Category Archives: Bed Bugs Minnesota

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Have I Found a Bed Bug (.pdf)

Bed bugs can be difficult to identify as they are similar to many other small insects. Also, their appearance will change depending on their age and if they have recently eaten.

Adult bed bugs are reddish brown in color and approximately to 3/8 inch long; they are nearly as wide as they are long. They are about the size of an apple seed. Juvenile bed bugs can be very small and very hard to see.

Bed bugs do not have wings, and cannot fly. Bed Bugs can move very quickly on both horizontal and vertical surfaces

If a bed bug has not recently eaten it is flat and oval shaped. Once a bed bug has bitten someone it swells in size, becoming longer and redder in color; frequently compared to the shape of a cigar.

If you have a bed bug infestation you may also notice cast skins. The cast skin of a bed bug is an empty shell that is left behind when a bed bug grows. This skin will be in the shape of a bed bug but it will be transparent.

Bed bugs are active mainly at night, so it is unlikely that you will see one during the day. They can become accustomed to feeding during the day if they become aware that people are resting or sleeping during the day. Bed bugs may be seen during the day if there is a big infestation, or if the insect you have found is actually a bat bug. Bat Bugs are very similar to bed bugs and are often found in places with bats or birds. Bugs should be sent to a professional for identification.

If you think you have found a bed bug, try to catch it on a piece of tape or put it in a plastic bag, you can then have this bug identified by a pest management professional (exterminator).

If an exterminator cannot verify it is a bed bug, send a sample on sticky tape to:

If you find bed bugs, make a note of when and where you saw them. This will help the pest management professional in the inspection of your home and will increase the likeliness that treatment will be effective.

Have I Found a Bed Bug (.pdf)

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Have I found a Bed Bug? - Let's Beat the Bed Bug!

Jeffrey Hahn, Asst. Extension Entomologist

Photo 1. Bed bug biting. Jeff Hahn

This has been one of the coldest winters in Minnesota in 15 years. And while it can be challenging to find many good things to say about this kind of weather, many people take consolation that the cold temperatures are good for killing insect pests. The most common question lately has been whether putting out furniture or other articles in very cold weather will kill bed bugs.

Photo 2: Fluctuating, cold temperatures may not reliably kill bed bugs. Jeff Hahn

Cold temperatures can kill bed bugs if they are exposed to it long enough and at temperatures that are cold enough. However, there is not a lot research on this topic to say what those exposures and temperatures are. What information is available is contradictory. One researcher in 1966 found that bed bugs can tolerate temperatures around 5o F for a brief time and when acclimated can survive temperatures at or below 32o F for days. This is in contrast to findings in 1991 that bed bugs are killed when exposed to temperatures around 32o F for just hours, although the same article also went on to say that the eggs are very cold tolerant and need to be exposed to freezing temperatures for 30 to 60 days.

There is even less research that looks at how long you need to freeze bed bugs when they are in furniture or other objects. The U.S. military believes that if you expose furniture to 0o F or less for four days or more, that may be sufficient. While we have been at or below 0o F often, those temperatures have generally fluctuated and have infrequently been sustained for four days or more.

There are other factors to consider. First, the temperature where the bed bugs are hiding may not be as cold as you think it is, i.e. the air temperature is not necessarily the same where the bed bugs are located in the furniture. You also need to factor in the effect of the sun shining on any objects. Although the temperature may say 0o F, the warmth of the sun can considerably raise the temperature in localized areas (as recently witnessed by the melting snow on my roof in near 0o F temperatures).

Again, cold can kill bed bugs, but the bottom line is you can not reliably kill all bed bugs infesting objects by exposing them to 0o F temperatures.

However, if you have or are concerned that you have items that are infested with bed bugs, keeping them outdoors will certainly immobilize any that are present until you decide what to do with them. If you have clothes, you can reliably kill bed bugs by washing or drying them at the highest temperatures allowed by the fabric. If you have other items you are not sure what to do with, contact an experienced pest control service for help in eradicating the bed bugs.

Continued here:
Does Cold Kill Bed Bugs? - University of Minnesota

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are small, flat insects that are reddish-brown in color. Adults are about 3/16 of inch long, while newly hatched bed bugs (nymphs) are lighter in color and no larger than the head of a pin. Bed bugs do not fly but they can move quickly. Bed bugs feed primarily on human blood, but will feed on the blood of other mammals if necessary.Signs of bed bugs include blood spots on your mattress or bed linens, molted or shed skins and tiny red bites on your skin upon waking.

Bed bugs are making a comeback in the U.S. with an increasing number of cases cropping up in homes, apartments, hotels, hospitals, office buildings and schools.They are more likely to appear in a household where an individual has been traveling or has had visitors whove recently traveled. They also tend to crop up in homes where used mattresses, bed frames and other pieces of furniture have recently been acquired.

