In nature, there are up to 40 thousand species of bedbugs, which belong to the suborder of hemiptera. At the same time, there are species that differ in red, green, brown or black, with different patterns on the shell. In addition, there are predatory bugs, herbivores, completely harmless to others and deadly. They can be found in almost all corners of the globe: in forests, gardens, parks, garden plots or in human homes. Thanks to the capabilities of modern technologies of photographic processes, it is possible to display in great detail the features of the life activity of bedbugs.
Description of house bugs
Bed bugs are the most annoying thing for a person, because due to the nature of their life activity, bed bugs cannot be identified at an early stage. Essentially, a bed bug and a house bug are one and the same thing. It also has other names depending on the place it chose to settle. For example:
- Bed bug.
- Furniture bug.
- Linen bug.
- Clothes bug.
Many people confuse bed bugs with dust mites, which no less often settle in human homes. In fact, this parasite has nothing in common with house bugs. Below are photographs of bed bugs, which in reality have a more disgusting appearance, which leads some people into a state of shock. If these parasites appear in an apartment where people suffer from mental disorders, then these disorders become more pronounced, which is associated with “bedbug addiction.” These people constantly feel that bedbugs are everywhere and can appear at any moment, both in bed and on clothes.
Peculiarities of life activity of house bugs
Bedbugs are not large in size. Even after saturation, their size does not exceed 1 cm, although females are somewhat larger than males. When the parasite has not drunk blood for a long time, its body is greatly flattened and is difficult to destroy. After he drinks blood, his size and volume increase noticeably. At the same time, the color of the bloodsucker also changes. When it is hungry, it has a light brown color, and after it is saturated with blood, it is richly brown. In the photographs you can see in detail how the size of house bugs changes in the process of saturation with human blood.
Domestic bugs can drink blood in one meal, the volume of which is 2 times greater than the volume of the insects themselves.
Bed bugs do not have wings, so they cannot fly, but they move relatively quickly: in one minute they are able to cover a distance of up to 1 meter. The photographs show that the body of the parasites is much larger than the head, which has a triangular shape. Instead of jaws, they have a proboscis with two channels. One channel serves to pierce the skin, and with the help of the other channel the parasite sucks out blood. House bugs live a little over a year.
Bed Bugs - a film about blood-sucking domestic parasites
How do bedbugs reproduce?
The method of reproduction of bedbugs is very unique, since the male has to injure the female. He pierces the female's abdomen and injects sperm through this hole. The sperm is collected in a special place, after which the process of egg formation begins. The hole heals after a while, but a tiny spot remains in this place. By the number of these points on the body, you can determine how many times the female has mated.
In conditions of food shortage, the female can use underdeveloped eggs in order not to die of hunger.
At the same time, it makes sense to note another interesting fact: for a female to be able to lay eggs throughout her life, one mating is enough for her. Males are quite active and can mate up to 200 times a day, and they even mate with males. As a result, when a female is inseminated, she receives a large set of genetic material from many males.
What do bedbug eggs look like in the photo?
When the female begins to lay eggs, she makes several ovipositions, with several eggs in each. In the images below you can see what bedbug eggs look like. As a rule, bedbug eggs are miniature in size, white in color and have an oblong body shape. The eggs have an outer transparent shell that protects the clutch from many types of chemical control agents. On each egg, if you look closely, you can see a small cap.
Bedbug larvae in the photo
When the eggs mature, larvae emerge from them, which are also called nymphs. For their normal development, regular feeding is necessary, so larvae, unlike adults, feed much more often. The larva grows to adulthood in a month or a month and a half, molting several times. After each molt, the larva leaves behind a chitinous shell, which can be found in places where parasites accumulate.
Signs of bedbugs in an apartment
At the initial stages, when bloodsuckers have just appeared in a person’s home, it is almost impossible to detect them. After a large colony has formed, then family members begin to experience discomfort. During the day they are in hiding and do not betray their presence in any way. At night, and especially in the morning, when a person has the deepest sleep, parasites crawl out of their hiding places. The result of their life activity is the presence of multiple bites on the human body. It is almost impossible to feel bites during a sound sleep, especially since the saliva of bloodsuckers contains an anesthetic substance. In the photo you can see in which places in the apartment bedbugs prefer to accumulate. As a rule, they form their colonies where people like to relax.
