One of the most feared and misunderstood pest species known to mankind is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as kids with the words of our guardians in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs most probably started to feed on man at around the period we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella mainly fed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bed bus evolved to feed on human blood when our ancestors started living} in bat infested caves.
Up to the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common guests in most poor quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest control companies having very few bed bug problems indeed, their presence being generally restricted to low quality holiday homes and student accomadation etc.
A lot of people mistake dust mites, which cannot be seen by the naked, with bed bugs which most certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after dining on human blood.
Bed bugs usually feed on a target’s blood every few days, appearing in the hours before dawn and locating their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when nearby their target, they sense infra red heat.
In the absence of a suitable human meal to dine on they can lay dormant for periods of up to a year or more.
Signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bedding and on the edges of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to bed bug bites.
The early part of the 21st century has seen bed bug numbers expoding all over the planet, the easy availability of international and economic migration have both been argued as reasons for the resurgence.
What is sure is that that are now making a real resurgence not only in poor quality housing but first class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reported a doubling of bed bug problems every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night away in an infested premises is all it requires, they catch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes and buses so a simple trip home on an infested tube or train can be enough to spread these bugs to your own home.
They are an difficult pest to eradicate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny anywhere close to a sleeping target, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both tricky and time consuming. They have even been discovered 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 an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Telephone Harrier Pest Control on 01257 230637