Please Note: We Dont do Bed Bug Treatment, only offer information.

 

Some Key Bed Bug Facts

• The typical life span of a bed bug is about 12 to 18 months.
  
  
• Bed bugs are able to live for several months without feeding on a host.
  
  
• Female bed bugs can lay up to 300 eggs over their lifetime.
  
  
• Bed bugs eggs hatch within 2 weeks and takes about another 3 to 10 weeks to reach maturity depending upon the temperature and availability of food.
  
  
• Bed bugs are not known to carry disease but their bites can cause allergic reactions in some people.

 

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs (cimex lectularius) are tiny wingless parasitic insects that feed on the blood of humans and other warm blooded mammals.

Generally, bed bugs are most active at night though they are not strictly nocturnal. Their preferred habitat include infesting mattresses or hiding in other common areas where they can easily reach their preys and feed on their blood meals.

 

Can Bed Bugs be seen by the eye?

Adult bed bugs are 6 mm long (or the size of an apple seed) and have flat rusty-brown-colored oval shaped bodies. However after feeding on a blood meal, their bodies can swell to a deeper red brown and up to 10 mm long.

All bed bugs including newly hatched nymphs can be easily seen with the naked human eye.

Bed Bugs Life Cycle

The Bed Bug's life cycle is similar to that of cockroaches. Female Bed Bugs lay a single small, ovoid, milky white egg (under one mm in length) that has a "cap" at one end. The eggs are cemented to surfaces by the female (making them very difficult to dislodge by simple cleaning techniques). Females may lay up to five eggs per day, with a total production of about 500 during their lifetime. The eggs hatch after about ten days, with the nymph Bed Bug pushing open the "cap".

Nymph Bed Bugs look like small versions of the adult, and progress through five molts before reaching the sexually mature adult stage. Development to adult takes about five weeks under average conditions. The nymphs require a blood meal prior to each molt, and the adult females require a blood meal in order to produce each batch of eggs.

Where Do Bed Bugs Live and Hide?

Bed bugs often hide in places that tends to be close to where their hosts sleep such as in crevices and cracks of the bed frame or the mattress; in furniture, behind the skirting, behind the wallpaper.

During the initial early stages of infestation, bed bugs tend to congregate mostly in the seams, tufts and folds of a mattress and then move to the open crevices of the entire bed.

As the bed bug infestations grow larger, the room may carry a distinctive and unpleasant almond-like smell, and they can be anywhere in the home including furnishings, cracks in any wood around the home or electrical boxes. They can also be in found in cloth wall hangings, curtains pleats and loose wall paper plus cracks in wall and ceiling plaster. You should also be able to spot the bed bugs during the day as the infestation increases.

Bed Bugs Feeding Habits

Bed bugs are generally active at night and feed primarily on the blood of humans while they are sleeping. Their feeding activity often peaks with in a couple of hours before sunrise. However bed bugs will also feed at other times if that is when they are given the opportunity.

Attracted by the warmth of the hosts and the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is given off during sleep, bed bugs feed by piercing the skin with two tubes, one that injects the host with its saliva, which contain anticoagulant and anesthetics while the other sucks up the blood. They usually feed for about 3 to 10 minutes before withdrawing to their hiding places. The host that is being bitten usually do not feel the bites until some minutes or hours later where indication of the bites become itchy.

Bed Bug Behavior

Bed Bugs are nocturnal and cryptic, excellent survival characteristics for a parasite. They prefer to live in narrow cracks close to the host's resting site (seeming to prefer horizontal cracks over vertical), and will rarely leave the protection of their harborage until the environment is both dark and quiet. They are gregarious, and like to be in contact with other Bed Bugs when resting.

Feeding usually takes place in the early hours of the morning when the host is immobile, with adults feeding on average about every three to five nights. They locate the host by using environmental clues such as warmth and respiratory signs, and exposed areas of the host are most likely to be selected as feeding sites. Feeding is usually completed within a few minutes.

Bed Bugs produce a "sweet sickly" odor from glands at their anal end as soon as they start to feed. This acts as a stimulant to other Bed Bugs, and causes them to increase their activity in search of food. Feeding causes considerable abdominal swelling of the insect in order to accommodate the blood. This increase in size would prevent the Bed Bug from returning to its harborage, and so it excretes the excess water, retaining only the nutrients and solids. This excreta causes black sticky marks to be left on surfaces near the resting sites.

Adult Bed Bugs usually have a lifespan of about nine months, but have been known to survive much longer during adverse conditions (they may enter a form of inactivity or "hibernation" if the temperature drops below 13 degrees Celsius for extended periods). Additionally, Bed Bug "colonies" have been shown to survive for very long periods without feeding, over a year in some cases. This is believed to be linked to certain altruistic feeding behaviors, and possibly an evolutionary development for exoparasites of migratory hosts such as birds.

 

How to Check If There Are Bed Bugs In My House or Room?