There are a number of signs by which you can determine that the bites belong to bedbugs. For example:
- The bites are arranged in the form of tracks.
- At the site of the bite there is not much swelling, but in the center there is a puncture point with a “bump”.
- Severe itching and burning occurs at the site of the bite.
In addition, you can see bloody stains on the bed linen, and on various bedding there are black balls in the form of poppy seeds - these are the excrement of parasites. In addition to bedding, such balls are easy to find in other places in the apartment: on the walls, under the wallpaper, on various furniture. If a specific smell of rotten raspberries appears in the home, then this is the first and sure sign that there are bugs in the home and there are already too many of them. In the pictures below you can see bedbugs in an apartment where their numbers are quite large.
What is interesting: bedbugs do not carry various ailments, so a person cannot be seriously injured as a result of bites. The problem may affect those people whose body reacts inadequately to insect bites. This category of people includes allergy sufferers. There is also a possibility of secondary infection as a result of scratching the wound. This can only be expected in children who cannot tolerate severe itching. There are many ways to get rid of bedbugs in your home. At the same time, everyone has the right to choose the most suitable one. Alternatively, it is permissible to seek help from special services. This is not a problem if you have extra finances.
What types of house bugs are there and how to recognize them in an apartment?
Insecticide treatment
So, if you have to fight bedbugs, first of all you need to understand how the infection occurred and eliminate all possible causes. It is ideal when all apartments in an apartment building are treated at once, but unfortunately, it is not always possible to come to an agreement with the neighbors, and not everyone is ready to talk about their problems with strangers.
In this case, you will need to block insects’ access to your apartment. To do this, you should close all the cracks, cracks in joints, window frames, doorways, close ventilation holes, you can use any available methods. For example, putty, sealants, lubricant, foam.
Next, you need to vacate and clean the apartment as much as possible. Remember that there should be no people or animals in the apartment at the time of treatment. Dogs, cats, parrots, hamsters, fish and other pets should be moved to another room for at least a day.
Afterwards, collect all food and dishes, as well as all shoes and clothes, put them in bags and seal them hermetically. The cabinets should be emptied of things and then moved away from the wall. Bedding, blankets, curtains and other textiles must be washed, dried and ironed.
Afterwards you can begin direct processing. The person who carries out the treatment must use personal protective equipment, a respirator, safety glasses, gloves, overalls or clothing that completely covers the body.
When processing, pay special attention to the following places in the apartment:
- Beds, sofas, mattresses, pillows. The frame, walls, bottom, joints, decorative elements, and skin folds should be carefully processed.
- Wardrobes, chests of drawers, bedside tables, chairs and tables. Internal and external walls, all drawers, back walls, door hinges. Books should also be processed.
- Skirting boards. All joints and seams on the floor covering must be processed. Skirting boards must be processed along their entire length.
- Walls. Paintings, wall clocks, and decorative details should be carefully processed. Check the walls for cracks.
- Appliances. Since bedbugs love darkness and warmth, they very often settle in system units, behind the back walls of refrigerators, washing machines, etc.
After treatment, the room must be left for several hours, windows and doors must be closed. Upon returning to the apartment, it is thoroughly ventilated and wet cleaning is carried out using a soap solution.
Cabinets, tables, chairs, floors, and other surfaces with which people and pets come into contact must be washed. All textiles must be washed and then ironed.
It should be remembered that chemical preparations do not affect egg laying, therefore, in order to avoid re-infection, re-treatment should be carried out after 10-15 days, which will destroy all new offspring.
What the most dangerous bug looks like: photo
Triatomine bugs are considered the most dangerous insects for humans. They are also called “kissing” bugs, but, despite such a romantic name, they pose a huge danger.
Scientists know about 130 varieties of such parasites. Almost all of them are carriers of a rather dangerous virus, which in most cases is fatal to humans.
