Just one of the most reviled and least understood pest insect species recognized by science could be the bedbug (Cimex lectularius). What number of us dozed off to rest in the evening as young ones with the parting rhyme of our mom and dad inside our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs may have started to feed on people at about the period when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella largely feed on bats and it’s also likely that bat feeding species of bug evolved to feed on man when our forebears started living in bat infested caves.
Before the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace stowaways in most slum quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest control companies called out to very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely restricted to budget holiday homes and student accomadation etc.
Most people mistake dust mites, which aren’t visible to the naked, with bed bugs which very definitely are.
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and swollen after a feed of the blood of humans.
Bed bugs usually prey on human blood every few days, coming out in the early hours of the morning and locating their target by smelling the exhaled CO2 from human breath and once closing in on their target, they sense infra red heat.
In the absence of an appropriate human meal to dine on they are able to stay dormant for periods as much as a year or more.
Often the first sign of a bedbug problem are spots of blood on sheets and on the base of mattresses and many people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.
The early part of the 21st century has seen bed bug infestations expoding all over the world, the easy use of overseas and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is sure is that they are now making a real resurgence not only in low quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug bites infestations yearly from 1995 to 2001.
One evening away in an infested premises is all it needs, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags.
Pest control businesses are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on transport of all kinds so a straightforward trip home on an infested tube or train can be all it takes to spread the infestation to your house.
They are an tricky pest to deal with as contrary to popular belief they don’t just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny anywhere 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 creases of flesh on grossly over-weight people.
They are not a pest that can be dealt with by a novice and a pest control professional will definitely be vital.