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Bed Bugs are thirsty species living on this planet to suck the blood out of you. These pests can trouble you a lot especially during the night. Their bites are quite irritating for that even leads to rashes and allergy. They feed themselves from the blood of warm-blooded animals too. Bed Bugs are of small size and oval in shape. You can notice their body colored in brown. Moreover, being the victim of their bite can result in making you ill with fever. We are going to teach plenty of things about Bed bugs in this content. You will be amazed by the facts presented here by us. The primary answer to their survival in water is also mentioned.
Some basic facts about bed bugs
-Bed Bugs can don’t need blood to survive for more than 6 months. They can hide in many places. One cannot spot them. The fact is they are everywhere around us in hospitals, apartments, and wherever a human live.
– Even the temperature of -122 degree will not be able to affect Bed bugs.
– During the daytime, they are hidden in mattresses, suitcases, picture frames. However, due to our habit of exhaling carbon dioxide during the night will bring them closer to you.
-The saliva of a bed bug contains an anesthetic which promotes the blood flow to the place where it bites. This way, you don’t wake up from sleep when they are biting your skin.
– Their body size varies between the ranges of 5-7 mm.
-Bed bugs spend a short period being attached physically to the hosts in their life.
– They are good at crawling but unable to fly because of the vestigial wings.
– The maximum distance that they cover to reach the host is not more than 30 feet. Some of them are extraordinary who will cross more distance.
– Nymphs lose their skins around five times in their life before becoming mature. Every time they shed their skin, blood is essential for them
Bedbug endurance abilities
Whether they can survive in water or not, this depends on a few factors like time, depth of the water, type of the water and its temperature. Encounter all those reasons that influence their survival. No doubt, Bed bugs are experts in surviving but you can kill them with some techniques. It’s very hard to stop them from living with easy methods. Some factors responsible for contributing to their survival include the following-
Time
Bed bugs can survive in water if they are under water for a very short period. Most of them will survive but few die after 24 hours of being in the water. They are considered stubborn. Some experiments even showed that they live for a year without being fed. This surprising fact means it’s hard to determine the exact survival time in the water.
Water can be either boiled or hot, salty or sweet, and so on. Bed Bugs have the potential to survive by gaining atmospheric air that they can also get without floating. Bed bugs can float on the water when they are not fed. The surface tension of the water helps them in floating or else, their chances of drowning are high. The absence of surface tension or increased weight of the bed bug will not let it float. This is the case when some of them may die. Still, a tiny fraction of them will thrive even after being in the water for a day. The temperature of the water is extremely important. It will determine if the bed bugs will die or stubborn enough to live again.
Duration as we said, matters a lot for their survival. Unless and until they have access to atmospheric air, Bed bugs will thrive.
Cold Water
It is nowhere mentioned that cold water can kill Bed bugs. However, drowning them into the cold water change this scenario. Washing your bed in the washing machine with cold water can show no result. If you somehow increase your washing machine power to let it work for 24 hours then the probability of killing bed bugs is high. Otherwise, it’s impossible to use cold water to kill them. You can let them suffer for a while only and nothing else.
Hot
Boiling water is regarded as the best way to kill some insects. Many insects can die due to this. You just need to splash hot water on them and wait for a few seconds. It’s not right to be kind to everything when they become a problem for you. Keep them away from your life. Boiling water is dangerous to use for you. However, do you know how can you kill Bed Bugs without seeing them? This is something difficult to find them.
Swimming
This is great to know Bed Bugs don’t have the capability of swimming in the water. You can experiment to check this fact. There is a 100% chance to find them drowning even in a small amount of water. Water enters into the pores of their body. This makes them impossible to inhale air. Even after going through all these, don’t expect them to die in a day. They need air like we do to thrive in different environments. In addition, being a lightweight creature only permits them to float.
Showers
Do you like to shower daily? Maybe you do and many of us like but Bed Bugs hate it. Taking your bed under shower will force them to escape it but they will go and hide somewhere else. It will be stupid to think that you can kill them in the shower. A small crack in the wall, towel, you don’t know where they decide to hide. So, don’t be foolish to try killing Bed bugs in the shower.
Laundry and detergent
A washing machine is such a place where Bed bugs struggle to survive. Water, temperature, and soap together act as a weapon to kill bed bugs. Their tolerance level for heat is extremely low. You have to let them go through several cycles to kill. According to research, all types of bed bugs can be killed by heating the water for up to 140F. Under 30 minutes, over 90% of them die. This can kill the eggs too. Reducing the temperature to 100F kills only nymphs and adults but not eggs.
Rain
Try as much as you can but you can’t stop them from hiding. In the rainy season, you will probably spend time at home with them without knowing they are around you. When you are sleeping, one of them will come and bite you. Rainy season produces no effect on Bed Bugs. Summer is the only season when they face a problem as the sun rays reach them. Keep in mind that they are extremely smart at hiding so this is also not ample. Yes, they can survive in the rainy season.
Treatment solutions for bed bugs
Bed bugs are tough and difficult to get rid of. Some tips for killing bed bugs are as follows,
-Find all the infested areas in your home. It’s quite daunting but you have to do anyhow. Your problem will increase if they will start to reproduce. If you can’t do then hire professional bed bugs inspectors.
-Wherever possible, use the vacuum to limit their crawling. Don’t let them escape to any other place. Suck out all the contents and throw them out of your home. Also, clean the vacuum properly to avoid entering of Bed bugs again in your home. They only like to live indoors.
-Cleaning furniture is the hardest thing while removing bed bugs. If it seems possible to clean the furniture, just throw it away.
-Don’t carry any item from the infested room to the clean one. This will spread them everywhere in your home. Books and magazines are their favorite place to hide so clean them too.
-Remember two things that intense cold temperature and extreme heat works. The latter one is more effective so try it in the place where they may be living.
-Perform regular home cleaning with chemicals or non-chemicals depending on your choice. Washing clothes and bedding in hot water is one the best method to kill them. Make sure to wash for more than 30 minutes.
-Call an expert pest control professional if things are not in control of you. If you haven’t cleaned your room for a long time, there can be hundreds of Bed bugs hiding.
Conclusion
Water is effective in killing insects including Bed Bugs too but only when used in the right way. Adding a substance to it is necessary for ending their survival. If you are planning something like destroying their generation then you have to do regular cleaning of bed sheets, pillow covers, picture frames, furniture, etc. Keep your family away from Bed bugs bite by following a few measures and steps.
Reference: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/top-10-myths-about-bedbugs/
