One of the most detested and misunderstood pest insect species known to civilisation is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as young ones with the parting words of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs most probably started to dine on people at around the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C 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 living} in bat infested caves.
Before the production of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in most poor quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest controllers dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely restricted to cheap holiday hotels and student lodgings etc.
A lot of people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly can be seen.
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a few milemetres in size and swollen after feeding on human blood.
Bed bugs typically feed on our blood every week or so, emerging in the early hours of the morning and finding their target by detecting the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close in on their target, the heat from the body of their intended target.
Without a suitable human host to dine on they can remain dormant for periods of up to a year or more.
The first signs of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on sheets 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 numbers multiplying across the planet, the easy availability of overseas and economic migration have both been argued as reasons for the resurgence.
What is certain is that that are now making a real resurgence not only in cheaper quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug reports every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night away 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 tubes, trains and buses so a simple trip home on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to bring these bugs to your own home.
They are an tricky pest to eradicate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They hide in any nook and cranny suitably close to a sleeping person, 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 flabby people.
They are not a pest that can be dealt with by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Call Harrier Pest Prevention on 01772 837727