Chagas disease kills about 50 thousand people every year if it is not treated at an early stage. In this regard, this insect is increasingly called the killer bug.
Triatomine bugs grow up to 3 cm in length and are black or dark brown in color. Stripes of yellow, orange or red can be clearly seen on the shell. These killer insects inhabit South America, so what this type of bug looks like can only be seen in photographs. The majority of individuals, up to 95 percent, prefer wild nature and only a small part, about 5 percent, are found in rural houses or buildings for various purposes.
The bites of triatomine bugs have a characteristic feature, which is why they received the second name “kissing”. Since the bug is not able to bite through human skin, it bites the person on the lips, injecting an anesthetic secretion. In the process of saturation with blood, the insect secretes feces that contain trypanosomes, which cause a serious illness - Chagas disease. If you scratch the bite site, the excrement begins to come into contact with the wound. A favorable outcome of a bite is the appearance of severe itching and swelling, after which the bite site goes away on its own. If the pathogens are able to enter the bloodstream, then in most cases the person will die.
The green bandit's sabotage
Large populations of bedbugs pose a serious threat to crops. Berry bushes and, in rare cases, cereal crops are at risk. The main damage caused by stink bugs is puncturing the berries. Through it, bacteria penetrate into the fetus and tissue necrosis begins. As a result, the plant weakens and gradually dies. Partially damaged fruits, although they retain their integrity, acquire a characteristic “bug odor.” They do not pose a health hazard, but are not capable of bringing gastronomic pleasure (rather the opposite).
In addition, green bugs often lay eggs on currants, raspberries and other berry crops. The hatched larvae immediately begin to actively feed, gnawing out foliage. The secretion released in this case causes partial drying of the greenery of the entire bush, reducing its potential yield.
Green bugs on tomatoes are no less dangerous. If, when picking berries, a couple of fruits eaten by the stink bug are not noticed, then the tomatoes with “smell” will be an unpleasant surprise.
Green bugs pose a serious threat to cereal crops. When there is a lack of other food, they stick to the ears of corn, thoroughly eating them away. The harvested crop turns out to be unusable.
To the delight of gardeners, shield bugs rarely form mass populations. Due to physiological characteristics, most larvae die during the molting process. In any case, it is better to prevent the green bug from multiplying and deal with it in a timely manner.
Shield insects
These insects represent a large variety of the bedbug family. Shield insects are found literally everywhere - in garden plots, forests, fields, parks, flower beds, etc. They got their name because of the peculiarities of their body shape, which looks like an irregular pentagon when viewed from above. Almost all representatives of this species of bedbugs emit a specific aroma that can attract males and females, as well as repel natural enemies. Because of this, they are also called “stink bugs.”
Shield bugs, as a rule, do not attack humans. Their diet consists of plant juices, but sometimes they eat dead insects.
On the territory of the European part of the continent, up to 70 species of shield insects are found.
Signs of infection
The habitats of bedbugs are called nests, although these nocturnal parasites do not make buildings. They gather in one place to keep warm.
From above, a bug nest looks like a solid moving mass. Every day a furniture bug can make a new nest.
The way to the parasites' habitat can be found by their excrement, which looks like poppy seeds. There may be whitish shells nearby - these are the chitinous covers of the larvae.
The nest contains the bugs themselves, the larvae, and the eggs are empty and at the maturing stage. When directed at this cluster of light, furniture bugs begin to scatter.
Parasites often inhabit old furniture, where there are more cracks and holes. They love to hide in corrugated cardboard, cabinet furniture, and under the windowsill.
The general rule is that bedbugs will settle within 3 meters from a food source, that is, from a person’s sleeping place, in order to have access to blood.
Harmless soldier bug
These insects are easily recognized by the red and black pattern located on the shell. These insects grow up to 1 cm in length, no more. It is believed that the soldier bug is a heat-loving insect and is found in most of what is now Eurasia, where there is a temperate climate. These bugs live in colonies that consist of hundreds of individuals. With the arrival of spring, when the air temperature rises to +10 degrees, colonies of soldier bugs crawl out of their hiding places and bask in the sun. They wait out the winter in a state of suspended animation, hiding in outbuildings, in cracks in street fences, in cracks in dry trees, under bark, etc.
