One of the most hated and misunderstood pest species known to civilisation is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to sleep at night as young ones 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 Cimex pipistrella mainly fed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bed bus evolved to feed on human blood when our forebears started living} in bat infested caves.
Up to the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common guests in most poor quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives dealing with very few bed bug problems indeed, their presence being generally restricted to budget holiday hotels and student housing etc.
Most people mistake dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a few milemetres in size and engorged after dining on human blood.
Bed bugs regularly feed on a target’s blood every few days, coming out in the hours before dawn and locating their target by smelling the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when close in on their target, they sense infra red heat.
In the absence of a suitable human host to dine on they can lie in a period of dormancy for periods of up to 18 months.
Signs of a bed bug presence are spots of blood on bed clothes and on the base of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to bed bug bites.
The early part of the 21st century has seen bed bug infestations expoding all over 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 fightback not only in cheaper quality housing but first class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night stay in an infested hotel is all it takes, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on all kinds of transport so a simple journey to work on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to bring the infestation to your own home.
They are an tricky pest to deal with as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping person, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both laborious and time consuming. They have even been discovered 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 successfully tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.
Phone Harrier Pest Control on 01772 837727