One of the most hated and least known pests known to science is the bed bug C lectularius. Many of us dozed off 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 around the period we started living in, bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella largely feed on bats and it is possible that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on our blood when our ancestors commenced living in bat infested caves.
Until the popularity of DDT in the early part of the 20th century bed bugs were common guests in most poor quality homes.
The later half of the twentieth century saw pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being usually confined to cheap holiday lodgings and student halls etc.
Many people confuse dust mites, which can’t be seen by to the naked eye, with bed bugs which most certainly are.
Adult bedbugs are red-brown, about a a few milemetres in size and very swollen after dining on human blood.
Without a suitable human being to feed on they can remain dormant for periods of up to 18 months.
Signs of a bed bug problems are oftenspots of blood on duvets and on the seems of mattresses and many people can react very badly to bed bug bites.
The early 21st century has seen bed bug reports booming across the whole planet, the cheap availability of international travel and economic migration have both been cited as reasons for the comeback.
What is positive is that that are now making a real comeback not only in lower quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
A single away in an infested hotel is all it takes, they stowaway in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now seeing cases of transport related bed bug infestations on trains, tubes and buses so a simple journey home on an infested tube or train can be all it takes to bring the infestation to your own home.
They are an difficult pest to deal with as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They live in any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping target, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and clearing them is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been revealed found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh of very fat people.
Bed bugs are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.
Call Manchester Pest Control now on 01257 230637