Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs or Cimex lectularis. Just as their name implies, are pests that can bug you to the point of making you uncomfortable in your own home. In this article, we’ll give you all the basic information you need to know about bed bugs.

Anatomy of bed bugs

Head
Antenna
Wing pad
Clypeus
Abdomen
Pronotum
Leg

Physical features

The insect is oval shaped, reddish-brown insects with a body size almost as small as the size of an apple seed. Ideally, they have flat abdomen, but their abdomen may be slightly protruded after a heavy blood meal.

Species and Habitat

They live in homes, hotels, hostels or any other place people sleep. Can easily move from one location to the other by sneaking into luggage, and coming along with the ride. It takes just a single bed bug for an infestation to start. Once it lays an egg and reproduce, the whole place would start swarming with bugs in no time. There are about 90 different species of insect that feed on blood. They belong to the family Cimicidae, and only a few species feed on human blood.

Cimex Lectularis

Cimex lectularis is the most popular specie of bed bugs, commonly found in the United States and other parts of the world, especially in temperate and subtropical regions. It feeds mainly on human blood, but in the absence of humans, they could feed on other mammals and even birds.

Cimex Hemipterus

Just like Cimex Lectularis, Cimex Hemipterus also feeds on other mammals in the absence of humans. They live mostly in the tropics, and have been the cause of major concerns in California and Florida.

Characteristics

This insect mostly hide in the day, and crawl out at night to suck human blood. They are attracted to carbon dioxide and heat emitted from human body. Once they get to their victim and start biting, they may leave linear bite marks, a single bite mark or several bite marks, depending on the victim’s response during the bite, and the number of bugs preying on the person. Sometimes, bites do not become visible on the skin.

Within two to five days of each blood meal, the insect will stay in their hiding place to digest the food, mate and reproduce, before they go for another round of blood meal. The newly hatched bugs start feeding on blood immediately, as they need blood meals to pass each stage of their five nymph stages.

Life cycle of a bed bug

A female can lay 200 to 500 eggs all throughout its life. The egg hatch and passes through five nymph stages to get to full maturity in about 35 days. There live for a period of 7 to 12 months.

Where are bed bugs found?

Just as their name implies, tis insect love to live around beds. They may hide inside the seams of the mattress, in the corners under the bed springs, inside wall cracks or any other place they can hide close to the bed. They may also hide in upholstered furniture or any other cozy and hidden place near the place of sleep.

Why are bed bugs becoming rampant?

Some decades ago, this insect almost completely disappeared from the United States. However, since the 1990s, it has re-emerged, and is spreading at a very alarming rate. Although the course of this re-emergence is still unknown, it is believed that international travel and migration has a huge role to play in this recent infestation.

How do beg bug bites look?

Different persons react to insect bites in different ways. While bite marks are visible on some people, they could be invisible in other persons. Bite marks, however, aren’t the best indicators of infestation because they may look similar to mosquito bites or bites of other insects.

To know if you’ve been bitten, look out for the following:

Reddish welts
Itching and burning
Rash across a particular area

Do bed bugs transmit infectious disease?

Bed bugs have not been indicted as vectors of any disease, but some people may develop adverse allergic reactions induced by bed bugs, and this may require medical attention.

Why don’t people wake up when bed bugs bite them?

When bed bugs bite, they secrete an anesthetic in their saliva, which makes the bite painless. Their saliva also contains anticoagulants, which causes the blood to flow without clothing when they’re feeding.

Travel tips to prevent bringing home bed bugs

As mentioned above, it is believed that cross-border travels have a huge role to play in the re-emergence of bed bugs in the United States. These insects could crawl into bags, cloths and luggage and travel from one country to the other.

To avoid bringing them home when you travel, it is necessary that you check the reviews of a hotel to make sure there are no reports of bed bug infestation, before you book a room in the hotel.

When you enter a hotel, inspect the room to check if there are bed bugs before you unpack your luggage. Places you should check include nightstands, dresses, mattress seams, baseboards and furniture. Look out for signs like fecal stains, blood spots and shed skin.

How to get rid of bed bugs

Due to their rapid reproduction rate and the fact that they can hide in very unlikely places, getting rid of bed bug is a very tedious task. It is very difficult to know the exact spot to start tackling from, as they can hide in so many places, including furniture. Door frames, cracks on the wall, baseboards, wardrobes, just name it! How to get rid of Bed Bugs Fast…

To get rid of bed bugs, you have to inspect all these areas carefully. Turn everything in the house upside-down, especially in the bedroom and anywhere else that people sleep. If you miss any one, it could reproduce and begin a fresh round of infestation.

Facts and Myths

There are so many erroneous myths, just as there are true facts, about bed bugs, which a lot of persons still need clarification on. In this piece, we have compiled all the facts and myths that’ll help you know more about this blood-sucking pest. Listed below are some general myths about bed bugs.

Bed Bugs only crawl out to feed at night? – It is common knowledge that bed bugs are essentially nocturnal. However, they are nocturnal because you sleep at night, and that’s the best time to suck your blood- when you’re asleep. If for any reason, your sleeping pattern changes, and you begin to sleep in the day and stay awake all night, will also adjust and start crawling out to feed on you in the day, when you’re asleep.

Seeing eggs and exoskeletons in your house? – This is a sure signs of bed bug infestation. This myth is mostly false because other insects also shed their exoskeletons, and it is quite difficult to recognize bed bug eggs. Hence, you may mistake eggs and exoskeletons of other insects to be those of bed bugs.

