Bed Bug infestations in Oldham,Rochdale and Middleton in 2010
One of the most reviled and misunderstood pest insect species known to mankind is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to sleep at night as children with the parting words of our parents in our ears "sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite"?
Bed Bugs probably started to dine on people at around the period when 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 bed bus evolved to feed on human blood when our ancestors started sleeping} in bat infested caves.
Until the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace unwelcome guests in most slum quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest controllers having very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely restricted to budget holiday homes and student housing etc.
A lot of people mistake dust mites, which aren't visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which very definitely are.
Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and swollen after a feed of human blood.
Bed bugs regularly feed on a target's blood every seven to ten days, coming out in the early hours of the morning and locating their target by smelling the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close in on their target, the heat from the body of their intended target.
Lacking a suitable human meal to feed on they can lie dormant for periods of up to a year or more.
The first signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bedding and on the base of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to the bites of these bugs.
The early part of the 21st century has seen bed bug infestations growing all over the planet, the easy availability of international and economic migration have both been given as reasons for the resurgence.
What is sure is that that are now making a real comeback not only in slum quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug problems every year from 1995 to 2001.
|One night away in an infested premises is all it needs, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on transport of all kinds so a simple trip to work on an infested tube or train can be enough to spread bed bugs to your own home.
They are an tricky pest to deal with as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny suitably close to a sleeping human 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 folds of flesh on flabby people.
They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Phone Harrier Pest Control on 01257 230637
