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One of the most detested and least understood pest species known to the world is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us fell asleep to sleep at night as kids with the words of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?

Bed Bugs may have started to predate on man at around the time when we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella largely feed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bug evolved to feed on human blood when our forebears started living} in bat infested caves.

Until the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were commonplace stowaways in most low quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives dealing with very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to cheap holiday homes and student lodgings etc.

Most people mistake dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly can be seen.

Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after feeding on human blood.

Bed bugs typically feed on our blood every few days, emerging in the early hours of the morning and homing in on their target by sniffing the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when nearby their target, they sense body body heat.

In the absence of a suitable human meal to feed on they can stay dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Bed Bug Bites

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

The early part of this century has seen bed bug reports expoding everywhere on the planet, the easy availability of world travel and economic migration have both been given as reasons for the resurgence.

What is sure is that that are now making a real comeback not only in cheaper quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 to 2001.

|One night away in an infested premises is all it requires, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes and buses so a simple journey to work on an infested tube or train can be enough to spread these bugs to your own home.

They are an expensive pest to eradicate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They live in any nook and cranny suitably close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both tricky and time consuming. They have even been discovered found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on grossly over-weight people.

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

Call Harrier Pest Control on 0800 019 8382