These insects feed on the juices of various plants, piercing the stems and leaves. After an invasion of soldier bugs, young plants stop bearing fruit, wither, and often even die. In the photographs you can see what such insect infestations lead to. After their vital activity, berries, fruits and vegetables become unsuitable for food.
Therefore, the harm from soldier bugs to humans is that they render the harvest of various crops unusable.
Adults mate in a rather interesting way: they are connected by the back parts of their body. After some time, the female lays up to 30 eggs, placing them in plant tissues. After about a couple of weeks, small bright red larvae emerge from the eggs. However, there is no black ornament.
Features of development and life activity
Blood-sucking furniture parasites are active night hunters. They hide during the day, and after midnight they come out of hiding to find prey and drink blood. Features of development and habits:
- normal development at air temperature 22-29
- five stages of “growing up” of individuals after emerging from the egg, growth after each molt. In order for molting to occur, the insect must receive a portion of food;
- influence of feeding intensity on insect size. The ability of the digestive system to accept a large single volume of food;
- eggs are formations with an impenetrable shell through which moisture and chemicals do not penetrate. Eggs are resistant to negative factors; it is for this reason that the larvae can be killed only at the stage of emerging from the shell.
Insects cannot jump or fly, but they run very quickly and attack, usually at night.
forest bug
This insect is also called the grass bug or garden bug. The forest bug is often confused with a tick. At the same time, the forest bug can be easily distinguished from a tick by its pentagonal-shaped shell, under which there are wings. This insect can most often be found in forest plantations, although it is not difficult to find it in city parks. The bug endures winter cold under fallen leaves or in cracks in tree trunks. The forest bug has a long proboscis, with which it pierces plants and sucks out juices. In the photo you can see what bedbugs look like.
Bedbugs are not difficult to recognize by their unique coloring. Their body color can be green or brown, which shows a complex pattern. In case of danger, the insect releases a specific aroma. With the help of the same aroma, insects attract individuals of the opposite sex.
This species of shield insects reproduces in places of vital activity. Bedbug eggs have an unusual appearance, as evidenced by their photos. Forest bugs take care of their offspring, which cannot be said about other types of bugs. For example:
- The female feeds the small larvae, bringing them food.
- If there are no conditions for laying eggs, then the female can lay them on the back of the male.
The forest bug does not pose a direct threat to human health, but it does damage various plants. Adverse weather conditions force forest bugs to colonize agricultural land.
Professional pest control
If you do not have the time and desire to understand the intricacies of controlling parasitic insects, contact a specialized team for disinfestation. This method will keep your furniture in unchanged condition and will not harm pets or owners.
Sanitary services have obvious advantages over ordinary people. They have experience, specialized equipment, accurate information about the method of exposure, the level of toxicity of the products used, and they operate on the basis of a state license.
For owners, pest control by a team means a minimum of time, safety, and a guaranteed result. On our website there is a rating of organizations that provide disinfestation services and effectively destroy bedbugs. It is formed on the basis of real reviews and may help you in choosing an exterminator.
Wood bug
This insect sometimes appears in city apartments, but completely by accident, since it prefers to be among trees or bushes, including fruit and berry plantings. As a rule, once in a person’s home, this insect makes every attempt to leave it. The wood bug poses no danger to humans.
Depending on the time of year, the color of this insect changes: in April, the wood bug can be bright green, and at the end of autumn it can be brown. This type of bedbug feeds exclusively on plant foods.
Prevention of insects
If the pest of the green wood bug appears from year to year, it is worth taking preventive measures to reduce the number of stink bugs. An effective way to get rid of it is to deprive the insect of places suitable for wintering. If in its natural habitat the beetle overwinters in the bark of trees, stumps, or on a personal plot, the choice is small (there is only one option - fallen leaves). Simply clearing the soil surface of dried grass is the first stage of getting rid of the pest. It is better to burn the potentially dangerous collection, otherwise the overwintered green wood bugs will return to their favorite berry places.
