A long time ago, the inhabitants of stone caves experienced the torment of being close to bedbugs. A lot of time has passed since then, but the problem remains relevant. Modern apartments with European-quality renovation, luxurious mansions and expensive houses outside the bustle of the city - they are all susceptible to the invasion of these intrusive insects. It goes without saying that this situation leads to increased interest among relatively small vampires. But what do you personally know about bedbugs? Are you aware of the intricacies of their life and nutrition processes? If not, then sit back and go with us to get acquainted with the main enemy of modern man - the bedbug.
What do they eat?
House pests only drink human blood. Even if there is an animal, bedbugs will not eat it, the exception may be a period of prolonged absence of people in the room. Garden parasites love plants. Therefore, the question arises: what do bedbugs eat besides blood?
Garden pests are bugs that feed on plants. Parasites cause great damage to commercial crops in a short period of time. With the help of their thin proboscis, bugs suck out all the nutrients from the stem of the plant, and it dies.
Most wild individuals are unpretentious, but there are also gourmets. The stink bug loves cereals and berries, in particular raspberry bushes. In the absence of delicacies, he is able to eat grass, leaves, and the remains of other insects. Turtles love cereals, and toy soldiers love garden crops.
It is known that garden bugs are not dangerous to humans; in the house this species eats fruits and various plants.
But he cannot survive in this environment for long; without the opportunity to leave the premises, he dies.
Forest species live near rivers and lakes. They eat insects, arthropods, mollusks, larvae, and plants. Some subtypes can be beneficial in eating Colorado potato beetle clutches.
In the apartment
In the home, bed bugs are predominantly found, so the question of what bed bugs feed in the apartment does not arise. Parasites love only human blood.
In private homes, in the absence of a person, the owner's birds suffer: chickens, pigeons.
Unlike what domestic bugs feed on, street guests will not disdain indoor flowers and kitchen fruits during their stay in the house. But the parasites are not adapted to live long in such conditions, so they quickly die in captivity.
Bed sheets
The answer to the question of what indoor bed bugs eat is simple, their diet is poor, this includes only human blood. The smell of blood, carbon dioxide when exhaling, and body heat helps identify the victim.
Despite the fact that bedbugs drink blood, a female blood drinker in suspended animation can feed on unformed eggs located in her own body.
The larvae also feed on the substances of their egg, which allows them to develop.
Bed bugs live next to people, in pillows, blankets, mattresses, and skillfully hide in sofas and beds. Coming out at night to eat, after the meal they immediately retire back to their clutch.
Parasites also need food to activate the reproductive system. If a domestic bloodsucker, in the absence of people to preserve its vital functions, encroaches on an animal, then it will be able to survive, but reproduction will be interrupted for this period.
Also, parasites without food will not be able to move to new levels of development, reaching their peak as an adult.
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Where do bedbugs live in an apartment?
Are pets susceptible to bedbug bites?
Official information about insects of this species refutes a common myth: bed bugs never attack cats, dogs, guinea pigs and other domestic animals. In fact, everything is a little different here. If parasites have nothing to eat at all and the whole situation reaches critical levels, then they easily switch to domestic animals. However, your beloved cats and dogs can rest easy, because their dense coat blocks access to the capillaries. Similar difficulties arise with rats, so sooner or later bedbugs begin to leave territories that are useless to themselves, moving to the same neighbors.
Regarding country houses, it is worth highlighting the following situation: if you are raising a real farm outside the city, then most likely somewhere near the house there is a chicken coop with poultry. And they are precisely the “tidbit” for insects. Thin skin and areas on the body without feathers in the area of the eyes and beak are a storehouse of nutrients for bedbugs.
Do they drink blood?
If you are interested in whether harmful bedbugs drink human blood, you should immediately specify their subspecies. Garden parasites live off plant products or insect remains. Household pests are bloodsuckers and cannot exist without human blood.
Bedbugs are nocturnal guests. Therefore, they feed in the evening, when the victim is sleeping. The time slot is between 3 and 8 am. Due to the presence of special enzymes in their secretion, the bite is painless.
Itching appears when the insect moves far from the victim, which prevents the bloodsucker from being caught at the meal site.
During the day, the bug drinks blood only if this is impossible to do at night. For example, the owner goes to work in the evening and goes to bed in the morning.
Natural enemies
Enemies of bedbugs Anyone who feeds on domestic bedbugs is interested in knowing that anyone who has encountered these parasites in their home is waging a merciless fight. Deep in my soul there is a hope that natural enemies will be able to exterminate the colony of bed bloodsuckers without human intervention.
- Much hope is placed on cockroaches. However, bedbugs and cockroaches living together is quite possible. Insects feed on different foods and settle in different parts of the apartment. There is nothing to share between these types of pests. Only when a nest of small parasites is accidentally discovered do cockroaches destroy the eggs.
