One of the most reviled and misunderstood pests known to mankind is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as youngsters with the parting rhyme of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs most probably started to dine on human beings at around the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex 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 living in bat infested caves.
Before the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace unwelcome guests in most low quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest operatives having very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being generally restricted to low quality holiday homes and student housing etc.
Many people mistake dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which deinitely.
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and swollen after feeding on human blood.
Bed bugs typically feed on human blood every week or so, emerging in the hours before dawn and finding their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close in on their target, they sense body heat.
In the absence of a suitable human host to dine on they can stay in a period of dormancy for periods of up to a year or more.
Signs of a bed bug presence are spots of blood on bed clothes and on the edges of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.
The early part of this century has seen bed bug numbers growing 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 return not only in low quality housing but first class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug problems every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night stay in an infested premises 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 ride home on an infested tube or train can be all it takes to bring bed bugs to your own home.
They are an expensive 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 human being, 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 folds of flesh on very overweight 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 Prevention on 0161 930 8814