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Greetings, dear readers. In today's article we will talk about the ability of cockroaches to bite people. The controversy surrounding this issue has not subsided as long as arthropods have lived next to humans. Some people believe that red-haired creatures do not bite; others are sure that at night they come out of their hiding places to profit from human skin. Who is right?
I will tell you whether cockroaches bite people, how, when and why they do it. You will learn what a cockroach bite looks like, what kind of trouble it can cause to a person, and also how to avoid these troubles if you do get bitten. At the same time, I’ll tell you how to protect yourself from arthropod cannibals if they do settle in your apartment.
What you will need
Creating an unfriendly environment
- Broom
- Mop
- Vacuum cleaner
- Dust Broom
- All-purpose detergent
- Floor cloth
- Boxes with lid or bags with zipper
- Rake
Eliminating cockroaches
- Cypress oil
- Peppermint oil
- Water
- Household sprayer
- Coffee grounds
- Boxes
- Cigar trims
- Bay leaves
- mortar and pestle
- Soda
- Sugar
- A bowl
- Boric acid
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are a whole family of insects that feed on blood. They can enter your home through open windows and vents, through ventilation or drainage systems and are one of the most common pests in the warm season.
- Mosquitoes have dark gray bodies, up to 1 centimeter in length, and transparent wings located parallel to the body.
- Insects emit a characteristic monotonous squeak during flight, which is easy to hear if the parasite is hovering around your head.
- Mosquito bites are sometimes felt, sometimes not, it all depends on the individual sensitivity of the skin and where your attention is directed - most often, if people are passionate or busy with something, the moment of the bite goes unnoticed.
- The bite itself looks like redness that is dense to the touch, itches, and sometimes there is a small swelling around it, but in most cases it goes away after 1–4 hours.
Mosquitoes breed in water and places with high humidity, so they cannot literally live in your bed, however, it is more convenient for them to feed on your blood precisely while you are sleeping, so bites are often discovered in the morning.
How to understand that an “infiltrator” has entered the house
Just because you have not encountered pests directly does not mean that they are not in the house. Signs of the presence of cockroaches in an apartment are as follows:
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- insect excrement - black spots on wallpaper, furniture, dishes;
- unpleasant odor - the appearance of an “aroma” that is not associated with the activity of domestic animals or spoilage of food;
- eggs - laying eggs in secluded corners;
- extraneous noise - faint rustling and rustling sounds at night;
- the remains are empty chitinous shells on the floor and in the cabinets.
Fleas
A person can be bitten by several types of fleas
and all of them are carriers of parasites and various diseases, from helminthiases to plague, borreliosis and various types of typhus.
- The size of fleas living in the Central region of Russia usually varies between 0.5–3 millimeters, so the insects look mostly like dark moving dots.
- A flea bite always feels like a sharp, burning pain at the site of the skin puncture.
- A small, hard, dried drop of blood may remain at the site of the bite.
- Insects are not particularly scrupulous in choosing a place on the body to feed on, so they can bite in any open areas of the skin.
- The flea bite begins to itch instantly and itch severely for several days.
Fleas do not tend to gather en masse to nest in a specific place, so they can live scatteredly anywhere in the house, not necessarily in or near the bed. If you suspect that it is fleas that are biting you, they live throughout the room.
Helpful advice
If you are not sure which insects are bothering you and the description of the nature of the bites still leaves you in doubt, if possible, try sleeping in different rooms and on different beds in the house and track how, when and where you do or do not get new bites. This way you can assess the scale of the problem and, perhaps, weed out several variants of pests using the process of elimination.
How to get rid of cockroaches: folk remedies
If cockroaches do settle in your home, you should under no circumstances let the situation take its course. These insects will quickly spread not only throughout the apartment, but throughout the entire house. Meanwhile, mold, pathogenic bacteria and viruses accumulate on their paws. They can cause allergies and lead to asthma. In addition, there are many cases where cockroaches got into the ears.
Photo: Pixabay
Since these insects quickly adapt to toxic substances, specialists are forced to constantly develop new ways to combat them. First, you should try folk remedies - they are more gentle compared to chemicals and can be used in apartments with pets. Many of them are no less effective than modern insecticides. The only downside is that you will have to wait longer for results.
Lice
Lice
provoke the development of pediculosis and can be carriers of typhus and relapsing fever.
- Depending on the type of lice, the length of their light, oblong or round bodies can range from 1 to 4 millimeters.
- Most lice live directly on a person and constantly feed on his blood; body lice can live in things or a room, but not very far from the food source - a person.
- Lice bites are not felt, but after some time, which depends on the individual characteristics of the body, they begin to itch.
