mattresses and sofas

Modern manufacturers offer enough wide choose means of varying price and quality. These are different with prey, aerosols, liquid products, powders And special mixtures.

Karbofos

Karbofos is considered most effective means fighting bedbugs. This is a highly toxic drug; the active substances included in its composition help to destroy both insects at all stages of development.

The drug is a concentrated powder that must be diluted with water before use. Typically, one liter of water requires from two to five grams of concentrate. Before using the drug, you must carefully pack and put away dishes, food, and personal hygiene items.

The treatment must be carried out in clothes made from thick fabric, and also be sure to use a face mask or respirator.

After using the drug, it is necessary to ventilate the premises for three days.. Wet cleaning can be done in two days. It is not recommended to thoroughly wash the baseboards and door frames, since karbofos has a long-lasting effect, which makes it possible not to re-treat.

The disadvantage of the drug is persistent unpleasant odor. However, its advantages make it the most commonly used remedy.

How to clean your home

There are many ways to get rid of bed bugs, and they all have different results.

When using the drug, you must follow several simple rules: