Where and how many lice live without a person

Head lice feed on blood, cause itching, headaches, insomnia in humans. Nit spoils the hair. Some believe that it is possible to pick up a parasite from animals, especially from street cats and dogs. To make sure of the opposite, it is worth figuring out how much lice live outside a person’s head, where they come from, how louses develop and whether they live on clothes.

How do lice and nits

The appearance of insects can not be called attractive. Parasites are light yellow, light brown in color.The length does not exceed 3 mm. Get their food with the help of the sting and suckers. 6 paws hold it on the skin.

Lice and nits

Louse nits look like dandruff. It can live only on a hair to which it is attached with the help of a sticky substance. Remove the eggs from the hair is not easy. This is the main thing difference nits from dandruff.

Interesting!

Usually non-flying pests, which include lice, can jump high. But this parasite is deprived of this ability.

The development of lice has several stages:

• egg,
• first nymph
• second nymph
• third nymph
• adult individual

The larva looks like an adult, but its color is lighter.

Lice life cycle

Lice live on the hair of the face and body. Can live:

• in the hair;
• on eyelashes;
  
  

  Lice on eyelashes
• pubic;
• in the armpits.

Individuals living on the head are different from pubic. The latter have more powerful paws and jaws, sucking blood more often. Without constant food can not live.

The female in her life lays up to 150 eggs, which are attached to human hair at some distance from the skin. Under favorable conditions, after 5 days, the nit turns into a nymph.

The larva must be fed in the first hour after leaving the egg, otherwise it will not be able to survive. After the first portion of blood molt occurs, and the pest changes its appearance.But it will become an adult when it replaces its chitinous cover two more times.

After the third molt, the imago stage begins. In a few hours, an adult male is ready for breeding, and the female makes her first laying on the human hair.

On a note!

Many are looking for information about how much nit there is. But this question is incorrect. Only the egg of the parasite is called nits, from which a larva emerges in 5-9 days.

The life cycle lasts about a month. The female lays eggs after each feeding. In head lice, it occurs 4 times a day. Pubic same meal every four hours.

Where and how many lice live

Pests have a "narrow specialization." The structure of their body is such that they cannot settle on another mammal and are not adapted to live on wool. Everyone is accustomed to believing that the parasite can live only on the human body, but few people think about where the lice live apart from the head.

Types of lice

The insect is divided into three types, depending on the place of life:

1. Cootie. She is attracted by the human smell, she is not capable of living on the body. The parasite lives in the folds of clothing, bedding.
2. Pubic louse. Can live there, where grow tough hair - eyelashes, mustache, pubis, armpits.
3. Head lice and nits. They live only on the head of a person.

Those who are faced with a disease like pediculosis, begin to wonder how many lice live without food. Each species is different in this respect from each other:

1. Head dies after 2 days without human blood. Nit, however, will go through its cycle of life completely, but the hatched larva, not finding food, will be able to live only an hour.
2. Pubic view will not last more than four hours. The egg will develop until it is the turn of hatching nymph, which immediately dies.

Hanging your human body for permanent residence is not suitable. Then the question arises whether lice can live in pillows and blankets. This type of insect is able to love the bed attributes, but only if it has access to the power source. Whatever type of lice are not related, they do not live without a person.

Interesting!

The pest likes to stay warm. Temperature conditions for lice is important. If the temperature drops to + 10 ° C and lower, it hibernates, and the nit slows down its development. Death of lice occurs at temperatures above + 45 ° C and below 0 ° C.

Frequently asked questions about lice life

People are concerned about the same questions regarding the life of these insects. Here are the most common:

1. How many lice live on a person's head - they usually die a month after their appearance. If a live parasite is left without a person at room temperature, it must find another victim within 24 hours. If the temperature is low - the pest hibernates.
2. Whether lice live in bedding - this can happen to an unscrupulous person. The wardrobe type prefers to live in the folds of clothing adjacent to the body, but the insect can move to the bed and bed. No wonder the parasite in everyday life is called clothes louse. If the bed is changed, it will not stay there.
   
   

   Linen lice
3. Can lice live on the couch - the answer to this question will not differ from the previous one. Furniture is not the place where an insect builds a "house." He needs a constant power source.

If at least one louse has been seen on the head, you should carefully check the hair and make treatment. The parasite is small and difficult to detect. Having found a mate, one individual will quickly breed.

Insects, though not characterized by a long life cycle, but a lot of problems are delivered to man. Because of them, one has to limit oneself in communication and endure many inconveniences. Luckily, get rid of lice simple enough. To do this, use pharmacy pediculicidal drugs or folk remedies.