- If there are a large number of pests, their bites may merge into single red spots on the skin and become covered with a white flaky crust.
If you suspect that there are lice at home, you should start looking for them not from the bed or room, but from your own body. Insects can live on the head, eyebrows, mustache, armpits, groin, any place where hair is longer than 2-3 millimeters. Body lice can also be found on fleecy fabrics, which are similar in structure to hair.
How to fight on your own
Cockroaches can sometimes be destroyed on your own. To do this, use gels, aerosols, trap tablets and various types of poison that dissolve in water.
Gels contain poison, bait and a fatty substance that gives the product a liquid state and prevents it from drying out. Some gels have ingredients added that cause rejection in pets.
Cockroaches go to the bait, eat the insecticidal gel and carry the poison away on their paws. When an infected cockroach dies, others eat it. This is how the poison spreads throughout the colony. Cockroaches begin to die within 1-2 days after treating the apartment with gel. Manufacturers say that in general the gels last up to two months.
What diseases do cockroaches carry that are dangerous to humans?
When moving through basements, attics, sewer pipes and garbage chutes, dangerous microorganisms enter the digestive system of synanthropic arthropods onto the chitinous cover and bristly legs.
What diseases do cockroaches carry that are dangerous to humans?
- more than 40 types of pathogenic bacteria: hepatitis, typhoid, tuberculosis, intestinal infection, gastroenteritis, meningitis, pneumonia;
- helminth eggs: tapeworm, roundworm, pinworm, whipworm. During the research, pinworm and whipworm eggs were found in the rectum of the black cockroach, and tapeworm eggs were found in the red Prussian;
- intestinal amoebas – causative agents of colitis, dysentery;
- toxoplasma – protozoan organisms that cause toxoplasmosis;
- more than 15 types of fungi;
- polio virus.
The pathogenic agent is transferred by contact and transit.
Numerous spines on the paws of individuals collect the largest accumulation of waste. The thigh is covered with sparse short spines, the tibia is long and dense, and the segments are covered with numerous small processes. The transit route of infection involves the residence and reproduction of pathogenic creatures in the digestive system of cockroaches. This method is most typical for helminth eggs, the shells of which are resistant to enzymes. They undergo full development in the intestines without damage and do not lose their pathogenic properties.
How to get rid
When parasites appear in the house, it is important to track their routes of entry and movement. If the threat comes from neighbors, ventilation should be equipped with nets, cracks in floors and walls should be sealed so that insects cannot enter the apartment.
To reduce the population and prevent it after bullying, it is necessary to create unfavorable conditions for cockroaches. To do this, you need to put away all food before going to bed, wipe the sink and tables dry, and take out the trash every day.
Common store-bought and home remedies include:
- Aerosols.
- Traps.
- Treats containing boric acid and arsenic.
- Washing floors with ammonia.
- Gels.
- Powders.
When cockroaches have entered from the sewer, it is better to call special services to eliminate them. Disinfection may use insecticides or heat treatment.
To eliminate cockroaches from a microwave oven, you need to set the device to warm up. In this case, they will simply leave this place. And if you use boric acid bait, placing it inside the device, this will allow you to get rid of them completely.
It is better not to take electrical appliances out into the cold.
This method is effective for clothing, mattresses, pillows and shoes.
Boric acid
A delicacy for parasites is prepared from boric acid. To do this, combine 1 teaspoon of the product with a boiled chicken egg yolk or boiled and crushed potatoes. Small balls are made from the resulting mixture and placed in “dangerous” places.
Traps
You can find special insect traps in retail chains. They are scented little boxes of poison. Having fallen into a trap, the cockroach eats up the poison and takes some of its particles with it, which allows it to poison its relatives who have not tasted the treat.
Of all the ways to place the device, the most effective is the arrangement in the form of a labyrinth. The tangled passages do not allow the insect to escape from the trap, and it dies right in it. Knowing where cockroaches come from in the house, you can distribute bait in the areas where the barbels are located.
Folk remedies
Having found out where the cockroaches are crawling into the apartment, you need to immediately begin baiting them.
Not everyone has the opportunity to leave the premises during the period of disinfection with insecticides, so it is much safer to use home tips:
- Washing the floor with ammonia. A little medicine is added to the prepared water and all surfaces in the house are washed with the resulting solution. It is important to pay special attention to baseboards and secluded places.
- Treat with arsenic. The poison is combined with powdered sugar and this composition is scattered in the area where the parasites live. It is important to remove pets and small children during bullying. In addition, all products must be hermetically sealed and stored away.
Purchased funds
When it is unclear where cockroaches are coming from in a new building, you can purchase insecticides:
- The gels are distributed over all secluded places and areas where parasites are localized. The most commonly purchased ones are Fas, Raptor, Sturm, and Brownie.