- Ants are more dangerous to bed bugs. These insects can destroy both the eggs and the bed bugs themselves. However, you should not rely on the strength of ants. Parasites very rarely settle in the bedroom, where bed bugs prefer to live.
- Spiders. In a house where there is complete unsanitary conditions with spiders and cobwebs, you can count on a slight decrease in the number of blood-sucking insects. But it is unwise to bring the room to such a state.
What blood type do they like?
Many people are interested in knowing which blood type bedbugs prefer. There is an opinion that parasites do not spare some people at all, while others may not be touched at all.
Bed bugs prefer to bite some people not based on what blood type they have, but based on the thickness of the skin, hair growth and other factors.
Bloodsuckers are not physiologically capable of determining other blood parameters. That is, insects bite equally in representatives of all groups, regardless of the Rh factor.
People have different body sensitivity to the bites of bloodsuckers, and not everyone can understand in the morning that they were attacked by a clan of bedbugs. When consuming blood, bedbugs drink it more often from women and children.
This is due to the thinness of the skin and the minimum amount of hair on the body. At the same time, parasites are attracted to the exhaled smell of carbon dioxide, which is more abundant in a massive man. Therefore, everyone is susceptible to bites without restrictions on age, gender or blood type.
How long can bed bugs live without feeding?
The ability to go without food for a long period is an adaptation of the parasite, giving it the opportunity to save its life and continue to reproduce.
Bed bugs can starve for many months, entering a state close to suspended animation.
In empty houses or apartments they can be everywhere:
- in the cracks between the wallpaper;
- in old upholstered furniture;
- in bed linen.
Bedbugs can be viable for a long time, hiding in a mattress, bedding, upholstered furniture, springs, etc.
As soon as a person moves into such housing, the parasites quickly restore their activity. An adult can spend 2 to 8 months hiding under the upholstery of a sofa, behind wallpaper or in the folds of bed linen. The larvae are even more hardy and can go without food for more than a year.
How often do they eat
When wondering how often bed bugs feed, it is worth noting that much depends on the degree of development of the insect. Adults pierce the skin painlessly due to special secret enzymes. They are much more difficult to track.
But small parasites at the nymph stage do not yet have such an advantage; an unpleasant itching is immediately noticeable.
Periods of attacks most often occur from 2 to 6 a.m. during the deepest sleep. In the morning you can see a path of dots in the direction of the vessel. This is explained by the fact that it is easier for parasites to consume food from several wounds.
Traces of overnight guests in the form of red dots of blood may also remain on the bed. Bites are localized on open areas of the skin that are not equipped with hair.
How often a house bug feeds can be seen by its abdomen. In a hungry insect it is flat and light-colored. When blood enters the body, its volume increases and the color becomes darker. The larvae become scarlet and change greatly in size.
As a rule, a bedbug often feeds 1-2 times a week, then the insect is removed to the nest for digestion of food and subsequent reproduction.
Who eats bedbugs?
Interestingly, many insects are not averse to a hearty meal of these parasites. For example, the well-known and most common in our area, the seven-spotted ladybug is a dangerous predator for bed bugs and their larvae. Hedgehogs and green toads, various birds (in particular the Wood Accentor) and even street cats also love to eat them.
Among the main enemies of bloodsuckers, one can single out such a creepy creature at first glance as the flycatcher. Yes, it lives in many apartments and hides mainly in damp, dark shelters, but if it decides to master it a little and take a walk to the owners’ sleeping place, then the bedbugs definitely cannot avoid sudden death. In addition, the hobo spider, which sometimes ends up in people’s homes, and the most common house ants can compete with the flycatcher. The latter, as a rule, do not consider bedbugs as their dinner, but if they unfortunately get in their way, they instantly plunge their powerful jaws into the flat body, which leads to death from a poisonous bite.
How often do they drink blood?
To understand how often bed bugs feed, it is worth considering their age. An adult female eats 1-2 times a week and drinks up to 10 ml of blood at a time.
In hot climates, meals are required more often. The speed of their reproduction depends on how often bedbugs drink human blood. On average, a female lays up to 250 eggs during her life.
The male can get enough of 5-7 ml of blood, which is several times the insect’s own volume. The duration of the meal is 10-20 minutes, during this period the parasite makes 2-4 bites.
Larvae and nymphs eat little but often. This is necessary for a quick transition to a new level of development. Without food, all processes stop. Eggs can remain in suspended animation for up to 1 year. Vital functions are resumed when a victim appears nearby.
