CovSearch Blog

One of the most hated and misunderstood pest species known to the world is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as kids with the words of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?

Bed Bugs may have started to predate on people at around the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella largely fed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on human blood when our forebears started living} in bat infested caves.

Until the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common guests in most low quality homes.

The later years of the 20th century saw pest control companies having very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being largely restricted to cheap holiday hotels and student lodgings etc.

Most people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the naked, with bed bugs which very definitely are.

Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a few milemetres in size and swollen after feeding on human blood.

Bed bugs usually feed on a target’s blood every week or so, appearing in the hours before dawn and locating their target by detecting the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when nearby their target, the heat from the body of their intended target.

Without a suitable human meal to dine on they can remain dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Bed Bug Bites

The first signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bedding and on the edges of mattresses and many people can react badly to bed bug bites.

The early part of this century has seen bed bug reports 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 cheaper quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough reported a doubling of bed bug problems every year from 1995 to 2001.

|One night away in an infested premises 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 tubes, trains and buses so a simple trip home on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to bring the infestation to your own home.

They are an difficult pest to eradicate as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human, 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 folds of flesh on very overweight people.

They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.

Telephone Harrier Pest Prevention on 0161 930 8814

http://www.joesniff.co.uk/