One of the most hated and least understood pest species known to mankind is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dropped off to sleep at night as children with the parting rhyme of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?

Bed Bugs most probably started to predate on human beings at around the period when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella largely feed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bug evolved to feed on human beings when our ancestors started sleeping} in bat infested caves.

Up to the production of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace stowaways in most poor quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to budget holiday hotels and student accomadation etc.

A lot of people confuse dust mites, which cannot be seen by the naked, with bed bugs which deinitely.

Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after dining on human blood.

Bed bugs regularly feed on our blood every seven to ten days, coming out in the hours before dawn and homing in on their target by smelling the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close to their target, they sense infra red heat.

Lacking a suitable human meal to dine on they can remain dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Bed Bugs

Signs of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bed clothes and on the base of mattresses and many people can react badly to bed bug bites.

The early the 21st century has seen bed bug reports growing everywhere on the planet, the easy availability of overseas and economic migration have both been given as reasons for the resurgence.

What is sure is that that are now making a real fightback not only in lower quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough cited a doubling of bed bugs reports every year from 1995 to 2001.

One night away in an infested hotel is all it needs, they catch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Stretford Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple trip home on an infested tube or train can be enough to bring the infestation to your own home.

They are an tricky pest to deal with as contrary to popular belief they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human being, 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 creases of flesh on very overweight people.

They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.

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