How to understand that there are bedbugs in a house or apartment

What traces of bites may remain on the body?

The main signs of bedbugs in the house are the discovery of bite marks in the morning. After all, bedbugs are blood-sucking insects. They go out hunting and attack at night, when potential victims are sleeping. Moreover, during a bite, a person does not feel anything, because the parasites inject a special substance into the wound, which acts as a local analgesic (pain reliever). But when its effect ends after a few days, severe itching begins.

On the human body, bedbug marks look like red spots with a red dot in the middle. The bites come one after another. The fact is that these parasites feed on capillary blood. And if a bedbug larva needs 1/3 ml of blood to eat, then the serving volume for an adult is often 7 ml or more. The capacity of the capillary is less. Therefore, the insect hurries to make several bites in a row until it drinks the required amount of human blood. In one night, each individual makes an average of 2–3 bites.

The main signs that you have been bitten by bedbugs (see photo):

• bites appear only during your sleep (you find traces of them after waking up in the morning);
• there are always several bites on the body that follow each other in a path;
• the bite sites become red, swollen, and the resulting bumps are very itchy;
• a small point remains in the middle of the bite - the place through which the bug stuck its proboscis.

Bedbug bites should not be confused with mosquito bites, which can also use human blood as a source of nutrition. These insects also carry many infections, and after their bite sometimes an allergic reaction occurs. We will help you get rid of the confusion. Here are some useful facts to know about mosquitoes:

• Mosquitoes lead an active lifestyle only in the warm season - they begin their life activity in late spring and end in early autumn. Therefore, in winter you will not be able to find signs of bites of this type of insect on your body - in the cold they prefer to remain in a state of suspended animation;
• They lay eggs in ponds or damp soil, sewers and other places with excess moisture - in rooms where humans live, they leave rare offspring
• A mosquito bite is painful. You will immediately wake up if you feel the proboscis of this insect piercing your skin, because pain and severe itching will appear.
• Mosquito bites do not have a strict sequence. If you do not wake up, the insect will be able to drink blood from one capillary, and there will not be a second bite. Otherwise, the bites will be inflicted in a chaotic manner.
• Mosquitoes can fly - the sound of their wings can be heard from afar. Linen bugs lead a quiet life; they cannot fly.

If there are bedbugs in the house, then sooner or later the bites will bother all family members. But women and children especially suffer from them because they have the most delicate skin. The “favorite” places on the human body for bedbugs are the buttocks, back, elbows, arms, and neck. In these areas the skin is thinnest and is easy to bite through. For the same reason, bed bugs rarely bite pets - their skin is thick and covered with thick hair.

The affected areas of the body should not be scratched, because nails can easily introduce infection into the wound.

If you find some signs of bedbugs, but not a single bite appears on your body after several weeks, other pests have infested your home. For example, cockroaches. After all, bedbugs cannot live and reproduce without blood, while cockroaches need only a small amount of organic debris for this. They find them in the kitchen and other rooms.

Do bedbugs carry diseases?

As with all blood-sucking insects, there is a theoretical possibility of transmission of the hepatitis B virus - however, scientists note that more research is needed to determine whether the virus transmitted by the insects is contagious.

Scientists from Canada have discovered that bedbugs can carry enterococci, as well as MRSA, which is resistant to all available antibiotics. However, researchers are not sure whether bedbugs transmit bacteria to patients or vice versa.

There is currently no evidence that bedbugs carry any diseases. However, their presence can cause anxiety and fear in people. They can disrupt sleep and even lead to insomnia.

Red spots from bedbugs on the bed

If you have blood-sucking pests in your home, your sheets and duvet covers will often get dirty. Red spots on bed linens from bedbugs appear from blood - a sleeping person can toss and turn while sleeping and accidentally crush insects with his body. Considering that the internal volume of the abdomen of an adult parasite reaches 7 ml, bloody marks on the bed can be very large.

Bedbugs crushed by humans die. Therefore, in the morning you can find their bodies in bed, which is also a frequent sign of the appearance of insects in the apartment.

Why do bedbugs appear?

Signs of bedbugs do not indicate unsanitary conditions. Parasites also appear where cleanliness and order are maintained. Pests can be carried on clothes or luggage; their eggs can be carried on their fur by pets. Very often bedbugs come from neighbors.

The fight against bedbugs must be comprehensive. When the first signs appear, you need to look for and destroy their breeding grounds and treat the home. If you find them in a small population, they will be easier to deal with. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to all the signs of bedbugs – even the most minimal ones. And even if it seems to you that there cannot be bedbugs in your apartment or house.

Black spots on things and surfaces

The waste product of bed bugs is excrement, or feces. They are digested human blood and look like small black specks. You can find them on beds, beds, various things and other surfaces in areas infested with parasites.

Usually, the waste products of blood-sucking pests are located near their nest. Since bed bugs prefer to settle closer to a person’s sleeping place, most often you can find their traces on the sheet.

