Bed Bugs Are Biting

Bed Bugs Are Biting – One of the most hated and misunderstood pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us gone off to sleep at night as children with the words of our parents in our ears ‘sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite’?

Don't Let The Bed Bug Bite

Bed bugs probably started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our ancesters started dwelling in bat infested caves.

Until the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in most poor quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century saw pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely restricted to inexpenisve holiday camps and student lodgings etc.

Many people mistake dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which very definitely are.

Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and greatly swollen after a meal of human blood.

They have an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the young are just smaller versions of the adult, they don’t have a maggot stage like fleas or flies.

Bed bugs typically feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, coming out in the hours before dawn and sensing their target by detecting the exhaled CO2 from breath and when nearing in on their target, infra red body heat.

In the absence of a regular human host to dine on they can lie dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Indications of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the base of mattresses and some people can react badly to their bites.

The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers increase across the world, the easy availability of international travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the increase.

What is sure is that thet are now making a real return not only in low quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug infestations every single year from 1995 – 2001.

A single night away in an infested hotel is all it takes, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a single ride to town on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread the infestation to your home.

They are an expensive pest to eradictate as contrary to popular mythology they don’t just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side bed side telephones etc and eradication is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living beneath the toe-nails of infirm people and in the rolls of flesh on grossly over-weight people.

They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly be needed.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Don’t let the bed bugs bite… (guardian.co.uk)
• Bedbugs return to British hotels (telegraph.co.uk)

Bed Bugs Are Biting is a post from: Cheshire Pest Control