Bed bug (lat. CIMEX Lectularius) is one of the most common types of bugs, which is a bloodsucking insect and feeds on human blood, as well as other warmblooded creatures.
Appearance
In its appearance, some significant differences from other representatives of the family do not have. In this insect, the body is quite flattened and varies from three to ten millimeters in length, depending on how much blood the animal will drink. The color can be different, but basically it includes dirty yellow and dark brown colors.
The more rounded shape at the body of the insect, the more blood he already drank this is the easiest way to determine the time when the animal was eating last time. In addition, the more blood fluid in the body at the bed bug, the more its color darkens, reaching almost completely black. The best moment for the murder of this insect is exactly the time when it is flattened and has a bright shade, since its regeneration completely depends on the amount of blood he had drunk.
Structure
From the front of the head in bed bugs, a rather long proboscis departs, with which the animal pierces soft tissues, and then it sucks blood and brings harmful bacteria. On both jaws there are sharp bristles that form two peculiar channels among themselves: wide, the task of which is to use blood and narrow it is precisely from it that saliva with bacteria is released.
Lifestyle and behavior
Bed bugs, however, like most other bloodsucking insects that can live in human apartments and houses, lead an exclusively night lifestyle, since then there is almost no danger to them and they can safely eat. In the daytime they try to hide under the wallpaper, in clothes, in furniture or other places where the human look will not allow them to find. In the absence of nutrition for a long time, they still crawl out for “hunting” during the day, but this is extremely rare. If the living conditions are not the most favorable, then the bugs begin mass migration through ventilation ducts, and in the summer on the walls of the houses, so that a person does not notice them. According to the calculations of scientists, an adult individual of a bed bug can crawl from 25 centimeters a minute to one meter, and a nymph-about twenty centimeters, because physically it is much weaker.
During an attack on a person, a bed bug moves along the skin and leaves a whole path of bites. But due to the fact that the skin of most people has different shades, the bite is practically not noticeable for the naked eye. In this case, brown marks on the bed may indicate that during sleep a person crushed a couple of individuals, which means others could already bite him already.
Where it lives
Due to its high fertility and abilities, long periods of time are without food, in full state of a hunger strike, this animal spreads very quickly in the rooms and gets rid of it with ordinary means, by type of poison for bugs, it becomes impossible. In this case, they usually cause professional disinfectors, the work of which is just the complete destruction of all malicious insects in the dwelling, but even the pros does not always succeed in cope with bed bugs the first time. Initially, they appear indoors when buying used furniture or other things, household items. Most often found in communal facilities, for example, apartments, hostels and other places where not one family lives.
First of all, you need to check for the prevention to disinfect sleeping furniture, books, frames and wooden window sills, because it is in these places that the easiest thing is to hide and not be quickly found. Due to the fact that these insects breed very quickly, when the sale of some things or furniture, a person literally transfers them to another place, thereby spreading outside his own home. In addition, even if you do not buy something used or do not give you clothes, gifts, or other household items, these parasites without any problems can populate your apartment through ventilation ducts and through electric sockets. And if the window is still warm, then insects on the walls of the houses also penetrate the apartment, even despite the mosquito nets. Such cases are rare, but it is still possible to “pick up” the bed bug when moving on the street or using public transport, since they often live in things and jump from one person to another if he seems more “nutritious” to them.
What eats
The main and only food for bedbugs is the blood of living creatures, for example, animals or people, which is quite obvious, because absolutely all home parasitic insects use blood as one of or the main source of nutrients. Even the larvae of this animal eat exclusively blood. One individual can make up to five hundred bites per day. There are no diseases in the saliva of bugs, but there are a huge amount of allergenic bacteria that can cause an allergic reaction in many people, especially children, because their immunity has not yet formed and lymphocytes do not always have time to fight with all ill-wishers.
If for a long period of time the bug has no food, it falls into a state of hibernation, which is very similar to anbiosis. Thanks to this, the animal can do without food for more than a year, and then without any problems go out in search of food again and continue to bite animals, as well as people. This ability allows bedbugs to avoid disinfection, hiding in the farthest and most inaccessible places of residence, and after leaving them safe and preservation, as if there was no threat to their life at all.
Reproduction
If you divide the life of a bed bug into certain stages, then you can make three main and consistent parts:
Each of these stages has its own characteristics, but the principle of propagation of the only. In bed bugs, sexual dimorphism is developed, if you explain it in simple words, then the female and the male are very noticeably different from each other, unlike most other representatives of the family. The appearance of the female individual is larger in size, as well as the lower part of their belly is much more rounded than the male. But the male individuals in the structure have complete asymmetry at the ends. Thanks to this, they form a certain ledge, which is a genital of a curved shape. It is for them that the male pierces the bag on the female’s stomach and releases his seed there.
A distinctive feature of bug mating can be called the fact that the female can get pregnant only once in her life. Before laying the eggs, she must be saturated with blood and grow in size, so that the birth passes less painfully and the eggs have enough beneficial substances. After the female sucks blood should pass for about two days, and only after that she can begin to child. Every day she lays about a dozen eggs, and the reproduction itself passes throughout the year, thereby one female individual can give life to five hundred individuals over a year.
Danger to man
Even though the bites of home or bedbugs, as they are most often called, do not have any significant infections, there is still a danger to human life. Periodic bites from these parasites leave many traces on the human body, in which infection can already fall in the future. In addition, the saliva of these insects distinguishes enzymes, because of which it becomes more difficult for a person to fall asleep, he becomes more irritable, his concentration is declining very quickly and even nervous breakdowns may occur.
Due to allergic substances, which are quite a few in the saliva of bedbugs, a person can even get anaphylactic shock. If you bite allergic, then at the site of the bite there will be not only a trace, but also strong swollenness. Various swelling of the tongue and eyes, bloating of the lips, blood vessels and even veins are also possible. This phenomenon is called the edema of the Quincke, because of which you can even die if you do not contact a specialist in time.
How to distinguish from other insects
The main difference between bedbugs and ordinary bugs is the complete absence of wings and any ability to fly. In addition, if most types of family are “screwed” into the skin and is further taken out with great difficulty, then this species does not remain, but only bites, leaving a series of traces. This allows the insect for a long time to eat blood without fear of death, because the traces are very difficult to notice. In addition, the sizes of bedbugs are much smaller than that of brothers, and young individuals can be completely invisible to the naked human eye. All this allows these parasites throughout the life cycle not to change the place of residence and eat the blood of only one person.
Causes of appearance in the house
Probably the most important reason due to which the individual bugs fall into the home is the purchase of furniture, clothes and other household items already used by someone. It is in them that the insect sets and hides, and falling into anbiosis, it may not even notice how it will change its place of residence and will wake up in another house.
Bite
There are practically no single traces of bites, because in order to eat, bugs need to suck blood for quite a while, and in order to avoid the awakening of the “victim”, they leave many small and barely noticeable bites. Their saliva contains allergens that enter the human body as a result of a bite.
