Daily Archives: December 19, 2013

The bed bug (Cimex lectularius) has been a parasite of humans throughout written history. Its adaptation to humans is so complete that its bite is not noticed until well after the bug leaves its victim, if it is noticed at all. Attracted by the warmth of our bodies and the carbon dioxide we exhale, bed bugs emerge usually at night from hiding places, seeking human blood. While pathogens have been found in bed bugs, the bed bug apparently does not transmit diseases to humans.

Prior to the widespread use of synthetic insecticides, this small, brown blood-sucking bug was perhaps the most unwanted pest in America. The insidious bed bug was loathed even more than the cockroach. Although the bugs impact was greatly reduced by insecticides during the 1940s and 1950s, it remained an occasional invader of homes, hotels and shelters. Pest management professionals now agree that bed bugs have become the most difficult pest to control.

Bed bugs (Cimex spp.) feed on the blood of animals including people and pets. Some species, known as bat bugs, feed on bats, and others on birds such as chickens, pigeons, swallows and swifts. All will wander in search of a new host if their primary host leaves or abandons its roost or nest. In structures, bat bugs typically appear in and around attics and chimneys. Though they will bite humans, they do not survive without their preferred hosts.

Bed bugs can survive more than a year without feeding, but most adults and nymphs probably do not live more than six months without a meal. This ability lets them wait for transient hosts that periodically inhabit camp cabins, apartments and temporary housing. It also helps them survive transportation. Today, bed bugs hitchhike more easily than ever, via public transportation and luggage, and in secondhand furniture, mattresses, bedding and clothing. In multi-unit buildings, bed bug infestations that are not adequately attended to often spread between units with or without human help, making eradication much more difficult and costly.

Most people have never seen a bed bug. Adults are wingless, about one-fourth of an inch long, and flat to fit in cracks and crevices where they hide by day. Females typically lay three to five adhesive eggs per day in crevices and depressions. Eggs and newly hatched nymphs are somewhat translucent and only about one-sixteenth of an inch long. After feeding, nymphs become bright red.

At night, bed bugs seek warm hosts, leaving their hiding places in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, nightstands, curtains, couches and wall voids, baseboards, carpet edges, door and window frames, picture frames, smoke detectors, electrical switches and outlets, peeling paint and wallpaper.

BED BUG BITES

The bed bug painlessly bites its victim, injects saliva to ensure blood flow, and ingests the hosts blood through needle-like mouthparts. During the three to five minutes it takes to complete feeding, the bug elongates and becomes more reddish. It then retreats to its hiding place to digest the meal, and will return to feed in three to 10 days.

Reactions to bed bug bites vary among individuals. Many persons show no signs of bites. Others dont realize theyve been bitten until redness and swelling appear around the bite, sometimes with intense itching. Some exhibit inflamed swollen spots that may occur in linear series or have a rash-like appearance. Such bite marks, when they appear, may not show for several days after the person is bitten.

SIGNS OF BED BUGS

Read more here:
Bed Bugs Prevention and Control

1. You can't see bedbugs

This is clearly not true, adult bed bugs are easily spotted as they are 5mm - 7mm in size and a reddish brown colour. The recently hatched babies are much harder to see as they are 1mm - 2mm in size but someone who knows what they are looking for will often detect them. This myth started when people got confused between bedbugs and dust mites. They are different species and are handled in completely different ways, what works for dust mites will not necessarily remove bedbugs.

2. If I throw out the bed I will no longer have bedbugs

They may be called bedbugs but they don't just live in bed and they can occupy almost any dark crack or crevice in a room. Disposing of ANY furniture prior to it being inspected and treated by an experienced and competent pest controller can be a costly mistake and certainly a false economy. Almost everything can be treated to remove bedbugs but if not properly handled the removal of furniture can simple spread an infestation to other areas of the property. We have recently been alarmed to hear that several companies in the London area have been recommending that furniture is removed via the window, this is clearly and obviously not a professional way to mange a problem and we would advise anyone told to do this to think extremely carefully about the consequences of such actions. Bedbugs will survive outside of the property and may enter again at the first opportunity.

3. You only get bedbugs if you are dirty

This is the greatest of all inaccuracies! You get bedbugs by exposure and coming into contact with a source of them. We treat more properties that are immaculately clean and of the highest standards than we do houses and flats that would benefit from a good deep clean. Increasingly people who extensively travel internationally are becoming more exposed to bedbugs as the global epidemic intensifies. In an ideal world people would understand that there is no more social stigma associated with bedbugs than head lice. They are an exposure pest and not associated with living conditions.

4. You need to wash all of your clothes for a bedbug treatment to be effective

We are increasingly hearing this from people who call other companies. The simple fact is that without inspecting the property there is no way of telling if this is needed, our experience tells us that it is only needed in 2% 5% of cases and is most commonly used as an excuse by an organisation which does not actually want to work on an infestation. There are also a lot of other decontamination methods available that are more effective than washing.

5. There are no bedbugs in

We are often told by people that there are no such things as bedbugs in our country. The simple fact is that bedbugs can occur in almost every country and region on this planet, some areas have always been worse than others but they are a global pest. The resurgence in activity has caught many countries unaware but they do exist everywhere.

More here:
Bedbug Myths - Bed Bugs Limited