Other places you can find bed bug marks on your bed:

• mattress (inside, in folds, under the mattress cover);
• headboard;
• furniture frame.

The sofa and bed are the most common places to find bed bug nests. This type of insect chooses them in 90% of cases. But sometimes they choose other places. For example, sometimes you can find traces of bedbugs on wallpaper, in a closet with clothes, in a chest of drawers with bed linen and towels, and even in the housings of electrical appliances.

Main traces of life

Traces of bedbug activity are found on bedding and next to the bed. They are dense to the touch and resemble black dots in appearance. This is parasite feces. When a bug becomes saturated, its digestion is activated and defecation occurs.

The excrement is initially liquid, but upon contact with air masses it hardens . The smell is reminiscent of low-quality cognac. The same excrement is found in nests where pests go to digest food and reproduce.

Specific smell

You can detect bed bugs in an apartment by the sweetish almond aroma in the room. It feels especially bright after the street. Bloodsuckers have special glands that are activated at the moment of danger.

They create a specific smell. Thanks to these glands, pests find their clan after moving a long distance. Bedbug feces also have a similar aroma.

Chitin shells

Chitinous shells also indicate the presence of parasites. The larva has an exoskeleton in the form of a shell. When the nymph is older, it gradually grows after each meal. This shell becomes too small for her, she throws it off.

The first skin is light and thin; the larger the insect, the darker and denser its chitinous shell . During the process of growth to adulthood, several stages of molting are observed. The skins help to distinguish bedbugs from other living creatures in the apartment that can harm people.

Since bloodsuckers love to settle in old things, the shell can be found in these places. If the room is heavily infested, skins can be found on the sofa, bed, and furniture.

Chitin shells as a sign of bedbugs

Bed bugs live in colonies and reproduce by laying eggs, from which larvae (nymphs) hatch. Each larva goes through 5 stages of development before reaching sexual maturity. On each of them, she undergoes a molt and sheds the old small shell and acquires a new one - larger in size. Old shells look like skins, which can have different colors. In younger individuals they are lighter, in older parasites they are darker.

Stages of development of bed bugs (see photo):

• egg (length 1 mm);
• 1st instar larva (1.5 mm);
• stage II larva (2 mm);
• stage III larva (2.5 mm);
• stage IV larva (3 mm);
• stage V larva (4.5 mm);
• adult, or imago (5.5 mm).

The largest number of shed chitinous shells can be found in bed bug nesting areas. They look like hard shells, or husks, colored dirty yellow or dark brown: the color depends on the stage of development of the nymph.

Direct evidence

How to see bedbugs in a bed, you need to carefully examine it after bites have been discovered on the body. The whole family of parasites comes out to feed. Therefore, after a night meal, you can find dead individuals in the bed that died due to random body movement, as well as skins after molting.

House bugs are small insects about 8 mm in size. Flattened wide body, three pairs of limbs, small antennae on the head. Nymphs of different ages look similar, but are smaller in size - from 1 mm to 5 mm. The photo is presented below.

House bugs

On a note!

There is one simple way to see bedbugs in an apartment. Turn on the light in the middle of the night between 3 am and 8 am, throw off the blanket. The picture can be terrifying, so you need to prepare yourself mentally for it. Signs – pests in bed.

After this, you need to start searching for the nest. You can find traces of bedbugs on the wallpaper, so you should carefully examine the places where they have come off and the cracks on the wall. The most favorite place for parasites is the bed, sofa, mattress. Sometimes all you have to do to see insects is lift the mattress. There will be direct signs.

Other habitats in the apartment:

• baseboards;
• books;
• carpets;
• back side of furniture;
• interior items;
• canteens;
• shelves;
• wardrobes with clothes;
• a pot of flowers;
• Stuffed Toys;
• sockets;
• lamps;
• watch;
• paintings, photographs;
• Appliances;
• peeled parquet.

Egg clutches and shells

A female bedbug lays up to 5 eggs per day. During her entire life, she can lay up to 500 eggs. They can be found in bed bug nesting areas. They look like an elongated oval, painted transparent white and up to 1 mm long. After the larvae hatch, all that remains of the eggs is an empty shell with a hole on one side.

If conditions are favorable (and in a person’s home they are), the larvae emerge from the eggs in 6-17 days. Nymphs hatched from eggs reach sexual maturity in 4–5 weeks. Therefore, you can get rid of bedbugs using professional pest control only if you order a double treatment with an interval of 1.5-2 weeks.

Features of removing bedbugs from various places

You can remove bedbugs using different methods. They should not all be used always and not everywhere. You need to understand when it is better to do heat treatment and when to use chemical insecticides. There are cases in which the problem can only be solved with the help of special services. In another situation, a person can cope with such a misfortune on his own. It depends on the degree of infestation, sources and the desire of the person to try to remove bedbugs for a long time and painfully or leave it to specialists.