Live in clothes? – This myth is very correct because hiding inside clothes is a very convenient way for bed bugs to hitch a free ride when one is traveling. People traveling a long distance can thus unknowingly transport bed bugs to their homes.

Leave dark stains on sheets? – This is also correct. When bed bugs feed on blood, they urinate and defecate at the same time. These excrement leave brownish stains on the bed sheets and other surfaces.

Can survive for up to one year without feeding? – Although so many websites make this claim, it is mostly false because bed bugs can only stay that long without feeding if the temperature is below 10 degrees all year round (and this is exclusive to adult bed bugs). However, since it is impossible for the temperature to stay that low for a whole year, bed bugs can only survive for about 100 days without feeding.

It is only advisable to throw away infested mattress? – Some people claim that the there’s no other way to handle infested mattress apart from throwing it away. This is false. Infested mattresses can be made rid of bed bugs by subjecting them to heat treatment.

Allergic to light? – This is very wrong. As long as a bed bug is blood-thirsty, and your body emits heat and carbon dioxide, it will crawl out and bite you whether your lights are turned on or not.

Remove clutter and vacuuming helps curb infestation? – This is true because it is very easy for bed bugs to hide in cluttered places. Once the cluttering is reduced, they become more exposed and easy to exterminate.

Are only found in urban cities? – This is very wrong. This insect can be found anywhere, both in cities and rural villages. In fact, a survey conducted by the NPMA, tagged “Bed Bugs in America,” shows that they live in all fifty states of the country. This is also true for the UK, where London has the highest number of bed bugs.

Can the insect survive a temperature of -50°C? – This is false. According to a study published on Science News, bed bugs cannot survive such extremely low temperatures. Only bed bug eggs, however, can survive temperatures of as low as -25°C, but only for a few minutes.

Bed bugs can fly? They have wings? – This is wrong. Bed bugs can only crawl. Their limbs are not even strong enough to jump, and they don’t have wings to fly.

Bed bugs can hide in kitchen appliances? – This is correct. As we’ve already established, bed bugs like to hide in dark places. For them, finding a dark and warm place is like finding a goldmine. This is why it is not uncommon to find bedbugs inside warm kitchen appliances like recently turned-off oven.

Keeping suitcases away reduces risk of bed bugs infestation? – This is true. Actually, when you travel, it is advisable that you keep your suitcase away from the floor, wardrobe or near the bed. It is ideal to keep it on a rack or on top of the wardrobe because it is difficult.

Bed bug bites aren’t infectious? – To a large extent, this is true, but in some cases, bet bug bites can cause skin irritation that may result in secondary skin infection.

It’s hard to differentiate beg bug bite from other insect bites? – Flea, tick and mosquito bites closely resemble bed bub bites, so it is quite tricky to differentiate their bites from bed bug bites.

Bed bugs are developing resistance strains? – This is true and very frightening. Scientists have found that bed bugs are becoming resistant to pyrethroid and other organic compounds used in fumigation. You may want to read more on this if you’re interested in learning about the evolution trend of bed bugs.

Bed bugs cannot survive temperature of 50° and above? – This is quite arguable. Although bed bugs will not live comfortably at temperatures of 50°, and control specialist may need to heat up premises to about 56°c before they can satisfactorily declare that the bugs have been exterminated.

Repeated fumigation maybe necessary to completely eliminate an infestation? – Unfortunately, this is true. If you fumigate with pesticide, you may need to repeat the procedure from time to time before you can eliminate the bugs. You’d also need to avoid wiping the fumigated surfaces, and also follow the post-fumigation instructions. Professional heat treatment is, however, a more potent way of clearing out this insect without repeating the procedure.

General Facts about Bed Bugs

From mattress to upholstery, wardrobe and cracks on the wall, Bed Bugs can live in any part of your home. – As long as the place is dark and relatively warm, they can find a dwelling place in any part of your home.

Adult may grow to a height of 7mm. – Ideally, an adult will measures about 6mm, but sometimes, with enough blood meal, they could grow up to 7mm. The usual length of a bed bug however is 5 to 6 mm.

They thrive better under temperatures of 70 to 80F (21-26°C) – This temperature is ideal for reproduction. They are however eliminated by heat treatment at temperatures of 132F (56°C) and above.

You can predict the activities of these insects? – With careful observation and a little studying, you can predict their activities, especially their feeding habits. It’s quite easy to know that they prefer to live around mattresses, especially underneath; and they don’t spend above 10 minutes on their victims.

A single female can produce up to 500 eggs throughout its life. – They reproduce rapidly. A single adult female can lay 200 to 500 eggs throughout its lifetime, and they live for approximately 300 days.

This insect can crawl up to 30 meters to feed on their victims. – When the surroundings close to the bed aren’t conducive for the insect to hide, they can move away to distance of up to 30 meters, and from there, they’d still find a way to crawl to their victims to take a bite.

Bed bugs undergo Metamorphosis. – Just like other insects, they go through different stages before getting to adulthood. Each of these stages also requires blood meal.

Males have bigger abdomen than the females. – The abdomen size is one important identification factor you can use to differentiate males from the females.

Are bites painless. – The insect tries to make their bites as painless as possible by secreting saliva when they bite their victims. The saliva contains an anesthetic compound that reduces the pain and increases blood flow at the bitten place. Read More…