Effective ways to get rid of bed bugs on the couch, folk methods
Home bugs can deliver a lot of trouble. They can get into the living room in a variety of ways. Having settled at home, harmful creatures disrupt the sleep of its inhabitants, leave bites on their bodies and spread the infection. Children are especially affected. In such cases, you should as soon as possible study the information on how to get rid of bed bugs on the couch, and proceed with active actions against pests. After processing the furniture with special tools, it is imperative to prevent re-infection.
The reasons for the appearance of bugs
Bed bugs settle on the couch for a variety of reasons. Especially often they penetrate from not too neat neighbors. Parasites spread through ventilation openings and ducts, interroom cables, cracks in walls and corners.
The main reasons for their settlement are the following factors:
- Moving to unsanitary housing.
- Buying used furniture.
- Receiving a gift of old books.
- Visit to clothing stores.
- Acquisition of used items.
- Visit random people.
- Overnight in untidy hotels.
Once in the house, bedbugs most often choose a sofa or other upholstered furniture as the habitat of their colony. Here they find themselves suitable food.
After the insect is saturated, he no longer needs to hide in shelter. The bug simply creeps into an inconspicuous corner, for example, folds in the upholstery, indentations, corners, clicks, drawers and other compartments.
It is necessary to clearly determine where the bugs appear on the couch. Sometimes people buy a used sofa or inherit it from relatives. And later they discover that it is teeming with parasites. Another unpleasant option is the purchase of new furniture that has been contaminated in the warehouse, in the store or in contact with an unhygienic visitor.
In order to understand that such pests were wound up at home, you need to imagine what a sofa bug looks like. They have a flattened body of a tiny size, not exceeding 3-8 mm. In its shape, the insect looks like a bone from an apple. It differs in a light brown color.
A hungry parasite usually has a round shape. His brother, who got drunk with blood, is almost doubled in volume. The body becomes oval.
Such insects have no wings. A distinctive feature is the paired appendages on the extreme segment of the trunk. They also have long antennae.
In order to understand that a bug has gotten in the couch, you need to have an idea about his eggs. They spread in the same place where adult individuals live and have no more than 0.5 mm in length, located near the main insect colony.
Parasites leave numerous marks on the body of the victims. When they pierce the skin of the sleeping person with their jaws, they simultaneously inject a special secret. It contains painkillers, so a person does not feel anything.
Especially aggressive are the larvae. For their growth, they need to eat hard, so people get up every morning completely exhausted.
Bites of sofa bugs can be located on different parts of the body. They are usually found on the stomach, limbs, back, torso, or neck of a person. The face of bed bugs less often. The insect gets drunk with blood, and in the morning the victim begins to itch. He notices a scattering of red dots on the body that itch, become infected, and become inflamed. They are especially noticeable on the thin skin of the child.
How to detect pests
The identification of pests is an essential condition for controlling them. Before choosing a remedy against parasites, you need to know for sure whether there are bugs in the couch. There are a number of signs of their presence:
- itching, aggravating approximately once every 7 days;
- skin rash located in the paths;
- exacerbation of allergies;
- sexually mature individuals remaining after night among the bedding;
- a scattering of black marks on the sheets;
- traces of blood on nightwear;
- specific smell.
For those who are interested in how to determine if there are bedbugs in the sofa, there is one simple tip. Waking up in the middle of the night, you need to suddenly light a bright light. Then insects that do not have time to scatter can be seen with the naked eye. From about 3 to 4 hours they are at the peak of their activity.
The first step is to carefully inspect the bed. In the daytime, sleeping furniture needs to be completely disassembled and explored every corner. Even if no bed bugs were found, the bed or sofa should be thoroughly washed and scalded with boiling water. After the furniture is assembled. If the product is already old, then it is better to just throw it away and buy a new sleeping bed.
Among other recommendations on how to find out if there are bedbugs in the sofa, the most common is the following: it is necessary to examine the nearby space. First of all, you need to look in such places:
- among the curtains;
- in the corners;
- behind the carpets;
- behind the baseboard;
- under the wallpaper.
It is in these secluded corners that unpleasant neighbors like to hide. After the presence of insects in the sofa is fixed, you should think about how to get rid of bugs at home.
Ways to remove insects
The most effective methods of controlling bugs are presented in the table.
Method | Essence | Efficiency |
Insecticides | Quickly and reliably destroy sexually mature individuals, affecting their physiological processes. | 95 % |
Folk methods | Most often, insects are simply driven away, but they can also completely exterminate them. Usually considered a temporary measure. | 25 % |
External influence | Freezing, steaming, Ural federal district. | 75 % |
People who are faced with this kind of trouble are interested in what to do with bedding, night pajamas, shirts and bathrobes, what to do when bedbugs are started, what steps to take to handle all of these things. They must be washed in the car in the most hot water. Bedspreads, curtains and pillows should be dry cleaned.
