The Household Pest Called Bed Bugs
Posted by Owen Jones in Uncategorized, tags: animals, bed bugs, bedroom, disease, environment, family, health, home, home improvement, hotels, interior design, nature, other, pests, UncategorizedInsects are quite amazing animals and very few species are given the credit that they deserve for cleaning up our planet and acting as food for more traditionally beautiful creatures like birds, However, there are also insects, the existence of which is a problem to be happy about. One such insect is the household pest known as bed bugs.
I cannot believe that the lowly bed bug has a friend in the world other that its fellow bed bugs. Bed bugs tend to live in bedrooms, near their usual prey, so they do not have natural enemies except millipedes, but not many bedrooms contain enough millipedes to reduce a population of bed bugs.
In fact, most people would be just as anxious if their bedroom did have hundreds of millipedes as they would be concerning bed bugs. So, bedbugs tend to just grow in number at an alarming rate as there is nothing to keep their numbers in check.
The bedbug is officially called Cimex lectularius. It is a small, reddish brown, wingless insect that can run very quickly. You might see a small beetle the size, colour and shape of an apple pip running very quickly in the shadows tight to the skirting boards. These are bedbugs.
On the way out to dine, it will move quickly, but on the way hone it will be slower because it will be full of your blood. They find their prey by following exhaled breath and while they arrive, they release pheromones to alert their friends that there is food on the table or on the bed at least.
These household pests live quite near their regular source of food, which means near a bed in a bedroom. They might live in the mattress if it is tattered, in crevices of the bed frame or near-by furniture or behind loose skintings.
Furthermore, they are able to live quite happily in furniture or between the pages of books and magazines.. Fractured plaster or curling wallpaper are also favourite hiding places. This is a real problem because they will get their heads down almost anywhere, even in a recessed screw hole.
They tend to sleep during the daytime and most of the night as well, but they are most lively an hour before dawn when they come out if they need a feed. They can last for months without feeding, so if you are being bitten regularly then you know that you have many bed bugs in your home.
If you have an infestation, you should know about it because of the itchy bites and marks, but you might also see marks of them on your bed sheets. If you see red or brown streaks on your sheets, you almost certainly do have them. The red marks are your blood and the brown marks are faeces or your digested blood. You might also see shed skins as they moult.
Bed bugs are very difficult to be rid of, so if you would like to do it yourself, find out how to go about it. Spraying pesticide will not do it or call in the contractors.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on numerous topics, but is currently concerned with bed bugs treatment. If you want to know more, please go over to our website now at Pest Management at Home.
Entries (RSS)