- Popular aerosols include Combat, Raptor, and Executioner. But they are more toxic and require the absence of residents at the time of disinfection.
- Powders and dusts are the cheapest option and are ineffective for large colonies. Preference is given to Raptor, Pyrethrum, Clean House.
Calling specialists
Despite how cockroaches enter an apartment when there is a large population, it is important not only to determine the routes of entry, but also to quickly get rid of them. For this, their own strength may not be enough, and some people choose a more effective method - calling a team of disinfectors. There should be no residents or pets in the house while professionals are working.
Their funds for one persecution will help get rid of the problem, but this service is not cheap.
To eliminate cockroaches and prevent the possibility of their repopulation, you should keep your home clean and tidy. You need to take out the trash promptly and not leave food on the table. Dirty dishes should be washed in the evening and the sink should be wiped dry, ridding it of extraneous moisture. When bullying neighbors, preventive disinfection should also be carried out so that the parasites do not find a new place of residence in the apartment.
Cockroaches in the apartment: sources of the problem
To defeat the “enemy”, you need to collect as much information about him as possible. First of all, it is important to understand where cockroaches come from in an apartment and why they stay in it. The sources of the problem can be both internal and external.
Where do they come from?
The opinion that cockroaches are a sign of unsanitary conditions is only partly true. Even the cleanest housewife is not immune from such a misfortune. Typically, pests enter your home from four main sources.
- From neighboring apartments. If the neighbors are not very clean, their “guests” may well come to you through the ventilation holes or through the entrance. Also, a mass migration of insects may begin if insects begin to be poisoned behind the wall. Covering the ventilation holes with mesh is the first thing to do if your neighbors have cockroaches.
- From the shop. Even if the store’s sales area is clean, you cannot be sure of the sanitary condition of the warehouse premises. It is possible that a cockroach or its eggs may get into the bag along with fruits, vegetables or other products. In markets, the risk of “buying” insects is even higher.
- From the parcel. While the parcel reaches its destination, it will visit several “transshipment points” where a cockroach can get into the package. Moreover, insects are attracted not only to food. Sometimes people receive equipment from online stores with unpleasant “bonuses”.
- From a trip. From a trip or business trip you can bring back not only souvenirs, but also household pests. They can sneak into a suitcase in a hotel, train or plane.
With the development of international tourism, not only people, but also insects began to travel actively. This is how we can explain the increasing incidence of exotic pests appearing in domestic apartments.
Where are pests comfortable?
If cockroaches have settled in the neighborhood, this means that they are comfortable in the apartment. There are four factors that attract pests to human homes.
- A lot of food. Cockroaches eat the same things in the house as people do. They do not require fresh and tasty products. Dried crumbs lying around in the corner are enough for them. An unclean table, unwashed dishes, a trash can, a dirty stove, an unkempt refrigerator - this is just an incomplete list of food sources for pests.
- Free access to water. Cockroaches cannot live without water. If there is high humidity in your home, do not be surprised by the appearance of pests. Leaking pipes and taps, condensation, wet rags and sponges, flooded flower pots, wet surfaces (floor, tiles, tables) - these are the main sources of drink for cockroaches.
- Comfortable temperature. If a person is satisfied with the microclimate of his home (not cold and not hot), then he will be satisfied with cockroaches.
- Availability of secluded places. The more intricate the interior in terms of the amount of furniture, decor and all kinds of installation structures, the more potential places where cockroaches will live in the apartment. Pests also love to hide in cracks and crevices, which are typical of old buildings.
Interestingly, a cockroach can live for more than a month without food. Moreover, it can maintain life by feeding on paper, soap and even particles of human skin.
Hives
The harmless urticaria butterfly has nothing to do with it; we are talking about one of the types of dermatitis, whose manifestations are easily confused with insect bites. Urticaria is characterized by red, itchy blisters that resemble nettle burns, which is where it gets its name. Most often, the disease is of an allergic nature, but blisters can appear without an obvious reason one at a time, several at a time, or en masse at once.
The main difference that allows us to distinguish this form of dermatosis from insect bites is that urticaria leaves blisters with a uniform surface; there is no visible point where the bite was made. It may be difficult to see with the naked eye, but a magnifying glass and phone camera can help you enlarge the blisters to the required size and thus more accurately determine their origin.
Carefully!
Insect bites can cause an allergic reaction of varying severity and lead to infection with any infections and diseases. If, after discovering bites, your health worsens or you begin to notice any alarming, uncharacteristic manifestations in the functioning of your body, be sure to consult a doctor.