The next element of control is treatment with contact insecticides. It should be done in the fall when plowing the garden. Toxic substances will have time to completely disappear by the beginning of the planting season. The measure will eliminate pests 100%.
To protect the area from the penetration of new stink bugs, you need to plant an ornamental plant, Cohosh Simplex (popularly called black cohosh), around the perimeter. Insects cannot stand its smell, so they will avoid the place where it grows. The root system of the flower has long been used to prepare a decoction against pests (hence its name).
bug bug
This type of bedbug prefers to feed on grain crops. The insect grows up to 1.3 cm in length. Body color can vary from yellowish or whitish to light brown or gray. They survive the winter cold in forest plantations, and with the arrival of spring they begin to search for winter crops, flying up to 200 km.
Having flown a huge distance in search of food, the turtle bug begins the process of reproduction. A couple of weeks after winter crops are found, the female lays eggs. The eggs are distinguished by their ideal spherical shape and green color, as evidenced by the photo. After another week, the larvae are born. Before becoming an adult, turtle bugs molt 5 times. The insect is so harmful that its increasing population can destroy entire crops if no action is taken. In the photo you can see the consequences of the life activity of these bugs on the field. Therefore, it is very important to start combating this pest in a timely manner.
Traditional methods
To cope with the task, you can use the following methods.
- Exposure to cold air is detrimental to insects, but the temperature should be minus 20-22 ° C. However, moving furniture onto the balcony will be problematic, so the owners open the windows and leave the apartment for several days. The method is effective in case of persistent frosts, therefore suitable for use in northern regions.
- Evaporation is carried out by treating cracks in furniture, but the procedure is fraught with difficulties. It is inconvenient to pour boiling water over beds or wardrobes, and the steam collects on the surface, not reaching hidden insects, so you can’t count on their massive death.
Traditional methods will not be effective, but they will be a good auxiliary method in the fight against uninvited guests.
Dropsy bug
The water bug is different in that it feels great in water, but at the same time it can fly just as well. If you look at its body, its shape resembles a smooth boat, which is why this insect got its name. The insect grows up to one and a half centimeters in length. This type of bedbug is a predator, as its diet consists of small arthropods, some insects, as well as the fry of some fish species.
The white bug inhabits freshwater bodies of water. Hunts potential victims with an inverted belly. The female lays eggs in the depths of the pond. The eggs hatch into larvae that go through 4 stages of development until the larva becomes an adult. When the larva molts, the shed shell resembles a living insect. In relation to humans, this insect is absolutely harmless, but can bite if picked up. In warm countries, there are giant water bugs, up to 10 cm in size, that prey on small fish. Because of this, they are also called fish killers.
Chemicals
In 90% of cases, owners use chemical insecticides.
- “Executioner” dissolves in water before use, and it must be applied in a draft-free room (the main component does not withstand exposure to fresh air).
- “Mashenka” comes in the form of a pencil, which is applied to the places where colonies are supposed to have settled.
- “Fufanon” will get rid of the problem in a day, but it must be used with caution - the use of a mask and gloves will become an indispensable condition, and people and animals will have to leave the room.
- "Karbofos" is even used to eliminate garden pests, but it is not environmentally friendly.
- “Insecticide” is economical and effective, and 1 bottle of spray is enough even to treat a 3-room apartment.
If the measures do not bring results, all that remains is to contact professional exterminators. Their services may cost more, but the problem will be solved!
Habitat
Forest bugs are ideally camouflaged to match the color of foliage or tree bark, so in nature you can find individuals whose color varies from pale green to brown. Forest bugs primarily inhabit forests and their surroundings. With the onset of cold weather, they hibernate and spend the winter under fallen leaves or hiding under the bark of old trees.
Woodbugs love to live in an atmosphere where the ideal temperature and humidity are maintained. When the situation changes and there is severe cooling, warming or humidity fluctuates greatly, insects begin to wander and can find comfortable conditions in a person's apartment.
