How to prevent bed bugs
Just one of the most feared and misunderstood pest species recognized by mankind could be the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). What number of us dropped off to rest in the evening as youngsters with the parting words of our mothers and fathers 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 mostly fed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to nourish themselves on man when our forebears started sleeping in bat infested caves.
Before the arrival of DDT during the early twentieth century bed bugs were commonplace stowaways in most low quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives having very few bed bug problems indeed, their presence being largely restricted to cheap holiday camps and student accomadation etc.
Most people confuse dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and swollen after a feed of human blood.
Bed bugs typically feed on a target’s blood every few days, emerging in the hours before dawn and finding their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when closing in on their target, they sense infra red heat.
Lacking a suitable human host to feed on they might stay dormant for periods as much as a year or more.
Signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bed clothes and on the edges of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to bed bug bites.
The first the 21st century has seen bed bug infestations expoding across the entire world, the easy use of overseas and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is known is that they are now making a real comeback not only in lower quality property but high class hotels, schools and also hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug bites problems yearly from 1995 to 2001.
One night away in an infested premises is all it requires, they catch a ride in your suitcases or bags.
Pest management companies are also now reporting cases of transportation related bed bug infestations on tubes and buses so a straightforward ride home on an infested tube or train could be enough to spread bed bugs to your home.
They are an expensive pest to eradicate as as opposed to popular belief they don’t just live in beds. They hide in any nook and cranny anywhere close to a sleeping human, 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 flabby people.
They are not a pest that can be dealt with by a beginner and a pest control professional will quite definitely be needed.
Related posts:
- Bed Bug Bites in Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire in 2010
- A Review of Pest Control in Chorley, Addlington, Preston and Leyland Spring & Summer 2010
- Pest control in Liverpool, Bootle and Crosby
- Pest Control in Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire and Cheshire Spring & Summer 2010
- Pest control in Whitefield, Prestwich and Swinton 2010