One of the most reviled and misunderstood pest species known to science is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dropped off to sleep at night as children with the parting rhyme of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs may have started to predate on man at around the period we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella mostly fed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on human blood when our forebears started living} in bat infested caves.
Up to the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in most slum quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives having very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being generally 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 most certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after feeding on human blood.
Bed bugs regularly feed on our blood every few days, appearing in the hours before dawn and finding their target by smelling the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when nearby their target, they sense infra red heat.
Lacking a suitable human host to feed on they can stay in a period of dormancy for periods of up to 18 months.
Bed Bugs
The first signs of a bed bug infestation 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 the 21st century has seen bed bug reports growing all over the planet, the easy availability of overseas and economic migration have both been argued as reasons for the resurgence.
What is known is that that are now making a real fightback not only in lower quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reported a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 to 2001.
One night away in an infested premises is all it needs, 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 and buses so a simple trip home on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to bring bed bugs to your own home.
They are an expensive pest to eradicate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They hide in any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping target, 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 fat people.
A way of preventing bed bug infestation is to fit your bed with Protect-a-bed bed bug proof protector mattress encasements.
Protect-a-bed bed bug proof protector mattress encasements stop bed bugs from gaining access to your mattress.
Visit to the Protect-a-bed bed bug proof protector mattress encasements site for full details.
They are not a pest that can be successfully tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.
Call us on 01204 689361