One of the most reviled and lesser known pests known to man is the bed bug Cimex lectularius. Many of us dozed off to sleep at night as infants with the words of our elders in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”
Bed Bugs may have started to dine on people at about the period we started living in, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bug evolved to feed on our blood when our ancestors commenced sleeping in bat infested caves.
Before the popularity of DDT in the early 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 problems indeed, their presence being mainly restricted to cheap holiday lodgings and student halls etc.
Most people mistake dust mites, which can’t be seen by to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly are.
Adult bedbugs are red-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and very engorged after a feed of human blood.
Lacking a suitable human meal to feed on they can remain dormant for lengthy periods of up to 18 months.
The first signs of a bed bug infestation are oftenspots of blood on duvets and on the edges of mattresses and many people can react extremely badly to their bites.
The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers expanding across the entire planet, the easy availability of international travel and economic migration have both been cited as reasons for the resurgence.
What is positive is that that are now making a real comeback not only in poor quality properties but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One night stay in an infested bed is all it needs, they stowaway in your clothing or bags. Pest control operatives 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 can be enough to spread the these bugs to your own home.
They are an difficult pest to deal with as contrary to popular opinion they do not just stay in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping person, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and clearing them is both tricky 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 over-weight people.
They are not a pest that can be dealt with by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.
Phone Manchester Pest Control now on 01257 230637
