Bed Bugs Facts - Information About Bed Bugs

Worried about bed bugs? Get information and facts about bed bugs, including tips on how to get rid of them.

Cimex lectularius or commonly known as bed bugs are tiny pest that is causing major problems in fast growing urban countries. They are small, wingless insects that will feed on the blood of any warm-blooded animals or mammals.

Though not strictly nocturnal, they are mainly active at night and like to feed between midnight to the early morning wee hours when their host is still asleep. They are known as "bed bugs" because of their preferred feeding habits and infestations near beds where their hosts may sleep. Bed bugs find their hosts by the body heat and the carbon dioxide that the host exhale. Their bites are painless so the host is unaware when they are being bitten.

Additional Key Information About Bed Bugs

The typical lifespan of a bed bug is approximately 12 to 18 months.

A bed bug female can produce up to 5 eggs per day and can lay a total of 300 eggs during her lifetime.

The newly hatched nymph is white or pale yellow in color and will take 21 to 56 days to reach sexual maturity under favorable environment conditions.

Adult bed bugs are ¼ inch long (or about the size of an apple seed) and have a flattened, reddish brown, oval shape body when unfed.

Bed bugs don't spread disease, but their bites can cause redness and itching.

bed bugs

Growing Populations

The spread of bed bugs has been largely attributed to the increase in international travel where they embed themselves in your clothing or luggage when you are staying in a infested hotel room.

Their growing populations can also be attributed to a decrease in the use of powerful pest-killing products such as DDT, that was banned in the 1980s for environmental and health concerns.

Symptoms of Bed Bugs

Usually the first symptoms that you may have bed bugs are waking up to find red, itchy bumps on your skin. The unique characteristic of bed bug bites are the bites are always reported in a row or clustered pattern.

You may also find tiny bloodstains on your bed sheets from crushed bugs, or dark spots from their droppings around your mattresses.

In severe infestations, the room will carry a distinctive and unpleasant almond-like smell.

How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Proper housekeeping such as deep vacuuming mattresses, upholstered furniture and floors can help remove the bugs. Pay particular attention to any cracks, crevices and open spaces on the walls, floors or upholstered furniture.

Repairing and sealing any cracks and crevices with caulking will help to stop any new infestations.

Laundered linens and clothes in hot water for at least 20 minutes at temperature above 120°F will kill the bugs. For bigger items, use the dryer or get a bed bug steamer.

Applying diatomaceous earth powder to possible infested areas will kill bed bugs when the bugs come into contact with the powder.

In addition, sealing your mattress with allergy proof mattress covers will help prevent bed bug bites and eventually kill any bed bugs and eggs that are trapped within.

Get Rid of bed Bugs With Professional Exterminators

Getting rid of bed bugs will unquestionably be a long-winded and demanding task. If you feel that you do not have the time or the energy to execute the extermination well on your own, it is advisable to hire a pest control expert who have invested in the knowledge, training and equipment to do the job well and guarantee the success of the extermination operation.

Click Here To Get A Free Quote From Your Local Bed Bug Exterminator!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Bedbugs Back On The Rise In the U.S.

Although bedbugs were virtually eradicated in the United States by the 1960s, increased international travel and restrictions on pesticides have caused a resurgence in places ranging from nursing homes to dormitories to movie theaters. In fact, travelers who carry the insects in their luggage and clothing are the most common recipients of bites.

The National Pest Management Association has reported a 71-percent increase in bedbug infestation in the U.S. since 2001.

Bedbugs leave a bite similar in appearance to that from a mosquito, which takes 10 to 14 days to surface. Once the itching starts, the bite normally lasts for about a month.

While bothersome, a recent U.S. study found bedbugs rarely, if ever, transmit disease. Systemic reactions have been reported but are rare.

According to researchers, the name "bedbug" can actually be misleading.

"They don't stay in the bed," entomologist and bedbug expert at the University of Florida Phil Koehler, Ph.D., said. "They can be found just about everywhere in the room, and they can be found in sofas. They can be found even in wall sockets, and even inside wall void. Probably, about 30 percent are going to be found in other areas of the room you wouldn't even think of."

Standard treatment for the removal of bedbugs involves replacing furniture or using insecticides.

Researchers at the University of Florida have pioneered a removal system that costs about $300 to put together and keeps furniture intact.

"The idea is that it only takes about 113 degrees Fahrenheit to kill bedbugs," Dr. Koehler said.

The treatment involves building a Styrofoam box around a cluster of the infected furniture and heating up the area using an oil-based space heater. The air is heated to about 140 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit so the furniture reaches at least 113 degrees.

Dr. Koehler said it usually takes about two and half hours to reach the necessary temperature. The walls of the room are treated with insecticides to ensure all bugs are eliminated.

Source: http://news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=265850&SecID=2

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Get Rid of Bed Bugs For Less Than $20

Think you've got bed bugs? For $15, you can build your own bed bug detector with simple materials. You won't even need tools or special skills to assemble it, and it will work as well as professional exterminating equipment.

A "less than $20" solution developed by a Rutgers entomology professor Changlu Wang
which attracts the insects, who climb the fabrics to get at what they think is a live human, and become trapped in the grooves surrounding the inverted bowls.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Rutgers University Researcher Studies Bed Bugs

You couldn't blame Rutgers University researcher Changlu Wang for not wanting to bring his work home with him. Wang, an entomologist, studies the feeding habits of the dreaded blood-sucking bedbug, which has made a comeback of late in the urban Northeast.

Wang is working with researchers from other universities to develop methods to detect, capture and eradicate the pests.

Q. Why has the bedbug made a resurgence?

There are several reasons. None is the deciding factor: increased international travel, a lack of effective pesticides, immigrant workers, insecticide resistance and a lack of detection tools. People don't find them early enough to stem an outbreak. … My interest is in developing some monitoring methods and tools. Visual inspection is often difficult and there are many by the time you see them.

Q. Is New Jersey vulnerable?

It's very common in New Jersey. There are lots of people in multifamily units and we are one of the most densely populated states. We've seen in apartment buildings that they can spread down the hall.

Q. What can people do to prevent an infestation?

Don't accept any used furniture until you're absolutely sure it doesn't have any bedbugs. Also be careful if you are visiting someone's home. Home health-care workers are very concerned; sometimes they can literally see the bedbugs crawl out of someone's sofa. If someone is visiting you, make sure there are no bedbugs in their luggage.

Some of the pesticides that were most effective, such as DDT, were banned for fear of their effect on human health.

Q. What chemical-free solutions are there to repel and get rid of the pests?

You can buy special bedding encasement; they will die because they cannot get out. You can put some barriers under furniture. Some companies also use hot steam machines to apply to furniture to kill the bed bugs. There are heat chambers. Some companies freeze them, but that is relatively expensive. It's difficult. No matter how careful you are, you probably can't get them all.

Q. Do you worry that your work will come home with you?


I've gotten bedbugs several times. I went to apartments with several thousands of them. But they can be easily killed if you quickly wash them and your clothes when you go home.

Maybe in the future we can develop a repellent.

Source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/81947572_Rutgers_itching_to_eradicate_pesky_bedbugs.html

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Bed Bug Video

The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is featuring a bed bug video on its YouTube channel: