How to find a bedbug nest in an apartment yourself

To destroy the entire population of the emerging infection, it is necessary to find a nest of bedbugs in the apartment.

This is the main problem in the fight against insects that have settled in human homes.

Destroying these reptiles one by one is hopeless; the effect can only be achieved by discovering their main concentrations, where the poison will immediately have its targeted effect on the source of their reproduction.

To discover the place where these bloodsuckers are hiding, you need to know the main signs of where they live.

What does a bug look like?

Before you start looking for the habitats of blood-sucking insects, it is worth studying its appearance. Adult hungry individuals have a flattened, wingless body from 3 to 4 mm. In a well-fed state, it can increase to 8 mm. The color of the insect also depends on the degree of satiety and varies from light brown to dark brown. The bed parasite feeds once every 7-10 days. In the absence of food, it can fall into a state of suspended animation and remain in it for up to a year. Bedbugs live up to 1.5 years.

The female lays eggs with enviable regularity. Ovipositions are usually located in hard-to-reach places in the apartment. Bedbug eggs are similar in appearance to rice, only they are smaller in size, no more than 1 mm. They can only be seen with a magnifying glass. Bed bug eggs can be light in color, almost transparent or yellowish. The outer shell is very durable and contains an adhesive substance, thanks to which the egg can be attached to any surface, be it vertical, horizontal or curved. One oviposition usually contains from 5 to 12 eggs. In order to ensure the survival of her offspring, the female bedbug places her eggs in different places. The insect stays in the egg stage under favorable conditions for 5 days, and under unfavorable conditions for 25 days.

Different stages

The eggs hatch into a larva, which entomologists call a nymph. Its dimensions depend on age and range from 0.5 mm to 2 mm. The shape of the body is the same as that of adult bed bugs, only transparent. The photo shows the contents of the larva's stomach. As the nymph grows older, it molts and sheds its shell, which becomes too small for her. Over the entire period, the larva molts 5 times. The development of a nymph to a full-fledged adult lasts 25 - 40 days.

Parasites feed at night and spend the rest of the time in shelters.

On a note!

Bedbug nests are a chaotic accumulation of eggs, chitinous shells that the nymphs leave behind, miniature feces with a specific cognac odor, larvae and the bedbugs themselves.

Traces in the house

Bedbugs nest

The nest contains many individuals of different sizes and ages. Eggs lie in rows, both ripening and empty. Nearby there are small insect excrements similar to poppy seeds. Fast-growing larvae often molt, shedding their chitinous cover. A dirty, untidy place gives the unpleasant impression of a continuous, chaotically moving mass.

When choosing chemical means to combat bedbug nests, you should take into account not only their effectiveness, but also the degree of toxicity, the smell of the drug, and its cost-effectiveness

You can read the article about bed bugs.

Signs of bed bugs

Bedbugs in an apartment do not reveal their presence for a long time, which makes it difficult to find them at an early stage of infection. You can detect annoying guests by the following characteristic signs:

1. Specific bites are a clear sign of an apartment being infested with parasites. Bedbug bites are characterized by a linear arrangement of punctures on the body - tracks, each of which has from 3 to 6 wounds. The bite site is a red, blister-like spot with signs of swelling and a lump in the center. Upon careful examination, the puncture itself is visible in the middle of the wound.
2. A well-fed domestic parasite is very vulnerable to mechanical stress, so it is easy to crush. This usually happens accidentally and in the morning you can find dark brown spots on the bed.
3. Waste products - droppings - are dark in color and look like miniature poppy seeds; they can be found on beds, wallpaper, and in bedbug habitats. The chitinous shells that the larva sheds can be found in any place in the apartment where the insect moved.
4. Apartments in which bedbugs are firmly established have a specific smell. Some give it the aroma of cognac, others feel notes of fermented raspberries in it.
5. If you suspect the presence of blood-sucking insects, you should use a simple method. Set an alarm for 3-4 a.m., after the signal, immediately turn on the light and take off the blanket. With a high degree of probability, several individuals will sit on the body and bed. If the bedbugs have not yet had time to breed in large numbers, repeat the process of identifying parasites the next night to detect them. To simplify the “hunt” for parasites, use the folk method. Cover the entire perimeter of the bed with adhesive tape and check for adhered insects in the morning.

   
   Scotch

Reappearance after treatment

Preventing future bed bug infestations in your bed, what are the causes of bed bugs?

• Do not bring abandoned bed frames, mattresses, box springs or upholstered furniture into your home.
• Carefully inspect used or rented furniture before bringing it into your home.
• When traveling, inspect the bed, headboard and furniture upon arrival. Keep suitcases high off the floor and bed and inspect them before leaving. After returning home, thoroughly wash and dry all clothing.
• Seal and tape any cracks and crevices throughout the house, especially in areas where people sleep.
• Be careful with guests staying overnight in your home.

Where to look for bedbugs

The universal way to detect bed bugs in an apartment comes down to a scrupulous, detailed inspection of the room, since they are rarely found by chance. Insects get into apartments in different ways. They move from neighbors through ventilation shafts, penetrate through cracks, and along walls. It is not difficult for them to overcome a distance of several meters. Bloodsuckers can be brought from business trips, travel in luggage, or get into an apartment with purchased furniture. Often a person, without suspecting it, brings a couple of individuals on his clothes to his home after visiting an infected apartment.

Bedbugs living in an apartment prefer to live closer to their victims and therefore most often do not bother themselves with a long search for “housing” and settle directly in the beds. Considering the fact that most apartments cannot boast an impressive amount of square meters, almost any place in the house is in close proximity to a food source for bedbugs. Therefore, armed with patience, a flashlight and protective gloves, it is necessary to conduct a thorough inspection of all interior details and decor in order to find parasites if they have settled in the apartment.

The most favorite places for home bugs to gather:

1. The best place to start your search is from bed. Typically, bedbugs begin their move into an apartment from mattresses, sofas, and upholstered chairs. They have all the conditions for comfortable living and reproduction, and the “feeder” is literally a few centimeters away, which allows you to quickly find food. It is necessary to carefully examine all the joints of the mattress; if brown or black feces are found on it, similar in appearance to tiny balls, then the mattress may have to be ripped open. You can “smoke” an insect out of its shelter using the smell of vinegar and kerosene.
2. Frame furniture: wardrobe, chests of drawers, bedside tables. Carefully inspect the contents; a bug can even be found in underwear or hidden in synthetic clothing. Using a flashlight, carefully examine the condition of the joints, all kinds of fasteners, shelves, and drawers. Bedbugs are especially fond of the back walls of frame furniture in apartments.
3. The space under floor and wall carpets. Wall hangings in an apartment are a symbol of prosperity in the Soviet era; bedbugs are quite common.
4. Blood-sucking insects willingly colonize all hard-to-reach places in the room. Walls behind furniture, which is usually moved only during renovations, space near heating radiators, under window sills, in the cavity of eaves.
5. All kinds of cracks in walls, baseboards. Bedbugs in the apartment take root well under peeling wallpaper and linoleum.
6. Space behind paintings, in sockets, book bindings, flower pots, children's soft toys, wall radio.
7. Nests of modern bedbugs can be found in household and digital appliances.

   
   Habitats

What is special about bedbug nests?

Places where bed bugs accumulate are called nests. However, these insects do not build or make nests; they have no system or organization at all. They prefer the same places and concentrate in them in large numbers to keep warm. They grow there with offspring and traces of life activity.

Destroying one nest is not enough; an integrated approach is important here. When using any product, it is better to treat the entire apartment with it, but especially carefully - found nests and places around beds and sofas

How to detect bedbugs in a bed

Before you discover bedbugs, you should prepare yourself mentally. The appearance of one bug causes disgust and disgust, and their nest is a generally unpleasant picture. If all the symptoms indicate the presence of parasites, it would be a good idea to have a means to kill bed bloodsuckers on hand.

The search begins with an examination of the mattress. All bedding, including the mattress pad, should be removed. First of all, the surface of the mattress is inspected for the presence of excrement and chitinous shells on it. Every seam and hole is examined with particular scrupulousness. If the slightest sign of oviposition is detected, the mattress is usually ripped open to reveal insects. Further actions depend on what you see. When there is a large accumulation of insect populations and the mattress is infested, its fate in most cases ends in the trash bin, especially if it is very old. In this case, it is easier to buy a new one than to spend a lot of money and time processing it.

After the inspection of the mattress is completed, you should move on to examining the spring mechanism, the bed frame itself, and the attachment points. The bed must be moved so that the condition of the floor can be checked. Parasites can also be found there.

In the bed

Methods for destroying a nest

When a nest is discovered, it needs to be eliminated. And the sooner the better.

The most reliable thing is to call exterminators who have sufficient qualifications, leaving the battlefield to professionals.

Finding their nest is not easy, since bedbugs are active at night or in the morning

If this is not possible, then you will have to act independently. You should be careful when doing this, as wrong steps can make the problem worse. Then the bugs will scatter around the apartment or hide and go into suspended animation for months. And it will be difficult to find them. But then they will definitely return.

It is useless to crush insects mechanically. Treatment with boiling water or steam can only destroy clutches of their eggs. Folk remedies (vinegar, kerosene and wormwood) should be used only as a complement to modern drugs.

You can learn how to use wormwood to control bedbugs.

When choosing chemical means to combat insect nests, you should take into account not only their effectiveness, but also the degree of toxicity, the smell of the drug, and its cost-effectiveness. Especially when there are children in the family. This article will tell you in detail about bed bugs.

You should look for their abode based on the bug’s predilection for secluded corners protected from light, located close to places where they eat.

You should work carefully, following the instructions, using protective equipment:

• protective clothing
• reliable gloves
• mask

In conclusion, we emphasize that destroying one nest is not enough; an integrated approach is important here.

When using any product, it is better to treat the entire apartment with it, but especially carefully - found dwellings and areas around beds and sofas.

It’s great if you agree with your neighbors to carry out the treatment at the same time. Then uninvited guests will not have a chance to migrate to a safe place and then return to you again.

Even if the nests are empty and the pests have disappeared, repeat the treatment after two weeks. And then, for prevention, use, for example, insect chalk, so that you never see bedbugs in your home again. We recommend that you learn about ways to combat bedbugs.

How to detect bedbugs in a sofa

It is unknown for what reasons, but fabric sofas from Soviet times have gained particular love from bedbugs. The inspection begins with the armrests, the joints of the sofa parts. You can use an unnecessary plastic card and use it to check all the indentations and holes. The presence of black dots, balls, and husks are characteristic signs of bedbugs.

On a note!

You can most often find a bedbug nest in an apartment directly under the upholstery of the sofa. It is also necessary to move it aside and examine the back side and the space of the adjacent walls. There is also a chance of finding parasites behind the sofa.

With a small infestation, getting rid of bedbugs in a sofa is quite achievable. If there are too many parasites, then usually this piece of furniture is disposed of.

Who are bedbugs and why are they needed?

Before this adventure, I assumed that bed bugs were a thing of the past. You can only read about them in classical Russian literature - mattresses in shabby roadside hotels were often infested with them. Well, in the village as a child, I heard that sometimes they can spawn somewhere in the floorboards of a house.

A bed bug is a small brown bug (relatively speaking, they are not actually beetles) up to eight millimeters long. Unlike the cilantro-smelling bugs that you get on raspberries or sometimes swoop down on your head in the summer, they don’t smell much. And in general, they do not immediately announce their presence. And one could put up with them, but bedbugs need blood to reproduce and develop. And we become its source. Fun (not really) fact: a small animal like a rat can be eaten to death by a large enough colony of bedbugs.

These parasites crawl out in the dark, usually between two and five in the morning, bite warm human bodies and hide as if they were never there. But hungry beetles can crawl out at any time. This is what both adults do and just hatched bugs, which you can barely see at all. And because they are small and flat, they are almost impossible to crush when tossing and turning in your sleep. And their bites are painless - they won’t wake you up. They can chew even when you are not sleeping at all.

Adult bedbugs

What to do if bedbugs are found during inspection

If during the inspection of the apartment at least one individual of a parasitic insect was discovered, then the only thing that needs to be done is to take measures to destroy them. Bloodsuckers multiply at a rapid speed and the sooner you start fighting bedbugs, the less labor-intensive and costly the process will be. Bloodsuckers will not leave their “habitated” places of their own free will. To exterminate bedbugs, you need to contact the SES or make independent attempts and purchase the appropriate insect extermination drugs that are commercially available.