It is a very common occurrence for bedbugs to settle in a car. Maybe this is not news for drivers. The distribution of these insects is expanding every year, so it is likely that they are settling in places where they are not expected. Questions arise: how do bedbugs get into a car, is this neighborhood safe, and what are the ways to get rid of unpleasant neighbors. The insects do not have fatal bites, but they are a constant nuisance. Some sensitive people suffer from allergic reactions. In rare cases, parasites contribute to the development of infectious diseases.
Traveling pests
Bedbugs travel easily and can sometimes be found in parcels and clothing. While hibernating, they can travel long distances. At the first opportunity to “refresh” the insects come to life and get to work. So the car is their ideal habitat.
Cars are the ideal habitat for bedbugs.
Parasites are afraid of extreme heat and cold, but they can live for quite a long time without food. They live mainly in countries where there is no frost.
The risk of catching bedbugs increases for those who constantly transport furniture, parcels or other household equipment. They adapt well to a new environment and can attack in the dark and on the road. If the driver also transports people, then the parasites are easily spread by passengers, getting into their clothes and bags. Those who like to travel and spend the night in their vehicles often suffer from these insects.
The presence of bedbugs in a car is affected by the time of year, weather conditions and climate zone. That is, if it is cold in the car, then the insects will lead a passive lifestyle. If the temperature is very cold, the parasites will die. But the temperature should not be higher than –2 degrees. It is important to know and understand that due to the lack of food in vehicles, namely passengers to attach themselves to, bedbugs will increasingly hibernate until they completely disappear.
Despite the fact that truck drivers and people who like to travel and live in their vehicles most often suffer from parasites, in an ordinary car, where there are at least slightly suitable conditions, they can start up.
Do bedbugs live in household appliances?
Many of us know the characteristic features of the appearance of bedbugs in an apartment. This is the appearance of bites on the skin, blood stains on bed linen, larvae hidden in secluded corners, chitinous skins and droppings that you can find with dust in furniture seams.
The myth that bedbugs choose exclusively old and untidy houses as their refuge has long been debunked. Dirt, dampness, lack of light and fresh air are, of course, ideal conditions for the proliferation of parasites. But as practice shows, not a single room, even the cleanest, is completely protected from such uninvited guests.
If suspicions are confirmed, then we go on a search. Our goal is to find and destroy. First of all, we check sleeping and resting areas, soft toys, wallpaper and baseboards.
But we must not forget about household appliances, of which there are a huge number in every home these days. On the one hand, it seems that household appliances are not the best refuge for bedbugs: there are few secluded corners (bugs like to feel pressure from all sides, so they feel safe), often high temperature and lack of food. However, it is not. Household appliances are just as ideal breeding grounds as furniture. It protects bedbugs from bright light and temperature changes.
Of course, they will not settle near the frying surface, but they feel great at temperatures from 15 to 40 degrees. Working computer system units, an old radio, a stove, coolers, a TV - all this will serve as a home for parasites.
Bedbugs are capable of starving for many weeks, and under unfavorable conditions - for at least a year. When a bug is in a state of suspended animation, neither hunger nor a drop in temperature even to -10 degrees will kill it. Considering these features, you need to pay attention to those things and equipment that you buy secondhand. If even newly purchased equipment or furniture brought from a store becomes an object of reproduction, then what can we say about used items.
Be sure to inspect the equipment you pick up from repair or accept for repair. Often, unwanted settlers can be obtained along with a repaired computer, television or refrigerator, and if you do not check them on the spot, then this may be where your story begins.
Check not only the items purchased or given to others, but also be sure to pay attention to the premises from which you are picking them up. Semi-basement, damp and unkempt objects are exactly the places where blood-sucking pests wait for their new home.
Bedbugs reproduce at a tremendous speed; a female can carry a fertilized seed within her for a month, and lay up to 500 eggs throughout her life.
If you notice these insects in your equipment, take immediate action, most likely this is the initial stage and the treatment will take place quickly and almost unnoticed by you.
But in order to remove this infection for sure, it is better to seek the help of specialists. Professional services know exactly the secluded corners of the habitat and will not leave bedbugs any chance to survive.
- < Back
- Forward >
How to detect parasites in transport
This will be more difficult to do than at home, but every driver can do it. In order to detect the presence of bedbugs in a car, you must:
- conduct a thorough inspection of the interior, paying special attention to folds in the covers;
- It’s good to inspect the top trim of the car, since pests like to attack from above;
- If a parasite is detected, you can differentiate a bug from an insect by the unpleasant odor that appears when the parasite is crushed.
Carefully inspect the interior for the presence of bedbug nests
How to get rid of pests in the car interior
Cleaning your car completely will not be enough to get rid of these tenacious parasites. Because they are hidden in hard-to-reach places (in the folds of covers, under the seats, in the seats themselves). A simple wash will help for a short time, after which the insects will restore their population.
To completely get rid of parasites you will have to use chemicals. These are dusts against bedbugs, which are used in small quantities immediately after cleaning the car.
