Are bed bugs biting you ?
Amongst the most detested and misunderstood pest insect species recognized by science may be the bedbug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to rest in the evening as young ones 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 feed on human beings at around the period when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella mostly feed on bats and it's also probable that bat feeding species of bed bugs evolved to feed on human blood when our ancestors started sleeping in bat infested caves.
Before the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common stowaways in most slum quality homes.
The later years of the 20th century saw pest controllers having very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being largely restricted to low quality holiday homes and student lodgings etc.
Most people mistake dust mites, which aren't visible to the naked, with bed bugs which certainly.
Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a few milemetres in size and swollen after dining on the blood of humans.
Bed bugs typically prey on human blood every seven to ten days, appearing in the early hours of the morning and locating their target by sniffing the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when nearby their target, the heat from the body of their intended target.
Without an appropriate human host to dine on they're able to lie dormant for periods as much as a year or more.
The first signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bedding and on the corners 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 multiplying across the world, the easy availability of international and economic migration have both been put forward for the resurgence.
What is positive is that they are now making a real return not just in slum quality housing but first class hotels, schools and also hospitals.
One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug bites infestations annually from 1995 to 2001.
One evening stay in an infested bed is all it requires, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags.
Pest management businesses are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple journey to work on an infested tube or train is often all it takes to bring the infestation to your house.
They are an expensive pest to eradicate as as opposed to popular notion 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 laborious and time consuming. They have even been revealed found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the folds of flesh on very fat people.
They are not a pest that can be dealt with by a novice and a pest control professional will, without doubt be needed.