One of the most reviled and misunderstood pests known to science is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep 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 man at around the period we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella mainly fed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bug evolved to feed on human beings when our forebears started dwelling} in bat infested caves.
Before the production of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace guests in most low quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest control companies called out to very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to budget holiday homes and student accomadation etc.
Many people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the naked, with bed bugs which most certainly can be seen.
Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a few milemetres 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 homing in on their target by detecting the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when close to their target, they sense body body heat.
Without a suitable human host to feed on they can remain in a period of dormancy for periods of up to 18 months.
Signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on sheets and on the corners of mattresses and many people can react badly to their bites.
The early part of this century has seen bed bug infestations explode all over the planet, the easy availability of world travel and economic migration have both been put forward for the resurgence.
What is certain is that that are now making a real fightback not only in slum quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug problems every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night stay in an infested hotel is all it takes, 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 journey home on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread these bugs to your own home.
They are an tricky pest to eradicate as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human target, 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 grossly over-weight people.
They are not a pest that can be successfully tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Call Harrier Pest Control on 0161 930 8814