Specific smell from parasites

You can suspect the appearance of parasites even if there are no other traces of bedbugs in the apartment. So, if they appear in your home, the smell in it will change over time. This is due to the processes of decomposition of human blood in the bodies of insects, leaving waste products by individuals. All this leads to the smell in the apartment becoming similar to:

• the smell of dampness (there is no increase in the number of mosquitoes, condensation on the windows, etc.);
• the smell of mold (without visible signs of fungal damage to wallpaper and other surfaces);
• strong smell of fermented berries (feels like the aroma of cognac, or it seems as if cherries, grapes have turned sour, or berry wine has fermented).

Apartment owners can get used to the appearance of an unpleasant odor. But guests will not be able to miss it. Therefore, if someone decides to tell you about this, think about whether this smell could indicate the presence of bed bugs in your apartment.

Effective methods of determination

There are proven methods for identifying bedbugs in an apartment. It is most convenient to use special traps that can be purchased in the store. But all the devices are needed only to verify the presence of bloodsuckers in the house. It is impossible to catch all parasites with their help. For this reason, many people choose to make their own indicator traps.

Glass for finding bedbugs

To detect insects, you need to take 8 empty plastic glasses, and half should have a smaller diameter. Pour vegetable oil into the bottom of large glasses and sprinkle talcum powder on its surface. Next, place a container of a smaller diameter in each glass and place the structure under the foot of the bed. It's better to do this at night. At night, having drunk human blood, the bugs will try to climb out of the bed and some of them will fall into traps.

Plastic plate

Another simple detection method involves using several plastic plates. They can be placed near the beds in the evening. The bottom of each plate should be greased with machine oil and sprinkled with sugar. You can sprinkle the surface with talcum powder on top. All containers should be checked in the morning. If there are bedbugs in the apartment, a certain number of them will definitely stick to the engine oil.

Detecting bedbugs using plastic plates.

After finding insects or traces of their presence, you should try to get rid of them yourself. In some cases, it is better to use the services of specialized companies. Methods of combating bloodsucking insects are of great importance. Sometimes you can only get rid of parasites by using chemicals.

Where to look for bedbugs in an apartment?

To find pest nesting sites and eliminate them, look for traces of bed bugs throughout the apartment. But first check those in which this type of parasite most often appears. Rating of the most favorite places for domestic bloodsuckers where insects leave eggs and larvae:

• spring block of furniture for sleeping - 35%;
• mattress - 26%;
• upholstered furniture (sofa, armchair) -22%;
• headboard - 10%;
• wall decoration (wallpaper, wood paneling, etc.) - 3%;
• flooring (carpet, carpet, carpet, etc.) - 2%;
• furniture for storing clothes, linen and other things (bedside tables, chests of drawers, cabinets, wardrobes, their backs) - 1%;
• electrical appliances, sockets and other places atypical for this type of pest - 1%.

Signs of bedbugs in the house will help make it easier to find habitats. So, if you find characteristic marks on a sheet, immediately look for parasites in the mattress, furniture frame (bed, sofa) or at the headboard. If there are only blood stains on the bed, pay attention to the wallpaper, the space behind large paintings and panels in the bedroom and other rooms - pests often remain under them during the day.

Presence of odor

The sense of smell plays a very important role in the life of bedbugs. It is thanks to him that insects are able to navigate in space, mate, find food, and signal to their relatives about possible danger. What can you compare the smell that occurs when there are bedbugs in the house?

It’s impossible not to notice bedbugs on the ceiling and walls (photo)

Usually it is quite pleasant - rich and sickly sweet, somewhat reminiscent of the smell of almonds or rotten raspberries. Many people initially mistake it for a smell that accidentally entered the house from the street. However, with severe infestation it becomes permanent. Anyone who has smelled this scent at least once in their life will not be able to confuse it with any other.

Professional extermination of bed bugs by the Official Sanitary and Epidemiological Station of Moscow

Destruction of bedbugs with cold fog in Moscow

Our organization provides all types of sanitary and hygienic services in Moscow. We work with absolutely all customers, from owners of apartments, rooms to large enterprises, large companies. It doesn’t matter whether we are carrying out preventive treatment or fighting a severe infection - we always have a professional, responsible and competent approach to any task.

All work is carried out in accordance with the protocol of Rospotrebnadzor, with the necessary documents being completed in a short time.

The cost of treatment against bedbugs is strictly fixed and transparent. Pricing is affected only by the size of the treatment area and the cost of drugs used for disinfestation.

Furniture bugs: photo

Knowing what furniture bugs look like and traces of their vital activity, it will be easier for you to identify the type of pests that have settled in your home.

• The body length of a bug varies on average from 0.5 to 3 millimeters.
• The color can range from beige or dark brown before feeding and burgundy or black after feeding.
• In their habitats they leave characteristic brown mud, shed chitinous plates, excrement and skins similar to walnut husks.
• Bedbugs accumulate close to the source of food - humans, so most often they can also be found in groups, and not one by one.

If you suspect that you have furniture bugs, but a photo and a quick inspection of the apartment did not give you 100% confidence that it is them, the most reliable way is to analyze the type of bites.