How to get rid of bed bugs in a sofa

Bedbugs come across a person's eyes much more often than he can imagine. The same water strider, gracefully gliding through the water, refers to bedbugs. Didn't you know? It's true, there are a lot of bedbugs in nature! But most often a person directly encounters two species: a harmless predator, popularly called the “American stink bug,” and a dangerous parasite – the bed bug.

The photo shows a bedbug

The predator is not at all dangerous to humans. Moreover, if he accidentally finds himself in an apartment, he will strive to be released, since he cannot survive in a human home. But the bed bug, which has other names (linen bug, furniture bug, sofa bug) is not only an unpleasant neighbor, but also an extremely dangerous one. The food for these insects is human blood. Bed bugs not only bite painfully, leaving marks in the form of reddish spots all over the body, but also carry various diseases, in particular skin infections. Insect excrement can cause allergic reactions.

The question arises: where do bed bugs come from and how to get rid of them?

What do couch bugs look like?

Sofa bugs are synanthropic insects; the appearance of a sofa bug directly depends on the amount of blood they drink. A hungry bug is completely flat, but when saturated with blood it becomes convex and darker.

Description of the sofa bug

• flat body, oblate
• longitudinal size up to 9 millimeters
• color from light translucent to brownish-brown and almost black
• clear division into abdomen and head.

The appearance of a sofa bug and its size and color directly depend on satiety; flat, hungry furniture bugs can easily hide in the thinnest crevices of a sofa or bed.
A well-fed bedbug is easier to notice and crush. This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Where do sofa bugs come from in apartments?

Bedbugs don’t just appear and start out of nowhere. In order for furniture (sofa bedbugs) to appear in an apartment, a confluence of unfavorable circumstances is necessary. Which we don’t always notice in time, and if we do notice, it’s too late, when bedbugs have already appeared in the apartment. Where do bedbugs and sofa bugs come from:

• From the neighbors. If your neighbors have bedbugs and they don’t do anything to get rid of them, then sooner or later you will have bedbugs too. Couch bugs migrate in search of human blood and can crawl long distances in a short period of time.
• Brought from a public place. Sofa bugs live not only in apartments, they can also be in cinemas, hostels, public transport, hotels, and furniture warehouses
• Brought by the guests or by the guests themselves
• You can also bring a sofa bug into your apartment from a trip.
• Used furniture is often the reason for the appearance of sofa bugs in the apartment. Especially old sofas, beds, wooden objects.

Signs of infection

You can determine the presence of parasites in a sofa with the naked eye. If, after laying out the furniture, you observe the chaotic scurrying of small insects, there can be no doubt: you have bedbugs. In addition, the presence of pests in the home can be indicated by “paths” on the body of reddish spots - bite marks. Some people do not feel pain and sleep peacefully while the parasites feed on their blood, and some may wake up from a bite and catch the enemy in the act.

Bedbugs love to live in the upholstery of the sofa

How to get rid of sofa bugs

In order to remove bed bugs from your apartment quickly and with a guarantee, it is better to contact our disinfection center for professional disinsection. A pest control specialist from our company will sanitize the premises using the most effective and modern products and equipment. It is worth intensively examining the sleeping areas; getting rid of bedbugs is difficult due to the soft upholstery and the complexity of the furniture design. Only a professional can deal with sofa bedbugs. You should not resort to independent and traditional methods. They are not suitable for removing sofa bugs from the apartment.

killing bedbugs with cold fog

extermination of bedbugs with cold fog You can get rid of sofa bedbugs only by carrying out a set of pest control measures in Moscow. To order sanitary treatment against insects, simply call the number indicated on the website or leave a request. Our specialists will provide professional consultation and pest control in your apartment with a guarantee of complete destruction of insects in Moscow.

Traditional methods of getting rid of insects

Getting rid of bedbugs at home can be done using folk advice. Do not think that in modern times these methods are not effective; in some cases they can be superior to some chemicals. It is worth noting that the outbreak cannot be completely removed with the help of strong odors. Yes, the effect will be visible for some time, but then the bedbugs will come again, having gotten used to it and overcoming their hostility.

The best method for removing uninvited guests is freezing temperatures. If this misfortune appears in your sofa, and you have the opportunity to take it out into the cold, do it immediately. At a temperature of -20 degrees they die safely. The second option is steam treatment. If the furniture upholstery can withstand high temperatures without significant damage, then feel free to start cleaning it. It is considered even more effective than frost removal, because when frozen, some individuals can simply hibernate, but wake up after getting into more comfortable conditions. Treat the surface of the sofa for a long time, and preferably several times, to be completely sure of the result.

Prices for exterminating sofa bedbugs

Folk remedies for killing parasites

From the many existing ones, it is very difficult to choose the most effective method of exterminating insects. Often, domestic bugs are expelled using folk remedies. Traditional methods involve the use of aromatic herbal infusions or bouquets.

