One of the most hated and least understood pest species known to science is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as young ones with the parting words of our guardians in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs may have started to dine on man at about the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella primarily 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 sleeping} in bat infested caves.
Until the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in most poor quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest controllers having very few bed bug problems indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to low quality holiday camps and student accomadation etc.
Most people mistake dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which deinitely.
Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a few milemetres in size and swollen after dining on human blood.
Bed bugs typically feed on our blood every week or so, emerging in the early hours of the morning and homing in on their target by smelling the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when closing in on their target, they sense body body heat.
In the absence of a suitable human meal to dine on they can stay in a period of dormancy for periods of up to a year or more.
Bed Bugs
The first signs of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the corners of mattresses and many people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.
The early the 21st century has seen bed bug numbers multiplying across the planet, the easy availability of international and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is sure is that that are now making a real comeback not only in cheaper quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug reports every year from 1995 to 2001.
One night away in an infested bed is all it requires, 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 all it takes 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 anywhere close to a sleeping person, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both tricky 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 overweight people.
A way of stopping 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 entering your mattress.
Pop along to the Protect-a-bed bed bug proof protector mattress encasements site for further details.
They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Contact us on 0800 019 8382
