One of the most detested and misunderstood pest species known to mankind is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to sleep at night as youngsters with the words of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs probably started to dine on human beings at about the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella largely feed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bed bus evolved to feed on human beings when our ancestors started staying} in bat infested caves.
Until the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common guests in most slum quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives dealing with very few bed bug problems indeed, their presence being largely restricted to budget holiday homes and student housing etc.
A lot of people mistake dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly can be seen.
Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a quarter of an inch in size and very swollen after feeding on human blood.
Bed bugs regularly feed on our blood every week or so, coming out in the hours before dawn and finding their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close to their target, they sense body body heat.
Lacking a suitable human meal to dine on they can lay in a period of dormancy for periods of up to a year or more.
Bed Bug Bites
Often the first sign of a bed bug presence are spots of blood on bedding and on the corners of mattresses and many people can react badly to bed bug bites.
The early part of the 21st century has seen bed bug infestations explode across the planet, the easy availability of international and economic migration have both been given as reasons for the resurgence.
What is certain is that that are now making a real comeback 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 stay in an infested premises is all it requires, they hitch 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 journey home on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread these bugs to your own home.
They are an expensive pest to eradicate as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny anywhere close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both laborious and time consuming. They have even been revealed found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on flabby 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 0800 019 8382