Domestic bugs do not like the smell of chamomile, calamus, tansy, wormwood and wild rosemary. Fresh cut plants are laid out in places where insects accumulate. Dry herb loses its aroma, so you need to constantly ensure that the required concentration is maintained in the room.

This technique is complemented by wiping areas where bedbugs accumulate, furniture, and floors with herbal infusions with the addition of salt. Also, rooms infested with insects are fumigated with smoke from smoldering aromatic dry plants.

Furniture bugs and sofa bugs are difficult to remove using this method. The aroma only temporarily dulls the reproduction and active activity of insects, only some individuals die. It does not affect bedbug larvae.

The above plants, not counting chamomile, are poisonous; a strong concentration of aromas can have a bad effect on people's health, so the premises must be treated without the presence of residents.

Handy chemicals for killing bedbugs

Bedbugs are sensitive to pungent odors, but their complete destruction from exposure to odors does not occur; you can only achieve the expulsion of bedbugs yourself. Bedbugs do not like the smells of acetone, vinegar, ammonia, kerosene, transformer oil, and turpentine.

This technique also does not affect bedbug larvae.

Temperature effect on bedbugs

What to do if bedbugs are infested in the bed, bedbugs are found in the bed? How to get bedbugs out of a sofa? The answer to these questions lies only in a little trick. Bedbugs are very afraid of low and high temperatures, daylight, they die at -18°C and at + 30°C. Consequently, beds, sofas and bedding can be treated with hot steam, fried in the sun, doused with boiling water, treated with a hot iron, and placed in the cold for several days.

Since bedbugs in a mattress - sofa or bed - tend to settle under the cover, it should be removed and boiled, and the surface of the mattress should be heated as much as possible. The ends, seams, folds, and edgings need to be treated especially carefully with hot tools.

Furniture bugs that have settled in the ends of furniture are killed by the hot air of a hair dryer.

Toxic chemicals for killing bedbugs

The most difficult thing to fight against insects is if bedbugs nest in furniture. Furniture bugs die from exposure to toxic chemicals. An effective way to get rid of bedbugs in a sofa, bed, cabinets, chests of drawers is to treat the cabinet surfaces with special means. These can be powders (Nopin, Riopan), aerosols and sprays (Dichlorvos, Reid), liquids (Lakterin, Primadid, Foxide). Bedbugs are very sensitive to the substance karbofos, which is included in many chemicals.

All parts of the furniture are subject to treatment - ends, pallets, doors, back walls, internal shelves, as well as additionally window sills, floors in all rooms, ventilation holes.

If bed bugs are found in an apartment, this is not a reason for frustration. There is no need to search hard for the reasons for this undesirable phenomenon. You should use one of the methods described above to combat insects and clear your home of uninvited guests.

Well, if there are personal reasons why independent control of household parasites is not possible, you can always use the services of a special residential disinfection service.

How to withdraw: effective methods

In recent years, the list of methods to combat these arthropods has expanded significantly. For example, effective insecticides have appeared that can kill insects in a short time. However, classic, proven methods should not be discounted either. In order for sofa bugs to disappear forever, you should treat your home according to all the rules.

How to properly treat a sofa

It is no coincidence that bed bugs are sometimes called couch bugs. It is in these upholstered furniture products that insects infest most often.

The process of removing bedbugs from a sofa has a number of features:

1. insects feel comfortable in cramped spaces, so the ideal place for them to live is seams, folds, corners. Bedbugs can also settle on the back wall of furniture.
2. The sofa must be processed from all sides, lifting, unfolding, moving it away from the wall.
3. Particular attention should be paid to furniture drawers, if any. The bedding that is stored in them should be removed and subjected to heat treatment.

It is important to remember that bedbugs can nest not only inside the sofa.

Therefore, in order to permanently eliminate insects, you should also walk through other potentially dangerous places.

Mechanical method

This method is quite labor-intensive and ineffective. Before getting rid of furniture bugs, you should determine their nesting sites, walk through them with a bottle, manually collecting arthropods and their larvae. With this method of processing, there is a high probability of missing a couple of insects, which will begin to actively reproduce and quickly organize a new colony.

Vacuuming

This method is less labor-intensive, but more effective than the previous one. A huge plus for the squeamish – you won’t have to touch the sofa bugs with your hands. It is enough to go over all the seams and folds with a narrow nozzle. Before getting rid of bedbugs in the sofa, you should disassemble the furniture and move it away from the wall. The bag from the vacuum cleaner must be thrown away immediately so that insects cannot crawl around the room.

Temperature treatment

Treatment with hot water or steam is another effective method of getting rid of bedbugs. A temperature of 50 0C is already destructive for these insects. You can kill bedbugs using a steam cleaner. To do this, you should go over all the folds and creases. Covers for removable elements (sideboards, pillows) must be removed and washed. You can also pour boiling water over the seams and nesting areas, after making sure that such a procedure will not harm the furniture.