Bed bug bites are usually the first symptoms that you may have bed bugs in the your house or hotel room. You may notice flat welts or raised red bumps that are often accompanied by very intense itching. Secondly, you will get bitten just about every night and you are going to see the bumps and feel it regularly. The bites are also usually isolated to the back of the body, legs and arms. Bed bug bites can also be differentiated from common mosquito bites by the bites unique row or group pattern they have.

You may also see the bed bugs themselves, small bloodstains on your bed sheets from crushed insects, or dark spots from their droppings around your mattresses.

You may also like to try the following steps to check and detect for bed bugs.

 

1. If you suspect you have a bed bug infestation in the house, you need to thoroughly inspect your mattress first. It is best to do this with a bright flashlight to look for bed bugs or their dark droppings in the seams and tufts of your mattress and inside the box spring.
   
   
2. Bed bugs shed an exoskeleton during their molting stage that pile up in there hiding spots. If a bed bug infestation is bad enough the evidence of bed bugs spent skins or carcasses will be easy to spot. The room may also carry a distinctive and unpleasant almond-like smell.
   
   
3. Trapping bed bugs with a double sided sticky tape is also effective. Place it on edges of the mattresses, box spring and around beds on the floor. In about a week you should see bed bugs stuck to the tape if you have a bed bug infestation.
   
   
4. Alternatively, you may also want to get yourself a Bed Bug Beacon to monitor and trap bed bugs that may be in your room. The beacon works by emitting a small amount of carbon dioxide for up to 2 weeks to attract bed bugs into the unit whereby they get trap and cannot escape.

 

How Do Bed Bugs Spread and How Did They Infest My Home?

Bed bugs are introduced to a home through luggage, furniture, bedding and boxes that are moved from home to home or from a hotel. Used furniture, especially bed frames and mattresses, are of greatest risk of harboring bed bugs and their eggs and therefore should be thoroughly inspected before they are brought back into your home.

Since bed bugs are able to survive many months with out feeding they can simply be waiting in what appears to be a clean vacant home. It is also possible for them to move between connected apartments if you have stayed in an area recently where bed bugs are present. Bats and birds are also known to be the carrier and source for the spread of bed bugs.

 

Can Pets Spread Bed Bugs?

The answer is No. Even though bugs feed on pets, these bugs do not live on their host. While it may be possible for pets to transport bugs from one room to another, this is coincidental and not because the pet has become a host. Keep in mind that multiple groups of bed bugs may live in your home. Your pets did not cause this - it's just what these bugs do.

Also, unless you take your pet to an infested area such as a hotel or infested home, your pet cannot bring bugs into your home - even if they spend time outdoors. In most cases, the bed bugs probably burrowed into inanimate objects like the pet carriers, pet blankets and other pet items brought into the infested area - not on your pet.

 

Are Bed Bugs Harmful? Do They Spread Disease?

While bed bugs have been shown to be carriers of certain diseases including the plague and hepatitis B, they do not transmit these diseases to the hosts. It is possible for the areas that have been bitten to develop a bed bug rash and be extremely itchy. Scratching the areas can lead to infections. Ultimately bed bug infestations are not a serious health threat.

How Do I Get Rid of Bed Bugs?

Getting rid of bed bugs require persistence and patience to fully extinguish these challenging pests. While professional pest controlers are very effective they are fairly expensive and may require treatment on more than one occasion to completely eradicate the infestations. However it is also possible to get rid of bed bugs yourself. Some of the things you can do yourself, include:

• Vacuum mattresses, bed frames, carpets and upholstered furniture to remove bed bugs and eggs. Pay particular attention to cracks, crevices and open spaces. Use a stiff brush to scrub the mattress to help dislodge bed bugs and eggs. Immediately after vacuuming, dispose of the vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag in an outdoor bin.
  
  
• Thoroughly clean bedding, linens, curtains, rugs, carpets or garments where bed bugs are likely to hide. Apply bed bug spray to any likely possible infestation areas. If you suspect that there are bed bugs in your bed linen and clothes, remove and wash them in hot water (minimum 120°F) for at least 20 minutes. In additional, a powerful steamer can also be used to clean and sterilize toys, stuffed animals, shoes, luggage or any other items that cannot be easily wash with hot water.
  
  
• If you find bed bugs on your mattress, seal it with a waterproof, hypoallergenic, zippered mattress cover labeled "allergen rated" or "for dust mites". Keep the cover on for at least one year to keep bed bugs out of the mattress, and eventually kill any bed bugs trapped within.
  
  
• Repair and seal any cracks and crevices between baseboards, bed frames and furniture. Similarly, remove or glue down any loose or peeling wallpaper to eliminate bed bugs harborage sites.
  
  
• If necessary, discard of infested items that cannot be cleaned and get rid of any unnecessary clutter. Bag and wrap them in a plastic bag to prevent dislodgement of the bugs en route to the local dumpster.

Because it is hard to get rid of all the bed bugs and their eggs in the first round of treatment it may be necessary that you repeat it weekly to fully eliminate the infestations. If you are still unable to take care of it yourself, hire a professional licensed pest management professional and make sure that they have a well established history of getting rid of bed bugs.

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