On a note
Bed bugs - their length, depending on age and degree of saturation, usually varies from 2-3 to 8 mm. The photo below shows this using an example of an adult bedbug:
This is what a bedbug larva looks like:
Fleas usually bite in the morning. They jump very well, and if you can’t catch an insect in the bed, perhaps it’s them.
The photo shows a flea on a human body at the time of the bite:
Linen lice are insects that are not even attached to the bed, but more to the human body. They bite around the clock, but at night their activity is especially noticeable.
Photo of an adult louse:
A little about bedbugs: photos, behavioral features, lifestyle
And in the next photo there is a nest of bedbugs in the sofa. These insects prefer to hide as close as possible to human resting places:
“This is some kind of nightmare. Never in our life have we had any insects in our apartment, but then we began to discover that in the morning some kind of bites appeared on our bodies. We started to find out and once caught a bug at night. Such a disgusting creature, still fat, it’s clear that he’s pumped up some blood. I was hysterical, I went to live with a friend, and my husband called some services to poison everything. Now they don’t seem to be there, but I still check myself in the morning.”
Svetlana, Moscow
Each bug must feed on blood once every few days. Larvae need this for growth, and adult insects need it for reproduction. Their only food is human blood, which they suck by piercing the skin with a thin proboscis and getting to the blood vessel.
The photo below shows bed bug marks in the bed. Red dots indicate places where blood-sucking insects were accidentally crushed by a tossing and turning person:
This is interesting
Bed bugs are nocturnal, and they can only be found in an apartment during the day in exceptional cases. During daylight hours they hide in sofas, under mattresses, in household appliances, behind the baseboards and on bookshelves, and go hunting at about 2-3 am. Bedbugs are the most common insects found in furniture.
Bedbug bites and their consequences
Fleas: when they bite and how to deal with them
On a note
It was fleas and their hosts, rats, that became the cause of the extensive bubonic plague pandemic in the Middle Ages, during which almost a third of the European population died out.
They are quite similar to bedbug bites and can also form characteristic paths, only short ones.
The photo shows a flea on human skin:
These insects are clearly visible on white bedding, but it can be quite difficult to catch them: they jump so quickly that the jump itself is not noticeable at all.
Fleas need to be removed in two stages: first, they are poisoned from pets, and then from the entire apartment.
Sometimes fleas have to be poisoned again if the infestation of the premises is especially high.
Lice in bed are quite rare. For these insects, falling from the hair or body of a person is fatal - they are slow and rarely able to climb back (at the same time, they vitally need to feed on blood very often). Lice cannot be called typical bed blood-sucking insects.
Lice spend their entire lives on the head (head lice) or other hairy part of a person ( pubic lice). There are also linen lice that live in clothes, but today they are found only among tramps who very rarely change their clothes and never wash them.
Typically smaller in appearance and less painful than flea or bedbug bites, they can also be quite itchy because they are so numerous.
The photo shows nits in a child’s hair (lice eggs):
Cockroaches rarely bite humans. They are inhabitants of kitchens, feeding on crumbs from the table and leftover food in trash cans. Only with very abundant reproduction and with a lack of water, they can crawl onto the bed and gnaw the epidermis around the lips and nose of people. Today, similar situations sometimes occur in hostels.
Of course, cockroaches are not blood-sucking insects, so even if they bite, it’s completely different from the way fleas or bed bugs do.
In any case, if you are bitten by insects, their bites should be treated to reduce itching and prevent infection:
- bite sites are washed with soapy water
- the most painful bites are wiped with alcohol or alcohol tincture calendula or propolis
- Itching from bites can be reduced with Fenistil gel.
But if, after being bitten by blood-sucking insects, the temperature begins to rise and a characteristic rash appears on the skin, it is advisable to show the person to a doctor. An allergy to bites can have serious consequences, and even if at a particular moment it does not manifest itself very strongly, in the future the reaction to bites can be extremely acute.