Bed Bug Growth & Development Life Cycle

Bed bugs feed exclusively on mammalian blood, with most species preferring human. They will bite any exposed skin and their bites can cause varied reactions. Some people experience little or no reaction, while in some the reaction can be delayed, making it difficult to identify the cause. Others may have itchy welts and some swelling. It is possible, though not common, for a bite to induce a severe allergic reaction that requires treatment.

Bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases. While they may cause discomfort and threaten your quality of life, health experts do not consider bed bugs dangerous to your health. Antihistamines can reduce the itchiness and swelling and antibiotics can prevent infection.

Bed bugs are challenging to control. Their ability to hide means that treatment must be extremely thorough and it is highly recommended that the services of a pest control company be used. At Plunketts Pest Control we use highly effective bed bug heat treatments to eliminate bed bug problems. You should never use bug bombs or foggers on bed bugs; they will have little effect and cause the bed bugs to move around your space even more. Even after treatment by a professional, in some cases infested mattresses or pieces of furniture may need to be discarded. If youre unsure, ask your pest control technician.

BED BUGS CANNOT JUMP FROM THE FLOOR TO THE BED, BUT CAN LIVE FOR MANY MONTHS WITHOUT FEEDING.

Due to the complexity of treatment and the time required, bed bugs are generally not a pest many people have success in eradicating. Do-it-yourself bed bug treatments and products are not usually effective and may contain pesticides that can be harmful to people and pets if they are misused or mixed improperly. Learn more about heat treatment, the most effective treatment of bed bugs.

At Plunketts Pest Control, our goal is to help you in the shortest time possible, causing you the least inconvenience while eradicating your bed bug problems in the most cost effective manner. We understand the anxiety bed bugs can cause and will schedule your treatment as soon as possible.

Bed bugs are very difficult to prevent, given their ability to enter the home in a number of different ways. The best thing to do is beware of the signs andcall Plunketts Pest Control as soon as you spot bed bugs to reduce the risk of major infestation.

One of the easiest ways to develop abed bug infestationin your home is to inadvertently bring bed bugs home with you while traveling. Plunketts Pest Control offerstips to help you avoid bed bugs while travelingthis year:

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Bed Bugs 101 | Plunketts Pest Control

Theyre creepy and crawly and theyre increasingly a problem for landlords, tenants and travelers. Bed bugs are back, after a nearly 30-year absence in the United States, and a new University of Minnesota resource center is ready to help.

"Increased travel, changing insecticide use and a lack of public awareness brought back the bed bug," says Stephen Kells, U of M associate professor of entomology and a nationally known expert on bed bugs. "The bugs feed on the blood of people and certain animals, and they live close to areas where people typically sleep, rest or sit for long periods. Theyre most active at night, and some people break out in a rash from the bites, while others see few symptoms beyond a red spot.

Bed bugs are oval, flattened, brown and wingless, about the size of a wood tick," Kells says. The thing that makes them so challenging to detect and control is their ability to squeeze into cracks and crevices, where they go largely unnoticed. By crawling into travelers suitcases and clothes, the bugs can easily and quickly spread to other locations from an infested hotel room or residence.

Because the problem is growing so fast, Kells team has added phone and email hotlines for people dealing with infestations and will be conducting seminars around the state for landlords, hotel managers and consumers.

The phone lines for the Lets Beat the Bug! initiative are (612) 624-2200; (612) 624-2200; 1-855-644-2200; and 1-855-644-2200.

The email address is bedbugs@umn.edu.

Visit the website at http://www.bedbugs.umn.edu or check out the team's accounts to help share information and breaking news about bed bugs:

Twitter: @letsbeatthebug Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Beat-the-Bug/198307516905154

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Got bedbugs? New U of M resource center can help ...

Worried about bed bugs? Get information on what they look like, where they live and hide, symptoms of bed bug bites plus how to kill and get rid of bed bugs to prevent infestation.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs (cimex lectularius) are tiny wingless parasitic insects that feed on the blood of humans and other warm blooded mammals.

Generally, bed bugs are most active at night though they are not strictly nocturnal. Their preferred habitat include infesting mattresses or hiding in other common areas where they can easily reach their preys and feed on their blood meals.

Can One See Bed Bugs?

Adult bed bugs are 1/4 inch long (or the size of an apple seed) and have flat rusty-brown-colored oval shaped bodies. However after feeding on a blood meal, their bodies can swell to a deeper red brown and up to 3/8 inch long.

All bed bugs including newly hatched nymphs can be easily seen with the naked human eye.

Do you have bed bug photos? Get paid for it.Find out how here...

Key Bed Bug Facts

Where Do Bed Bugs Live and Hide?

Bed bugs often hide in places that tends to be close to where their hosts sleep such as in crevices and cracks of the bed frame or the mattress; in furniture, behind the skirting, behind the wallpaper.

During the initial early stages of infestation, bed bugs tend to congregate mostly in the seams, tufts and folds of a mattress and then move to the open crevices of the entire bed.