These insects cannot tolerate low temperatures either. In winter, you can put your furniture outside, and within a few hours the sofa bugs will die. After a week, the procedure must be repeated - during this period, new individuals will hatch from eggs that are resistant to cold. It is advisable that the temperature outside is below -150C.

Treating the sofa and other surfaces with an insecticide

This is one of the most effective and modern methods of combating these arthropods. Finding something to treat furniture against bedbugs will not be particularly difficult - stores selling household chemicals and gardening supplies offer a wide range of modern insecticides.

Processing is carried out according to the following scheme:

1. buy insecticide. Since upholstered furniture will have to be treated, it is important that the chemicals do not leave traces on the upholstery. It would be good if the cylinder had a comfortable, long nozzle that would help penetrate even remote places.
2. Clear the room of foreign objects, dishes, and food. It is important to ensure that items removed from the treatment area are free of parasites.
3. Soft things that can serve as a place for bloodsuckers to live (toys, tablecloths, curtains, blankets, pillows, etc.) are taken away and washed at the highest possible temperatures.
4. Pets, including reptiles and fish, are removed from the treatment area.
5. Wear PPE (gloves, respirator, goggles, closed clothing).
6. They take things to the center of the room and stick adhesive tape around the perimeter so that the insects cannot run away.
7. The concentrated product is diluted according to the instructions. Treatment is carried out sequentially, starting with large clusters of sofa bugs. To enhance the effect, furniture can be wrapped in film and left for several hours.
8. Carrying out general cleaning.

Despite the fact that sofas and other sleeping places are favorite places for parasites to settle, they can nest under wallpaper, behind baseboards, in sockets, and behind paintings. Therefore, all potentially dangerous places should be treated, and not just those where insects were found.

Effective drugs include the following: “Combat”, “Foresight”, “Executioner”, “Insecticide”, “Tetrix”, etc.

Professional Services

To treat premises, you can contact special services whose scope of activity includes disinfestation, deratization, and disinfection. In the arsenal of professional craftsmen there are powerful remedies that will help remove sofa parasites once and for all. The main disadvantage of such services is the price for their services, which may seem too high to clients. But specialists carry out comprehensive treatment of the room, often providing a guarantee that bedbugs will not reappear in the sofa.

Folk remedies

A homeowner who doesn’t know how to get bedbugs out of a sofa on his own will probably come up with the idea of ​​using folk remedies. It is well known that couch bugs cannot tolerate the smell of tansy, so they try to stay away from this plant. You can also drive insects out of their homes using vinegar or a mixture of turpentine and laundry soap. True, the specific aroma will not only repel parasites, but will also create a certain discomfort for humans. In addition, the explosive mixture can leave stains on the upholstery of the sofa.

Tansy or wormwood flowers, placed under the bed or on the bed, can repel insects for a couple of days. When hungry, the bloodsuckers will overcome their hostility and go on the attack again.

How to find bedbugs in furniture

Before taking decisive measures to destroy bedbugs, you first need to independently determine whether they are bedbugs at all.

The following signs will help with this:

• Bites . Bedbugs, unlike mosquitoes, bite systemically. The first sign that there are hordes of bedbugs in your furniture is “tracks” of bites on the body, since a bedbug can feed several times during the night (read about the distinctive features of bites here);
• Waste products . If small black dots appear under the furniture, similar to lumps of dirt, then this indicates that parasites have settled there;
• Smell . Bedbugs smell of almonds and raspberries; this smell is probably familiar to summer residents and gardeners. If the inside of the house smells like that, then a huge number of bedbugs have accumulated.

Finding bedbugs themselves in furniture is also not difficult; just remove the upholstery of the sofa, or take it apart.

Bedbugs are similar to fat cockroaches, only smaller and without wings. Therefore, if you see such insects in furniture, then you definitely have bedbugs. And we must fight them.

Bed bugs resemble fat cockroaches, but they are smaller

Reasons for the appearance of bedbugs in the sofa

Insects such as bedbugs often choose their refuge in the sofa. It’s more convenient for them to live, eat, and reproduce there. Parasites feel extremely comfortable in this upholstered furniture, since it is dark and the temperature is constantly maintained warm. Namely, these conditions are necessary for them to continue normal life.

Another reason why bedbugs choose the sofa is open access to sleeping people. They act as a source of food for insects. Parasites feed at night, so they choose places where their movement in the dark will not be noticeable. In this case, the sofa becomes the most suitable haven for these insects, since it consists of many parts and joints.

The last factor that causes these parasites to choose a sleeping place for their habitat is warmth. Such furniture is able to maintain the temperature of people for some time. And heat is vital for the life of bedbugs. Why do they choose such places?