We found out whether midges can bite in bed at night. It is worth taking a closer look at their habits and features. Unlike onion (fruit and other “food”) midges, biting midges are smaller, but their structure also resembles an ordinary fly. Midges do not hesitate to bite both animals and humans. If a mosquito bites a person immediately when it lands on the body, the midge can crawl on the skin for a long time, choosing a “tastier” place. In some regions, pests carry dangerous diseases.
Attention: If midges do not hover around food, do not try to get into the kitchen, but try to hide in the apartment during the day, at night they may well bite a person.
Fleas
Ground flea bites are very painful for humans and take almost a month to heal
Help: Sand (earthen) fleas sit in attics, basements and cellars, so those who live on the first and top floor or in a private house, it is worth checking the premises for the presence of these insects.
You should look for fleas in places where garbage accumulates, under rugs and rags, and in animal bedding. Insects come to a person’s bed at night, as well as in the evening, at dusk. Usually at night, bites occur on the back, neck, shoulders, and stomach. Fleas leave behind red spots with a bloody dot in the center. Sandy and earth fleas behave the same way - they drink blood at night, and it is almost impossible to catch them with your hands.
Mosquitoes
If insects bite at night, it could be mosquitoes that have simply flown into the window. In the warm season, when these pests breed abundantly not only near swamps and other bodies of water, in the forest, but also in the city, they try to fly into a person’s apartment “for dinner.” You may not feel the pain of a mosquito bite during a sound sleep, but you will certainly notice itchy spots on your body in the morning. The skin will itch for several days.
How can you tell if there are mosquitoes flying around your house? An annoying buzzing sound is the first sign of their appearance. Mosquitoes squeak in a special way, and it is unlikely that they can be confused with someone else. Only females drink blood to reproduce. Mosquitoes only live for a couple of days, but the harm from their presence in a person’s home and on the street is noticeable. Mosquitoes bite on any areas of the skin that are not covered by a blanket or clothing.
Attention: In warm countries or regions with a favorable climate, even mosquitoes and malaria mosquitoes can fly into a person’s home. If the former are dangerous due to powerful allergic reactions, then the latter are a source of dangerous infectious disease.
If you have to poison other blood-sucking insects with insecticides, you can protect yourself from mosquitoes using lavender oil, “Star” balm or special products that are sold in any store (they are applied to the body). Repellers based on ultrasound or smoke are also excellent against mosquitoes.
Head and pubic lice
Human lice love to settle on the hairy parts of the body - on the head or pubic area. They need this to attach their offspring - nits - to the hairs using a special adhesive substance. Lice do not live in bed, but constantly live on the person himself and regularly feast on his blood.
Linen lice
This type of lice is more unpleasant and dangerous than those described above. They bite a person for food, that is, they suck his blood, while they are able to carry infections - relapsing fever, typhus. Also, such lice cause severe allergic reactions with ulcers, redness, swelling, and itching.
Attention: Linen lice bite where blood vessels are located close to the skin - on the neck, arms, shoulders, stomach. It is useless to look for a pest on the head. A lice can live up to a month without blood, and starving it is almost impossible.
Pests must be controlled by treatment bedding and wash them in hot water. All linen should also be ironed with steam. The mattress should be sprayed special means, paying attention to folds and seams. We need to do the same in the apartment. general cleaning, and place lavender, wormwood, and tansy in secluded places in the bedroom.
What if it's bedbugs?
For comparison, it is worth noting exactly what bedbug bites look like, because they will be the most difficult to get rid of, and the damage from insects is the most significant. Bed bugs cause multiple bites, because they multiply very quickly. In the morning, up to 20 bites or more can be found on the body. They are small Pink colour, look like a spot from hives - a type of allergy.
If in the morning you find similar “paths” on your body, you should know that it is bedbugs that are biting you.
The bite of the insect itself is painless due to the introduction of an anesthetic into the skin. But their nymphs do not have such an anesthetic, so their bites are very sensitive. Experts usually say: if bedbugs appear in an apartment, sleep disturbances and complete exhaustion in the morning are guaranteed. There is only one conclusion: you need to find out exactly who bites in bed at night, and take all measures to completely get rid of the pests!
Of all the insects, bedbugs undoubtedly take first place in creating a feeling of discomfort. But there are other bloodsuckers besides bedbugs, which can bite a person in bed at night.
These 6 insects are the most commonly bitten
Fleas.
They are found mainly in rooms where, in addition to humans, there are also animals - cats, dogs, rats. Or in apartments that are located near wet basements. Fleas jump 1 meter in height. They bite people mainly on the legs. Moreover, they do not disdain either young or old people, causing terrible scabies. The bite sites are scratched until they bleed. Blisters take 2-3 weeks to heal.
Ordinary mosquitoes.
In the warm season, if there is a swampy area (lakes, forests) near your location, then mosquitoes will periodically dine on you. In addition to causing physical pain, mosquito bites will itch for several days. Plus a constant annoying buzzing sound.
Linen human lice.
They are carriers of dangerous diseases such as typhus and relapsing fever. They bite a person in order to drink blood. They also cause itching on the skin, an allergic reaction, redness, and small ulcers that may not heal for a long time.
Head lice.
They live mainly on the scalp of humans. Eating human blood. They are not carriers of dangerous diseases, but various infections can penetrate through wounds on the head.
Pubic louse.
Lives mainly on the pubis, genitals, and around the anus. They never live on the head. They feed on blood. If there is no food, they die within 24 hours. They are infected with a disease such as pediculosis pubis. They occur in people who are promiscuous.
Cootie.
Lives in human clothes. It is a close relative of the head louse. During the meal it comes out of the clothes and onto the body. He drinks blood and again hides in the seams of his clothes. Various types of infections can occur through wounds.
In addition to bedbugs, these insects can also bite you in bed at night
Mosquitoes.
But they bite if you visit the dense forests of the marshy areas of the Urals, Siberia. Mosquitoes are almost never found in apartments and houses. Bites are dangerous due to allergic reactions on the skin. Fighting them isn't that hard because you can see them. You can simply brush it off, or kill with your hand.
Vodni.
When you are relaxing on a river or lake, you are periodically bitten by large Flies, these are Vodni. After their bites, large blisters swell and itch. for a long time. Vodni are almost never found in apartments; they are rarely found in private houses, only if you are close to the forest.
Cockroaches.
Their goal is not blood, but soft spots on human skin, with which they satisfy hunger. They bite a person only if there is no other food available. They leave wounds that do not heal for a long time.
For comparison, you need to know about bedbug bites
Above we have given a list of insects that can bite you in bed at night, except for bedbugs. But how do you understand who bit you? To do this, you need to know about the bug bite - then you can compare it.
Before they drink blood, bedbugs release pain-relieving saliva, freeze 1 mm of your body, and then release an anticoagulant so that the blood does not clot quickly, making it easier to drink. After this they start lunch. Then they disappear safely. You start itching when the bedbugs are already hidden. That's why you don't see anyone at the crime scene. You take action after you have already suffered.
The harm from bedbugs is direct. This is a skin allergy that you can scratch until it bleeds, and the allergy may not go away for weeks. In extreme cases, from a large number of bites, anaphylactic shock can occur. Because of bedbugs, you periodically do not get enough sleep. What reduces immunity and performance. And all the resulting health problems.
During their journey through your body, in search of thin skin, bedbugs can make about 20 punctures in the skin in one night. Some scientists claim that bedbugs can infect humans with blood-borne diseases.
In general, there are only problems.
In the century high technology humanity is on the threshold greatest discoveries. We invented the wheel a long time ago and conquered space. And in general, we consider ourselves a civilized society that has radically changed its habits, lifestyle, and worldview compared to past centuries.
There are several types of domestic enemies that spoil our lives and normal life. healthy sleep. The most common among them are bedbugs. Otherwise they are called bed bugs. As the name suggests, they live closer to sleeping place person. They go out hunting at night and stick to the most delicate areas of the skin.
