Monthly Archives: November 2013

Extension > Garden > Insects > Traveler Q & A: Preventing bed bugs from hitchhiking to your home

Stephen Kells and Jeff Hahn, University of Minnesota Extension Reviewed 2006

Different stages of bed bugs (1/16 inch to 1/4 inch in size) and fecal spots

Bed bugs on a backpack

This factsheet provides some specific steps that you can use to prevent hitchhiking bed bugs from infesting your home. There is nothing magic about the way these pests initiate an infestation. They are simply parasites that look to resting persons or animals for a meal and, once obtaining this meal, they travel back to a place of hiding.

The thing that makes bed bugs so challenging for detection and control is they have excellent abilities to squeeze into cracks and crevices and will often go unnoticed by the casual observer.

The majority of bugs will cluster around areas where people will rest, but a few of them will move off to hide in more remote areas. They shun light and if they are disturbed or if they suddenly feel exposed, they will attempt to move to quieter (and more remote) areas. It is this cryptic behavior that creates the challenge to dis-infesting articles that have been in areas of bed bug activity and cause the impression that they have special abilities that we cannot contend with.

The following are questions that are commonly asked by travelers and the recommendations you can use to prevent transport of bed bugs from an infested site.

Bed bugs are oval, flattened, brown, and wingless insects approximately 1/4" to 3/8" long (5-9 mm). They are similar in appearance to a wood tick. After the bug has taken a blood meal, its color will change from brown to purplish-red. Also after feeding, it is larger and more cigar-shaped making it appear like a different insect. Young bed bugs are much smaller (1/16 or 1.6 mm when they first hatch) and nearly colorless except after feeding, but resemble the adult in general shape. You may also find cast skins, which are empty shells of bugs as they grow from one stage to the next. After a blood meal, bed bugs deposit fecal spots (composed of digested blood) in areas adjacent to the feeding site or back at their hiding places.

You can only confirm that bed bugs are present by carefully inspecting each item. Pay attention to cracks, crevices, seams, and folds of material. Remember that bed bugs can be 1/16" to 1/4" and young, unfed bugs may be mostly translucent (see pictures). If you find bugs, then you have to be careful in containing the infestation. If you do not find bugs, but still suspect there may be an infestation, the steps mentioned below will provide peace-of-mind and ensure that you do not bring an infestation home.

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Traveler Q & A: Preventing bed bugs from hitchhiking to your home ...

By nature, bed bugs are stow-a-ways. They enter homes or apartments by hiding out in the cracks and crevices of luggage, furniture, clothing, pillows, boxes and other objects when they are moved between apartments, homes and hotels. Bed bugs hide during the day and typically feed at night. Since bed bugs feed on blood, their presence has little to do with the cleanliness of the home, although clutter can provide hiding spaces for bed bugs and make them difficult to treat. Bed bugs can survive for months without feeding, so they may be present in vacant, clean homes when new tenants unpack. Once bed bugs are established, they rapidly reproduce and spread from room to room.

Bed bugs can be very difficult to control, even for trained professionals. Many insecticides are not effective at killing the eggs, so a repeat treatment is often necessary to kill the juveniles after they hatch. Even worse, some populations of bed bugs have developed resistance to common insecticides, making some sprays ineffective. Alternative methods include heat and steam treatments, structural fumigations and cold treatments.

The National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) received hundreds of calls last year from all over the country about bed bugs. If you have questions about this, or any pesticide-related topic, please call NPIC at 1-800-858-7378 (7:30am-3:30pm PST), or email at npic@ace.orst.edu.

Last updated October 31, 2013

Read more from the original source:
Understanding and Controlling Bed Bugs - National Pesticide ...

Bed Bugs (Cimex lectularius)have recently reappeared in North American society and are making headlines as they infest not only apartment buildings and homes but also hotels and public spaces. With this website we aim to provide reliable information on bed bugs and suggestions for ways to deal with bed bug infestations. We do not endorse specific products or companies but instead discuss various methods that can be used in bed bug control.

Bed bugs have been a known household pest for over 3,300 years and were originally brought to North America by early colonists. In the 1950s bed bug populations had been greatly reduced in the developed world due to mass treatments with insecticides such as DDT, Chlordane and Lindane. Recently though, bed bugs have found ample opportunity to increase in number and spread through society. Their success is a result of: increased travel of people; improved treatment methods that specifically target other insect pests; and the lack of public awareness. Bed bugs have been reported in all 50 states.

Excerpt from:
Let's Beat the Bed Bug! -