Bed Bug infestations in Preston, Chorley and Leyland in 2010
One of the most detested and misunderstood pest insect species known to the world is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as children with the words of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs probably started to predate on people at about the time when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bug evolved to feed on human beings when our ancestors started staying} in bat infested caves.
Until the production of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in most low quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest operatives called out to very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to cheap holiday camps and student lodgings etc.
Many people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the naked, with bed bugs which most certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a few milemetres in size and engorged after a feed of human blood.
Bed bugs usually feed on a target’s blood every seven to ten days, appearing in the hours before dawn and locating their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close to their target, they sense body 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.
Often the first sign of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bed clothes and on the corners of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to bed bug bites.
The early part of this century has seen bed bug reports explode all over the planet, the easy availability of overseas and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is positive is that that are now making a real fightback not only in low quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug problems every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night away in an infested bed is all it takes, 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 tricky pest to eradicate as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny suitably close to a sleeping human, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both laborious and time consuming. They have even been revealed found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on very overweight people.
They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.
Telephone Harrier Pest Prevention on 01772 837727
Posted: September 3rd, 2010 under Business.