One of the most detested and misunderstood pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to sleep at night as kids with the parting rhyme of our guardians in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs probably started to predate on people at around the time when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella mainly feed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on human blood when our ancestors 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 controllers called out to very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to low quality holiday camps and student lodgings etc.
Many people mistake 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 swollen after dining on human blood.
Bed bugs typically feed on a target’s blood every seven to ten days, appearing in the hours before dawn and locating their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when closing in on their target, they sense infra red heat.
Without a suitable human host to feed on they can lie in a period of dormancy for periods of up to a year or more.
Bed Bug Bites
The first signs of a bed bug presence are spots of blood on bedding and on the base of mattresses and many people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.
The early part of this century has seen bed bug reports multiplying across the planet, the easy availability of overseas and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is sure is that that are now making a real resurgence not only in lower quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reported a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night stay in an infested hotel 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 transport of all kinds so a simple ride home on an infested tube or train can be enough to spread these bugs to your own home.
They are an difficult pest to deal with as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both difficult 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 overweight people.
They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.
Call Harrier Pest Prevention on 0800 019 8382
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