Can bed bugs live in clothes: an unusual shelter for blood-sucking parasites
No one is safe from the appearance of bedbugs in the house, because parasites can inhabit any apartment, regardless of its sanitary condition, and hide in the most unexpected places. Bed bugs in clothes are a particularly unpleasant surprise.
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What do bed bugs look like
Bed bugs belong to the order Hemiptera, and their only food is human blood. In order not to confuse bloodsuckers with other domestic parasites, you need to know how they look externally. From the side, parasites look like small bugs with a pointed head. Adults have the following salient features:
- a flattened body up to 8,5 mm long, the shape, size and color of which vary depending on the degree of saturation with blood. In hungry insects, it is strongly flattened, does not exceed 4 mm in length and has a light brown color. After eating, the body increases in size, becomes more rounded and acquires a reddish or black tint;
- lack of wings. Bedbugs cannot fly, although they have small wing liners;
- a modified mouth apparatus adapted for piercing the skin and sucking out blood. This is such a piercing-sucking little proboscis that extends from the front edge of the head. In addition to it, the bug has a sharp bristle to secrete anesthetic saliva at the bite site;
- the presence of antennae on the head, a dense chitinous cover and six short legs.
Parasite larvae are white or light yellow in color and smaller in size. When hatched from an egg, their length is no more than 0,5 mm, and then, as they grow, it reaches 2 mm. Otherwise, the appearance of the nymphs is the same as that of adults.
Signs of the presence of bedbugs in the apartment
The fact that uninvited guests appeared in the house can be evidenced by:
- numerous bites and red spots on the skin found after waking up;
- small specks of blood and brown dots on bed linen from parasites crushed in a dream;
- egg laying and chitinous skins left after molting;
- waste products in the form of feces, outwardly resembling poppy seeds.
The persistent smell of mold is not felt immediately, but after the growth of the colony. Bed bugs use it to scare off enemies. Sexually mature females secrete a special secret with their odorous glands when laying eggs. As the parasite population grows, the smell becomes more concentrated.
The main habitats of bloodsuckers
It happens that at first it is quite difficult to find a nest of bedbugs. The first step is to check their favorite habitats:
- upholstered furniture (bed frame, mattress seams, upholstery, etc.);
- dark corners, baseboards and crevices;
- the back side of carpets, rugs, paintings, cabinets and bedside tables;
- sockets and switches;
- bookshelves and old newspapers;
- door joints, curtain folds, peeling lining and wallpaper.
If you have pets, it is worth checking their bed and cage.
Do bed bugs live in wardrobes?
Closets and chests of drawers densely filled with clothes can become one of the shelter options for blood-sucking insects. There are many hidden hard-to-reach places, poorly lit during the day, which are perfect for laying eggs and arranging nests. Therefore, carefully inspect this furniture should be immediately after examining the bed. You need to pay attention to the back side, doors and junctions of structural elements.
Rarely used items and old unnecessary things that often gather dust on closets and under the bed can also be used by bloodsuckers for living. These include: household appliances, shoes, piles of papers and magazines, bulky inventory, toys, etc. So it doesn’t hurt to inspect household items that have gone out of use.
It is difficult to attribute human clothing to the permanent habitat of parasites. You need to understand that bedbugs are nocturnal, actively moving in the dark, and during the daytime - sitting out in secluded corners. Clothing worn by a person does not apply to such places. Rather, it will be used by bloodsuckers for a short stay, for example, to move in order to further expand their habitat. An exception is the situation when there are too many bedbugs, and the owners of the apartment do not take any measures to combat them. Then insects can populate everything, including clothes.
Since bedbugs have a very well developed sense of smell, they prefer clothes that smell like a person. Since synthetic materials retain the smell of sweat best, insects choose clothing made from such fabrics as a haven. Their favorite places are pockets, seams and folds. It is extremely rare for bedbugs to live in fur products for the reason that the pile, the texture of the fur and the hairs are not very convenient for their movement.
It is entirely possible to bring eggs, larvae, or live parasites into your home from guests. The likelihood is high when in contact with things and objects in a room infested with bedbugs, for example, if you sit on a sofa with traces of insect activity or hang outerwear in a closet inhabited by parasites. And if you visit a dysfunctional dwelling late in the evening or spend the night at a party, then the chances of taking a bloodsucker with you will become even higher. Staying overnight in a hotel, hostel, or similar establishment also poses this risk.
If you suspect a bedbug infestation, you should check things for the presence of insects by carefully examining the clothes from the outside and from the wrong side. However, the eggs and larvae of parasites are so small that they can simply be overlooked. Therefore, it is recommended to process all underwear and bed linen in any way possible to eliminate such a possibility. Shoes also do not hurt to clean and wash, as they may contain egg clutches or adults.
The bites of blood-sucking insects are unpleasant and painful. They cause itching, redness, and an allergic reaction. However, the parasite cannot bite a person through clothing due to the insufficient power of its oral apparatus to pierce the tissue. The bugs bite the victim only if they are under clothing on the body, choosing open areas of the skin with closely spaced blood vessels. They especially like delicate children's and women's skin. Dense hairline prevents their movement.
How to get rid of bed bugs living on clothes
Getting rid of indoor bloodsuckers is not easy due to their extraordinary fertility and vitality. Even one surviving fertilized female is able to start a new population in just a few weeks. The situation is quite different with parasites on garments. Here, as a rule, there are no big problems with their destruction.
Heat and cold
Perhaps the most popular of them is the temperature effect. Both high (more than +45 degrees) and low (less than -25 degrees) air temperature have a detrimental effect on bedbugs.
To get rid of bloodsuckers, you just need to hang out clothes for a day or a longer period in the cold in winter and under the hot sun in summer.
To consolidate the result, it is advisable to repeat the procedure after a while. The following can be done as alternatives:
- put things in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer for a period of up to several days;
- send clothes for dry cleaning;
- wash clothes in a typewriter at a high temperature of 90 degrees or boil using detergents;
- iron things with a hot iron on all sides;
- treat clothes with a steam cleaner or iron with a steam function.
The steam generator works great for the destruction of clothing bugs and their larvae. A repeated procedure with its use helps to consolidate the result. Washed and processed clothes are returned to the closet only after the furniture and premises have been completely processed from bloodsuckers.
Chemicals
Folk remedies
To expel bedbugs from a wardrobe, you can use folk methods that are effective and safe for humans.
- Spread among the linen fresh or dried sprigs of repellent plants: tansy, mint, lavender, rosemary or wormwood. You can make sachets with these herbs.
- Insects will also be repelled by pieces of cotton wool soaked in vinegar, ammonia, tincture of valerian, camphor or turpentine, as well as naphthalene balls.
- Also, bloodsuckers do not tolerate the smells of some essential oils: lavender, neem, eucalyptus, tea tree, rosemary, pine.
- A few drops of oil should be applied to paper or cotton wool and placed on the cabinet shelves. You need to do this every day for 2-3 weeks.
The described methods using folk remedies are also good as additional and preventive measures to combat bed bugs. Their use as a mono-method does not guarantee a XNUMX% result of getting rid of parasites.
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