Next, you need to process all possible nests:
- upholstery;
- bedspreads;
- other upholstered furniture;
- chest of drawers;
- shelving.
There are many ways to conduct processing. The main ones will be considered below.
Tools at hand
For starters, you can apply what is easy to find at hand. Bedbugs are afraid of exposure to high and low temperatures. Therefore, to combat these creatures, the following units are perfectly suitable: hot iron, hot air gun, steam generator. Hot steam treatment, ironing things at maximum speed will help to destroy bedbugs and disinfect clothes and underwear. You can also use a vacuum cleaner to eliminate parasites. In the cold season, it is advisable to freeze the room for several hours at a temperature of 10 degrees below zero.
Folk methods
Processing a sofa from bedbugs at home also involves the use of folk methods. Proven means is chamomile, vinegar essence or turpentine. Actively used adhesive tape for flies, aromatic oils. It is generally accepted that bedbugs do not like the smell of tansy. Therefore, the plant is recommended to be laid out around the room in all secluded places, as well as around the perimeter of the bed, sofa, under the mattress.
Chemicals
Most often, the detection of bugs occurs already when the whole apartment is teeming with them. They breed with great speed. Many residents are at a loss, they do not know what to do if bedbugs appeared on the couch, how to get them out permanently, so that after reorganization they do not leave individual individuals in the house.
To combat parasites, special chemicals are most often chosen, since they have the highest efficiency. Before applying the solutions, stick the widest tape to the frame of the sofa. When the furniture is processed, the insects will not be able to escape far, as they fall into the trap. After the tape is removed and burned.
It is necessary to carefully examine the baseboard, floor, wallpaper, lighting, walls, electrical outlets. All damage and tears must be securely repaired. Hard-to-reach corners need to be processed.
The most effective means to help get bedbugs out of the couch on their own are insecticides. Specialized supermarkets offer special drugs against insects. They are accompanied by detailed instructions for their use, which must be strictly followed. The best remedy for sofa bugs is selected individually. The most effective are:
- Delta Zone;
- Dichlorvos;
- Karbofos;
- Combat
- Xulat Micro;
- Microphos;
- Executioner;
- Cucaracha;
- Raptor
- Clean house;
- Riapan
- Diatomite;
- Get.
They process the sofa, as well as all the suspicious places.
Features of processing the sofa and security measures
When furniture is sprayed, it is especially worth considering the construction details, bedspreads, upholstery, corners or drawers. Furniture must be disassembled, all internal surfaces must be disinfected.
Self-treatment of a sofa from bedbugs requires temporary removal of children, pregnant women, old people and pets from the processed dwelling. They are allowed to return only after 3-4 hours of ventilation. The air must be completely cleaned from the presence of any substances.
Previously, you should protect your eyes with glasses, and your hands with rubber gloves. Respiratory organs also need to be protected from inhalation of the concentrated substance. After it is distributed over all surfaces, it is necessary to leave time for its impact.
Prevention
In order for the sofa bug to not re-populate in the apartment, it is necessary to apply preventive measures. Wet cleaning of the entire apartment should be carried out. All surfaces should be washed and then sprayed with soap and water, ammonia, chloramine or bleach.
After everything dries up, you need to walk around the apartment and things with a vacuum cleaner. It is advisable to take the garbage bag to the trash. Any cleaning items are also best discarded. If they are still needed, they must be thoroughly cleaned and left to ventilate on the balcony or on the street.
You should thoroughly find out the reasons for the appearance of bugs in the couch. Then you need to walk along all the places where they were discovered, as well as suspicious of their new appearance. It is necessary to eliminate all the risks of the re-emergence of parasites. Slots must be sealed, wallpaper glued, and all tears and cracks sealed.
It is important to analyze the situation, to understand why bugs start up in the sofa, and prevent their new invasion. It is required to minimize the use of heavy bedspreads, fleecy carpets, rugs and furniture covers. They should be regularly vacuumed, shaken and knocked out. Sockets must be loosened and cleaned. If insect nests are found, the devices must be replaced with new ones.
If you responsibly treat the appearance of bugs, then there is a chance to get rid of them forever. You should know exactly how to determine their presence, find the nests, and then apply all measures to destroy them. Subsequently, it is necessary to constantly monitor the possible ways of settling insects and neutralize their potential danger.