Bed Bug Bites in Middlewich, Northwich and Weaverham in 2010
One of the most reviled and misunderstood pests known to mankind is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as children with the parting rhyme of our guardians in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?
Bed Bugs most probably started to feed on people at about the period when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella mostly fed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bed bus evolved to feed on man when our ancestors started living} in bat infested caves.
Until the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace guests in most low quality homes.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely restricted to low quality holiday camps and student housing etc.
A lot of people mistake dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly can be seen.
Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after feeding on human blood.
Bed bugs regularly feed on our blood every week or so, emerging in the hours before dawn and locating their target by sniffing 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 host to dine on they can remain in a period of dormancy for periods of up to 18 months.
Often the first sign of a bed bug presence are spots of blood on bedding and on the base of mattresses and many people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.
The early the 21st century has seen bed bug reports growing everywhere on the planet, the easy availability of international and economic migration have both been argued as reasons for the resurgence.
What is known 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 hotel is all it takes, they catch 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 home on an infested tube or train can be all it takes to bring these bugs to your own home.
They are an tricky pest to eradicate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They live in any nook and cranny anywhere 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 grossly over-weight people.
They are not a pest that can be successfully tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Call Harrier Pest Prevention on 0800 019 8382
