Get Rid Of Bed Bugs
Get Rid Of Bed Bugs
Get Rid Of Bed Bugs – Sleep Tight & Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite
One of the most reviled pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us gone 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 possibly started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our forebears started dwelling in bat infested caves.
Until the advent of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in a lot of poor quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century has seen pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug calls indeed, their presence being largely confined to cheap holiday camps and student lodging etc.
Many people confuse dust mites, which are not visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which certainly are.
Adult bedbugs are red-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and very swollen after a feed of our blood.
They experience an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the nymphs are just smaller versions of the adult, they don’t have a maggot stage like fleas or flies.
Bed bugs regularly feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, coming out in the hours before dawn and finding their target by detecting the exhaled CO2 from respiration and when nearing in on their target, infra red body heat.
In the absence of a suitable human host to dine on they can survive for periods of up to 18 months without feeding.
Indications of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the underside of mattresses and many people can react badly to their bites.
The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers increase across the globe, the cheap availability of global travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the increase.
What is sure is that that are now making a real comeback not only in poor quality homes but high class hotels, schools and often hospitals.
One London borough noted a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 – 2001.
A lone night away in an infested hotel is all it requires to become infested, 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, trains and buses so a simple ride to work on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread the infestation to your home.
They are an expensive pest to deal with as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They crawl into any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and treatment is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living beneath the toe-nails of infirm persons and in the folds of flesh on heavily over-weight people.
They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly need to be called in.
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