One of the most detested and least understood pests known to science is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dropped off to sleep at night as kids with the parting words of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs may have started to predate on man at around the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella mostly fed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on man when our forebears started sleeping} in bat infested caves.
Until the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in most poor quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest controllers having very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being generally restricted to budget holiday camps and student accomadation etc.
Most people mistake dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after a feed of human blood.
Bed bugs usually feed on human blood every few days, emerging in the early hours of the morning and locating their target by sniffing the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when nearby their target, body heat.
In the absence of a suitable human meal to dine on they can lie dormant for periods of up to a year or more.
The first signs of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the edges of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to their bites.
The early part of this century has seen bed bug reports explode 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 return not only in lower quality housing but first class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 to 2001.
One night away in an infested hotel is all it takes, they catch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Stretford Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on all kinds of transport so a simple trip home on an infested tube or train can be enough to bring the infestation to your own home.
They are an expensive pest to deal with as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human, 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 dealt with by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
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