Treatment methods are simple:
- lotions from soda solution;
- tinctures of medicinal plants;
- alcohol lotions.
Unfortunately, this is far from full list our enemies. Who can bite in bed other than bedbugs at night?
You need to know the enemy by sight
If, when you wake up in the morning, you find bite marks on your body, you need, first of all, to determine who was the culprit of this disgrace. After all, you can look for methods of dealing with uninvited guests only by finding out what can bite in bed at night other than bedbugs.
Our most obvious enemy, and the easiest to detect, is the mosquito. Only female mosquitoes bite; they need blood to lay eggs. You can find out about the presence of an annoying neighbor by a characteristic squeak. A mosquito bite can be easily treated with means to eliminate itching, ointments, and gels for insect bites. If the bites found on the body were left by a mosquito, you can breathe easy. These are the most harmless bloodsuckers. It’s easier to get rid of them than the rest of the enemy;
Fleas
Domestic fleas - these creatures are faithful companions of our smaller brothers: cats, dogs, rodents. Their advantage is that they attack humans extremely rarely. Mostly they bite the legs. The reason for eating your blood may be the absence of an animal in the room, or a high concentration of fleas in one place. They live under bedding for animals, less often in other places of housing;
Lice
Lice is such a short, capacious word that, when pronounced, your head begins to itch nervously. In any case, for those “lucky” ones who had the chance to meet them. There are several types of lice:
- Linen;
- Clothes;
- head;
- pubic.
The names of these species indicate their habitat. Lice feed on human blood. And, unfortunately, they can transmit diseases such as typhus and relapsing fever. And pubic lice, among other things, can also cause family troubles and conflicts. Lice bites cause burning, itching, redness,...
Rare, but accurate
- Cockroaches. Faithful neighbors in polluted, unkempt residential areas, as well as in areas with large accumulations of food products. Fortunately, cases of attacks on humans are so rare that these red “friends” should be the last thing suspected of bites;
- Vodni and mosquitoes. Insects that live in forests, ponds and swampy plains. They penetrate into housing extremely rarely and only if it is located near these places;
- Malaria mosquitoes. They differ from ordinary ones in having more elongated hind limbs and longer antennae. They can spread malaria, which is very dangerous for humans.
The last drop of patience will burst if a person falls asleep tired after work and someone starts to bite him. Who most often interferes with a person’s life? Some insects simply bite, and mosquitoes first buzz around your ear. Choose a tasty place. Sometimes you want to say: “Bite quickly and fly away, let me sleep.” Who bites in bed at night? Mosquitoes, fleas, lice and bedbugs. Blood-sucking insects Not only do they leave marks, cause discomfort, but they also carry various dangerous diseases that require expensive treatment.
In this article we will look into distinctive features bites of various insects, so that you can independently identify the pest and take appropriate measures, if necessary.
Mosquitoes are dipterous, long-whiskered insects that are found everywhere. Its main victim is man.
Females attack and suck blood, because the jaws of males allow them to feed only on plant nectar. Females cannot live without blood; they need it for normal life and reproduction. Rapidly laying 180-200 eggs per day, the females immediately forget about them. And after a week, adult blood-sucking individuals are formed from these eggs.
Mosquitoes sense their prey from several tens of meters away, but they react more to bright light.
Interesting!
If you turn on a lamp in one room and go to sleep in another, the females will rush towards the bright light. Males will fly next to a sleeping person, buzz, but will not bite.
The characteristic squeak that mosquitoes emit is a language of communication that appears from the movement of their wings. Females squeak more subtly, because their wings are more tender. The younger the female mosquito, the thinner her squeak, this allows male mosquitoes to navigate when choosing a partner.
Considering that mosquitoes have been around for over 40 million years, it is impossible to outsmart them. They are everywhere, on all continents, and you won’t be able to escape from them either.
Mosquitoes prefer damp, warm climates. They have thermoreceptors, so they accurately determine by skin temperature the place where the blood vessel is located and where it is better to bite.
