Category Archives: Bed Bug Cream

What are Bedbugs?

They are small insects that feed on both animal blood and human blood. These insects have been around for centuries, and they are so well-adapted to feeding on human that most people may not be aware when they are being bitten. They generally feed when people are sitting calmly or sleeping, and they particularly enjoy feeding at night. Adults can survive for more than a year without feeding, which is one adaptation that has ensured survival.

During the middle of the 20th century, they were in decline in America. Perhaps this was because people were knowledgeable about their existence and frequently used pest control methods to control them. However, in the past few decades, peoples worries diminished because their rare presence in homes. In the past few years, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in the number of reports.

Today, many people are still ignorant about them. Some people believe they are immune to the problem as long as they keep a clean house. That is not true. People also generally believe they are a problem only for the lower-class. That is not true either. Any home or dwelling can become infested, regardless of how clean or tidy it is, and so that is why people should educate themselves.

They are small, only about 1/4 of an inch in length. Their color is usually reddish-brown, though they are sometimes a much lighter straw color. They are sometimes referred to as Mahogany Flats, probably because they are flat and oval-shaped. They are similar in size to an apple seed or a lady bug. Baby bugs are significantly smaller than adults, and they measure smaller than 6 mm. They are six-legged creatures, and the upper part of their bodies contains gold-colored hair. They have visible antennae and cone-like eyes.

The males have a sharp flap on the back of their bodies, while the female of the species has a body that ends in a rounded or curved segment. The upper body of both the males and females is often described as being wrinkly like crinkled paper. They emit a musty, sweet odor from glands located on their thorax.

The term given to an immature bedbug is nymph. Nymphs are small, and they shed their skins regularly before they reach adulthood. These immature bugs must eat a meal before they shed, and they shed about five times before they become mature insects.

They are not flying insects, though they are somewhat mobile. They tend to be found around places where people recline or sleep, and they generally dont venture too far away from such areas.

They generally live in small groups as opposed to nests or hives. The bugs lay eggs, and the eggs hatch into incredibly small nymphs, only about 1/16th of an inch long. The nymphs go through molten stages and grow into adult size in about 5 weeks.

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BedBugs.org - The Web's #1 Bed Bug Resource

How Does an Individual Get a Bed Bug Bite Rash?

Bed bugs commonly infest summer cabins, especially at camps, hiking trail shelters and parks. Many times, when they are found in an urban home they can be traced back to a visit to one of these facilities.

These parasites are attracted to warmth, which is why they bite us as we sleep. They are also attracted to carbon dioxide, which is what is exhaled by oxygen breathing species.

They reside in dark areas and crevices near the host. Their only food is the blood they obtain from the host. Hosts for this bug are many different species of vertebrates including canaries, poultry, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, mice, bats and unfortunately, man.

These bugs feed on the host while the host sleeps, generally just before dawn. They will usually not be seen during the daylight hours unless the infestation is severe.

This bug will secure itself to the hosts skin using its claws and then inserts it beak into the skin of the host. The beak consists of two tubes (stylets); one sucks up the hosts blood while the other injects saliva (venom) in the wound.

This saliva assists in preventing the hosts blood from coagulating to keep it flowing. It also has an anesthetic to numb the feeding area on the host. This saliva is what causes the itching sensation on the hosts skin.

Nymphs (adolescents) feed for approximately three minutes while an adult may continue to feed on the blood of the host for ten to fifteen minutes.

Amazingly, they can survive 18 months without any oxygen and as much as a year without any blood. The bites cause burning, itching and swelling. The degree of symptoms depends upon the hosts susceptibility.

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How to Treat a Bed Bug Rash - Bedbugs

BED bugs are a major problem in parts of Glasgow, environmental health bosses have warned.

Environmental health teams have been drafted in to Govanhill where Glasgow City Council offers a free service to eradicate the pests.

One student, who lived there, said his room was over-run with the parasites.

He eventually moved house and had to stay with friends for weeks before finding a new place to live.

The 24-year-old, who asked not to be named, had been bitten many times.

He said: "I had to leave my sofa behind because it was infested, but I couldn't stay there any more.

"When I saw the bugs it was a horrible confirm-ation. Thinking about it still makes my skin crawl."

Councillor Soryia Sidd-ique, whose ward covers affected areas, said: "Hav-ing been contacted by residents regarding infest-ation, concerns were raised and NHS Environmental Health have now committed to an additional team of officers in the area.

"I have requested a structured long-term partnership approach to the challenge including preven-tion, training, liasion with GPs and education, aiming to implement a comprehen-sive block by block treatment for infestations."

The blood sucking parasites were almost extinct, but since the turn of the century infestations have risen at an alarming rate of 25% a year.

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Battle to take bite out of bed bug problem

Unlike mosquitoes, bed bugs do not carry or transmit any diseases. Small consolation, eh?

Bed bugs - Cimex lectularius - are small blood-sucking parasitic insects. They emerge at night from mattresses and crevices in beds to feed on your blood.

Unlike mosquitoes, which also behave in this way, bed bugs do not carry or transmit any diseases.

While many of us dont react to bed bug bites, some people develop itchy, red bumps between one and nine days after being bitten. If you do develop an itch, then a combination of a mild steroid skin cream and non-sedating antihistamine tablets should help your skin clear up in about a week.

Adult bed bugs look a bit like lentils and are visible to the naked eye. They are oval-shaped, flat and reddish-brown, and may grow to about 5mm in length. As they grow, they shed their skin, which looks like mottled brown shells on your mattress.

Bed bugs can spread easily from room to room. They do not fly but can crawl quickly. They can spread within a building by getting through holes in walls or pipes, and can potentially invade apartment blocks and hotels. The bugs can also be transported in luggage, furniture and bedding.

Although bed bugs do not carry or spread disease, their presence is upsetting for most of us and so it is best to take action to eradicate them.

This is best done by a commercial pest control firm, which may need to treat the affected area on two separate occasions with a chemical insecticide.

If clothes or bedlinen have become infested, wash them at 60 degrees Centigrade and place them in a dryer on a hot setting for 30 minutes to kill the bugs.

Read more:
What are bed bugs? And how do you get rid of them?

How do I know if I have bed bugs?

This is a tough one. It can be hard to tell if you've got them or not, because they are pretty small, only come out for very short periods, and because they are pretty good at hiding. First off, you should look for some key signs.

1) Waste - Bed bugs create a lot of waste, and that is harder to hide than they are. It can consist of dark spots on your mattress (which can be blood, feces, etc.) or of shed skins, eggs, dead bed bugs, etc. You may find it inside your mattress, in the box springs, or in the linens. It looks like this:

2) Bites - You should be seeing little red bites on you without really knowing why. People rarely catch bed bugs in the act - they come out when you are asleep, and only bite for a short period. Also, like many bugs, you cannot feel the bite until a few minutes after it happens. The bites are very hard to identify - most doctors actually can't tell you for sure what they're from just by looking at them. There are a few examples here, here, here, and here.

3) Hiding places - Look in all the key spots where they could hide. This means the mattress and around it, folds in the linens, curtains, and nearby furniture. Look for the waste or dark spots. You probably won't see live ones, but they look like little mini-cockroaches.

4) Catch them in the act - Keep a flashlight by your bed, and turn it on about an hour before dawn and watch the sheets closely for movement. Bed bugs usually bite around then, but if you get up or move too much they will go back into hiding. This can be hard to do - if you've only got a few of them, they only need to come out once a week or so anyway, so you might get unlucky and not see any, even though you have them.

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Bed Bugs Guide: How do I know if I have bed bugs ...