Features of the meal
House bugs Pests are nocturnal. They crawl out of their shelters in the dead of night, when a person is fast asleep. Bites on the human body appear from 3 am to 8 am. The most voracious female of all. An adult drinks about 7 ml of blood at a time. The male requires 5 ml to be completely saturated. Nymphs of different ages drink blood to a minimum. Severe contamination of a room when a whole colony comes out to eat is dangerous for humans.
Photos
There are also so-called universal types. These include bedbugs, which, if desired, can feed on both plant and animal foods. One of these representatives is the soldier beetle. It sucks plant sap, eats seeds and at the same time eats the remains of insects and other invertebrates, including its own fellow tribesmen.
The insect needs food approximately once every 5-7 days. But in the absence of food, he can starve for a very long time, falling into an anabiotic state. For example, an aquatic species can hibernate for up to six months.
Danger of bites
As a rule, their bites are found on areas of the body that are unprotected during sleep - the face, arms, neck and sometimes legs. After a bug bite, a burning sensation, itching occurs, and purulent diseases may occur in the areas where the scratching occurs. They cause skin rashes, allergies and have a traumatic effect on the human psyche. Dangerous for children due to the possibility of calculating bite sites and introducing pathogenic bacteria. More severe manifestations of itching and allergic reactions. There is a risk of iron deficiency anemia. For the same reasons, they are dangerous for pregnant women. Insect excrement may contain pathogens of the following infections: hepatitis B, plague, typhus, relapsing fever, Q fever, tularemia, yellow fever, leprosy, tuberculosis, filariasis, syphilis, leishmaniasis. There is a risk of anaphylactic shock.
Photos of bedbug bites
Preventing the infestation of premises by bedbugs
- regular sanitization of premises using a vacuum cleaner;
- regular washing of bedding and clothes;
- inspection of sofas and carpets for traces of bedbugs;
If you find bedbugs in a room or find their bites on your body, do not wait until they spread throughout the room and hard-to-reach places, call the sanitary service specialists by phone: 8
. We will promptly come to you (on the day of the call or at any time convenient for you by prior arrangement) and solve the problem with bedbugs. Prices for services can be viewed here.
Power Mechanism
Regardless of the habitat of bed bugs, all these representatives have a piercing-sucking type, a well-developed oral apparatus, with the help of which they suck in liquid matter. The jaws are presented in the form of a proboscis, with stilettos inside. They act like scissors. When extending, the stilettos simply pierce the body intended for nutrition. There are also 2 channels in the trunk. One of them serves to absorb food, the other - to inject the secretion of the salivary glands, containing a large amount of active substances:
- similar to anesthetics, they relieve pain during a bite;
- enzymes that digest proteins;
- toxic substances of a neuroparalytic nature;
- toxic components that can kill prey with saliva (typical of predators).
When to turn to professionals?
If you have already used all the methods listed above, and you have not been able to get rid of bed bugs, then you will have to turn to professionals. There are insecticides that are approved by Rospotrebnadzor and approved for use by professional services. Specialists will arrive and carry out extermination treatment against bed bugs. In our arsenal of disinfectants for bedbugs there are 5 different drugs for these parasites. And only a specialist with extensive experience can correctly select the remedy that is needed specifically in your case.
How to prepare for disinfestation
Before getting rid of bedbugs, you need to block all exits for insects. During processing, they will try to leave the room through small cracks in the floor, walls, and exhaust ventilation holes. If they get into your neighbors' apartment, pest control will only give temporary results.
To discourage bed bugs:
- carry out minor repairs (seal cracks);
- cover the ventilation grilles with tape;
- Cover other exit routes from the apartment with duct tape.
Professional pest control involves treating everything in the home with high-temperature chemicals. This includes interior decoration, furniture, toys, household appliances, textiles, books. To increase the effectiveness of the procedure, you must first:
- remove sockets;
- disassemble the furniture as much as possible;
- remove paintings, clocks, carpets from the walls;
- Place the rugs on the floor with the wrong side up.
Preparation also includes removing items from the apartment that should not be exposed to high temperatures and chemicals. This includes underwear, dishes, and personal hygiene items. You need to take your pets out of the rooms, clean the aquarium, and also leave yourself.
Attention! After chemical treatment, the apartment needs thorough wet cleaning. Only after it can you bring your children home, let your pets go and put all your things in their place.
Traces on the bed
Bed bugs are not the fastest creatures. They cannot leave the “crime scene” immediately. In a dream, a person tosses and turns, which means he crushes parasites with his weight. Traces of crushed bedbugs and blood stains remain on the bed linen. Not only adults, but also larvae suck blood. It is the larvae that are easier to crush, since they have a thinner and softer chitinous shell.
In addition, spots on the bed appear not only after crushing pests. When they bite, they do not inject a blood-clotting substance into the wound, so after the bite, droplets of blood ooze from the puncture for some time.