Some types of mosquitoes carry dangerous infections. There is no pain during the bite, because Mosquito saliva contains painkillers and blood thinners. Itchy, painful, red-pink blisters appear in the area where the mosquito has bitten. Mosquito saliva is an external allergen, so a reaction appears at the site of the bite. A mosquito bite blister resembles a flea blister. But after the mosquito, the pain and itching are more pronounced.
Having sucked blood, the mosquito becomes heavy, lazy, and easier to kill than a hungry one.
You can fight mosquitoes at home special devices, devices, fumigators. In open areas, mosquitoes can only be controlled with the help of professional pest control.
The most dangerous carrier of infection is the malaria mosquito, which is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most dangerous insect on the planet. It flies at a speed of about 4 km/h. It has infrared vision and easily finds its prey in pitch darkness. They can travel up to hundreds of kilometers to catch their prey.
In addition to bedbugs, in houses where pets or mice live, rats also appear.
An increase in the standard of living in apartments and comfortable houses has led to an increase in the number of rodents. In houses without a garbage chute, rats have to move across open areas to get from the basements of the houses to the garbage dumps. And in houses with such a power source, they live and eat in the same place, there is no need to run anywhere. One garbage disposal can feed about 50 rats. The house mouse loves to live in warmth, so it uses human housing, bakery, and confectionery production for living.
In 100% of cases, fleas live on rodents, which are all infected. They can carry dangerous helminths: worms, yersiniosis.
The flea uses rodents and animals as transport, and humans as a source of food. She jumps onto clothes, underwear, and bites the legs and other exposed parts of the body in bed at night, causing terrible itching. Can jump more than a meter in height, i.e. a distance of 160 times its length. If you freeze a flea, it will fall asleep and can live like this in its sleep for 12 months. After awakening, he will lead a normal life.
Fleas can bite any person, regardless of social status and origin. King of France Louis XIV, who defeated Spain and Austria, could not cope with fleas, introduced a post at court - a servant to catch fleas.
The most fastidious of all blood-sucking insects is the wingless linen louse, which is a type body lice. They cannot live more than 3 days without food.
The female is larger than the male in size. They live in folds of clothing and collars, because they cannot stay on the surface of the body or on hair for a long time. After a louse bite, an itchy area appears, which becomes inflamed, suppurates, and even develops furunculosis.
Nowadays, they live on people who suffer from alcoholism, lead an antisocial and dirty lifestyle, and travel next to us on public transport. Lice love unsanitary conditions where many people live and where little attention is paid to hygiene procedures. A large surge in pediculosis is observed during wars, local conflicts, after earthquakes and other disasters accompanied by the destruction of housing and deterioration of living conditions.
May also bite at night bed bug. arranged in a row at equal distances from each other along one line.
They hide in the crevices of the baseboard, the wooden joints of the bed, and the folds of the sofa.
The reigning time of the bedbug is the night period from 3 to 6. Before the bedbug bites, its saliva numbs the area into which it will penetrate. Therefore, the moment of the bite itself remains unnoticed by a person. Bedbugs go hunting in groups of several individuals, so a person has numerous, nearby bite paths on the legs and other parts of the body.
There are many myths about bedbugs:
- Bedbugs and cockroaches do not live together. It’s absurd – they live in the same territory because they eat different foods;
- A bug needs to bite a person every day. Misconception - the bug eats once every 3 days, the duration of the meal is 3 minutes. In the experiment, the life expectancy of a hungry bug was 1 year;
- Bedbugs come into the house along with old furniture. They often live in cracks, baseboards, air ducts and move from one tenant to another apartment building to another.
Interesting!
- The female bedbug lays up to 500 eggs the size of the eye of a needle in beds. The lifespan of one bug is no more than 1 year;
- They pass on the experience gained during their lives. For example, a generation of bedbugs that survive poisoning leaves a generation that is immune to the same means.
- at temperatures below 15 degrees.
- A bug bite in itself is not dangerous. But the bedbug's saliva causes an allergic reaction; when you scratch the bites, they become inflamed and suppurate.