As the bed bug infestations grow larger, the room may carry a distinctive and unpleasant almond-like smell, and they can be anywhere in the home including furnishings, cracks in any wood around the home or electrical boxes. They can also be in found in cloth wall hangings, curtains pleats and loose wall paper plus cracks in wall and ceiling plaster. You should also be able to spot the bed bugs during the day as the infestation increases.

How Do You Get Bed Bugs-- A look at how does one get bed bugs at home.

Bed Bugs Feeding Habits

Bed bugs are generally active at night and feed primarily on the blood of humans while they are sleeping. Their feeding activity often peaks with in a couple of hours before sunrise. However bed bugs will also feed at other times if that is when they are given the opportunity.

Attracted by the warmth of the hosts and the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is given off during sleep, bed bugs feed by piercing the skin with two tubes, one that injects the host with its saliva, which contain anticoagulant and anesthetics while the other sucks up the blood. They usually feed for about 3 to 10 minutes before withdrawing to their hiding places. The host that is being bitten usually do not feel the bites until some minutes or hours later where indication of the bites become itchy.

How to Check If There Are Bed Bugs In My House or Room?

Bed bug bites are usually the first symptoms that you may have bed bugs in the your house or hotel room. You may notice flat welts or raised red bumps that are often accompanied by very intense itching. Secondly, you will get bitten just about every night and you are going to see the bumps and feel it regularly. The bites are also usually isolated to the back of the body, legs and arms. Bed bug bites can also be differentiated from common mosquito bites by the bites unique row or group pattern they have.

You may also see the bed bugs themselves, small bloodstains on your bed sheets from crushed insects, or dark spots from their droppings around your mattresses.

You may also like to try the following steps to check and detect for bed bugs.

Bed bugs spent skins, eggs & carcasses

How Do Bed Bugs Spread and How Did They Infest My Home?

Bed bugs are introduced to a home through luggage, furniture, bedding and boxes that are moved from home to home or from a hotel. Used furniture, especially bed frames and mattresses, are of greatest risk of harboring bed bugs and their eggs and therefore should be thoroughly inspected before they are brought back into your home.

Since bed bugs are able to survive many months with out feeding they can simply be waiting in what appears to be a clean vacant home. It is also possible for them to move between connected apartments if you have stayed in an area recently where bed bugs are present. Bats and birds are also known to be the carrier and source for the spread of bed bugs.

Can Pets Spread Bed Bugs?

Also, unless you take your pet to an infested area such as a hotel or infested home, your pet cannot bring bugs into your home - even if they spend time outdoors. In most cases, the bed bugs probably burrowed into inanimate objects like the pet carriers, pet blankets and other pet items brought into the infested area - not on your pet.

Are Bed Bugs Harmful? Do They Spread Disease?

While bed bugs have been shown to be carriers of certain diseases including the plague and hepatitis B, they do not transmit these diseases to the hosts. It is possible for the areas that have been bitten to develop rashesand be extremely itchy. For some individuals, cratching the areas may lead to infections. However, as of yet, there are no medical proof that bed bug infestations are a serious health threat.

How Do I Get Rid of Bed Bugs?

Getting rid of bed bugs require persistence and patience to fully extinguish these challenging pests. While professional exterminatorsare very effective they are fairly expensive and may require treatment on more than one occasion to completely eradicate the infestations. However it is also possible to get rid of bed bugs yourself. Some of the things you can do yourself, include:

Because it is hard to get rid of all the bed bugs and their eggs in the first round of treatment it may be necessary that you repeat it weekly to fully eliminate the infestations. If you are still unable to take care of it yourself, hire a professional licensed pest management professional and make sure that they have a well established history of getting rid of bed bugs.

Find Bed Bug Exterminator-- Get Fast, FREE Quotes from experienced exterminators.

How To Kill Bed Bugs-- Discover what are the best ways to get rid of bed bugs for good.

Bed Bug Pictures-- See and identify what do bed bugs and their bites look like.

Additional Resources:

Bed Bug Supply Offers a wide variety of D-I-Y bed bug treatment products to kill bed bugs.

The Bedbug Registry A free, public database of bedbug infestations. Use it to check for bedbug reports before booking a hotel room or renting an apartment.

New York Bed Bugs Information, resources and bed bug management for New York City residents.

University of Kentucky Entomology on Bed Bugs Entomology fact sheet on bed bugs.

Bed Bugs CDC-EPA Joint Statement The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency joint statement on bed bug control in the United States.

U.S. EPA on Bed Bug Control The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on controlling and treating bed bugs.

Cornell University Bed Bug Guide Guidelines for prevention and management of bed bugs in shelters and group living facilities.

Bed Bugs FAQ Frequently Asked Questions on bed bugs from the National Pest Management Association.

University of Minnesota Bed Bug Information for Travelers Traveler Q & A: Preventing bed bugs from hitchhiking to your home.

Read more:
Bed Bugs: Symptoms, Bites, Prevention, Treatment and Removal