Important! Before cleaning, do not move things from the car into the house. They can become a real breeding ground for parasites. In addition, it is necessary to clean and process every part that is in transport. This is the only way to completely get rid of insects.
It is immediately worth noting that poisoning bedbugs with dichlorvos is useless. It is not recommended to use aerosols that have a strong odor, as this may harm human health. But boiling water and hot steam are deadly weapons for parasites. Running the steam cleaner over the car a few times will be enough to get rid of these insects. In this case, special attention must be paid to hard-to-reach places.
You can get rid of insects by freezing them. Sub-zero temperatures in a car will be fatal for most of them. That is why they do not survive in the Russian winter, but in the spring and summer they diligently spoil people’s blood.
Freezing temperatures in a car will kill all bedbugs
Transporting furniture without bedbugs
Having dealt with the things that can be loaded into boxes, move on to the most difficult part - disassembling the furniture. As noted above, bedbugs most often live in sofas, beds, and chairs. But this does not mean at all that they cannot be in closets, bedside tables and other places where there are warm crevices for their potential residence.
In turn, with each piece of furniture that you are going to disassemble and transport, follow these steps:
- Place the furniture in a comfortable position to disassemble it. If it is upholstered furniture, then vacuum it first;
- Next, start disassembling the furniture, making sure to wipe all elements where there is dirt. Do not forget that bedbugs most often live in all sorts of crevices. Rinse them especially thoroughly.
- The next step is to treat the disassembled furniture elements with chemicals. Buy any effective bedbug eliminater from the store and apply it to the disassembled parts of the furniture. We recommend choosing products with quick effectiveness so that the bedbugs have time to die while you are tinkering with other furniture.
- After the time indicated on the bedbug killer has passed, thoroughly wipe the furniture again. It wouldn’t hurt to shake it to get dead insects out of hard-to-reach places.
- If it's upholstered furniture and you have a steamer, run it over the fabric. This will make it possible to destroy the remaining bedbugs and their larvae with high temperature.
- Treated and clean furniture parts can be transported.
Bed bugs are such tenacious insects that it is quite difficult to fight them. It is enough to transport several individuals to a new apartment, and they will instantly breed in a new place. The most effective way to combat bedbugs is to simply get rid of the furniture where they live. But if this cannot be done, use the tips from our material.
Recommendations
When cleaning your car from bedbugs, you should be especially meticulous and attentive. It is necessary to check every item, including the first aid kit, since parasites often hide in the most unexpected places. We should not forget about the luggage compartment; quite often insects live there. Often, inattentive cleaning is the reason why it is very difficult to remove insects yourself.
If it was not possible to defeat bedbugs on your own, the owner of the vehicle can contact specialized services that will quickly and efficiently clean the car.
Do exterminators tolerate bedbugs?
Another question we are often asked is: can exterminators themselves accidentally or intentionally transfer bedbugs from one room to another? Due to their duty, they have to constantly visit apartments in which huge numbers of these parasites live. Therefore, it can be assumed that they can get into the things and bags of specialists.
In fact, the risk of an exterminator bringing in bedbugs is virtually zero. Firstly, his work uniform, as well as all bags and equipment, are treated with insecticides. Because of this, even if bedbugs accidentally get somewhere, they quickly die and are definitely not transferred to the next clients. Secondly, an exterminator comes to an apartment with bedbugs in order to destroy them. He treats all surfaces in the house with potent drugs that quickly kill bedbugs. In such conditions, they simply do not physically have the opportunity to get into the bag or pockets of a specialist’s clothing.
Sometimes they express to us completely absurd ideas. Some people suggest that exterminators deliberately spread bedbugs into residential buildings so that their residents will then contact the company for help. They say that exterminators catch bedbugs in infested rooms and then plant them under the doors of a randomly selected apartment.
This is theoretically possible and this fact cannot be refuted with one hundred percent certainty. Maybe someone once tried to infect an apartment in this way, and it was not necessarily the exterminators who did it. Regarding the activities of the latter, let's think logically. The main problem of pest control services is high competition, not a lack of clients. The likelihood that after deliberately planting bedbugs in a particular house, its residents will turn to this particular company is extremely low. Therefore, it makes no sense for exterminators to increase the number of infected apartments using this method. There are already a lot of them, much more than all the companies in the city could clean up. In addition, people themselves successfully cope with the spread of bedbugs by constantly transporting them from one room to another.
Due to suspicions that exterminators are spreading bedbugs, when parasites appear in the house, residents first look at the notices posted nearby and refuse to contact these services. They assume that their employees caused the appearance of insects in their home. To get rid of them, residents begin to look for other companies or try to poison the bedbugs themselves. In general, it makes no sense for exterminators to plant parasites on someone, because competition between companies is very strong, and the likelihood that after an apartment is infested with bedbugs, its residents will turn to a specific company is very low. The main task for exterminators is to sell their services and work effectively to get clients, and not to increase their total number.
