Termites and bedbugs are the most commonly known tiny creatures that will terrify if you know they live in your home. Though these tiny creatures don’t look alike, they are equally displeasing when they live in your home. Termites can cause damage to the materials of your home. They feed on wood, ruining the furniture in your home and bed bugs threaten your health because they can bite you, causing rashes in your skin. However, these two creatures might be spotted in the same places in your home, like under the sheets and mattresses. Because of these differences and similarities, most people tend to find out about termites vs bed bugs.
When termites and bedbugs infest your home, they can breed rapidly, which makes it tough to terminate them. Since the termites and bedbugs infestation had been a prevailing problem, they have adapted themselves to resist the traditional terminators.
What are the Characteristics of Termites?
Termites will differ from each other depending on the species but can be easily differentiated from bed bugs. However, the different termite species share some characteristics in common to identify the termite easily. Termites usually live on ground levels or sometimes higher in dry wood in dark, damp, and cold places. But flying termites might get out of their homes and travel towards the lights in colder seasons to get the desired heat. Termites carry soil along, so they often build their homes with soil.
Termites mainly feed on decayed plant-based food materials. They have a transparent body with short thermoreceptors, and their body is divided into three parts and six legs. Termites have a strong and sharp mouth to bite into the wood, which is why termite infestation in your home can be stressful because they damage your furniture, books, and clothes and ruin them to the extent that it loses their originality and cannot be reused. Termites are a real pain to get rid of because they have adapted themselves to resist the methods used by pest control manufacturers and reproduce hundreds of termites in less than a week.
What are the Characteristics of Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are a nightmare; they can ruin your sleep. It can even make your sleep deprived because you are terrified by the thoughts of their existence. However, there are not many species of bed bugs like termites. Bed bugs are of two types quite similar. Thus, you can easily identify them regardless of their species. Bed bugs are tiny and might look like an apple seed. Bed bugs are flat, with an oval reddish brown or maroon body.
They live in cold and damp places, where you will mostly find them on the edges of your bed or under the sheets at home. Also, bed bugs often feed themselves by sucking blood from humans or animals and plump to a reddish shade after sucking the blood from their prey. The two types of bedbugs include the ones sucking blood from the animal and the bedbugs that suck blood from a human. If you spot red patches or tiny red bumps on your skin, this is because you have been bit by bed bugs.
What are the Differences Between Termites and Bed Bugs?
When considering the differences between termites and bedbugs, you can easily identify them and differentiate them by their external appearance. Thus, the main difference between termites and bed bugs is their appearance, including their , colour, size and shape.
Though both termites are tiny creatures in common, termites are colourless and sometimes almost transparent creatures, while bed bugs have a darker shade of red, like maroon. Termites have elongated shapes, but bed bugs are rounder in shape. Besides their looks, what they feed also differs from each other. While termites harm your home’s external and interior structures, bed bugs threaten you. Because Termites usually feed on decayed plant-based food like wood, fabrics, and paper, but bedbugs suck blood from living organisms, including humans, to feed themselves.
What do Termites and Bedbugs Share in Common?
One thing that termites and bedbugs share in common is how they can be terrifying and a threat to your home. As previously stated, both these tiny creatures will ruin the peace in your home during the day and night because of their habitats. Termites and bedbugs also had to terminate because they had adapted themselves to the methods used by the pest controls.
Another reason is the fast reproduction seen in termites, multiplying into hundreds in a short time, while bed bugs grow in size and mature within a short period to increase in number.
Termites vs Bedbugs
The looks of their appearance can easily identify termites and bedbugs; however, if they infest your house, you will have to spend a lot to terminate them both. Thus, this can be why you are comparing termites vs. bedbugs to decide which creature you should prioritize to terminate first.
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Diet
Deciding which you should prioritize to terminate first will be challenging, but considering their diet,
it could make the decision a little easier. Because bedbugs suck your blood, it can lead to medical conditions, causing rashes and itchiness in your skin. Meanwhile, termites will ruin your furniture’s structure, damaging clothes and books pretty fast. Sometimes almost, leaving your materials with only particles.
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Habitat in a Home
Termites and bedbugs can share the same place to live, and you might see them on the headboard or the bed frame. But termites can also be living in other areas in your home, like the walls, cupboards, and books, ruining almost everything where they live in
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Growth
Termites multiply into hundreds in a brief period; the queen termite can reproduce hundreds of eggs daily, while bedbugs mature in a few weeks and will only lay between 5 to 12 eggs. Thus, the growth of bedbugs is slower than that of termites.
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Termination
The termination process is usually tougher to get rid of these creatures because they are resistant to the chemicals used by pest control companies. Bed bugs are easier to terminate with suitable methods; high heat or intense freezing treatment can be used. But termites are the toughest because they increase in number very fast and are resistant to traditional methods.
Conclusion
In the article termites vs. bedbugs, we explored different topics like their characteristics, differences and similarities.
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