Are Bed Bugs Biting You?

One of the most reviled and misunderstood pest insect species identified by the world may be the bedbug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to rest at night as children with the parting rhyme of our dads and moms inside our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?

Bed Bugs probably started to predate on man at around the period when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella primarily fed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to prey on man when our forebears started living in bat infested caves.

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

The later part of the 20th century saw pest control companies having very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being generally restricted to cheap holiday hotels and student accomadation etc.

Many people confuse dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a few milemetres in size and very swollen after feeding on human blood.

Bed bugs typically nourish themselves on a target’s blood every seven to ten days, emerging in the early hours of the morning and locating their target by smelling the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and once nearby their target, body heat.

Without a suitable human meal to feed on they are able to stay dormant for periods of up to a year or more.

The first signs of a bedbug presence are spots of blood on sheets and on the base of mattresses and many people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.

The first part of the 21st century has seen bed bug reports growing all over the earth, the easy use of world travel and economic migration have both been put forward for the resurgence.

What is known is that they are now making a real fightback not only in lower quality property but top class hotels, schools and not to mention hospitals.

One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug infestations annually from 1995 to 2001.

One night away in an infested bed is all it takes, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags.

Pest management companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes and buses so a straightforward ride to work on an infested tube or train might be all it takes to spread bed bugs to your own house.

They are an tricky pest to deal with as as opposed to popular belief they don’t just live in beds. They live in any nook and cranny suitably close to a sleeping human target, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both tricky and time consuming. They have even been revealed found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on very fat people.

They are not a pest that can be successfully tackled by a novice and a pest control professional will in all probability be vital.