Bed Bugs: Facts, Identification & Control

Latin Name:           

Cimex lectularius L.

Appearance:

Bed bugs are flat, reddish-brown, oval insects about 3/16-inch long or the size of an apple seed. Swollen and reddish after a blood meal.

Habit:

Cracks and crevices including mattress seams, sheets, furniture, behind baseboards, electrical outlet plates and picture frames. Often found in hotels, where they can travel from room to room and in visitors’ luggage.

Diet:

Feed on blood.

Reproduction:

Females can produce one to five eggs a day, and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in her lifetime. Under normal room temperatures and with an adequate food supply, they can live over 300 days.

Bed Bugs Facts:

• Cimex lectularius probably received its name of “Bed Bug” because they are commonly found where humans sleep. However, they can also be found on buses and trains, in theaters, restaurant booths, locker rooms, and even in office spaces.
• Hatching bed bugs are about the size of a poppy seed, and adults are about 1/4 of an inch in length.
• Bed bugs are reddish brown, wingless insects, oval and flat, about the size of an apple seed.
• Their color ranges from nearly white (just after molting) or a light tan to a deep brown or burnt orange. The host’s blood may appear as a dark red or black mass within the bug’s body.
• Bed bugs also emit a musty odor from their glands and sometimes leave their eggs and molted skins in or around infested areas.
•  Because they never develop wings, bed bugs cannot fly.  They also are not equipped to jump long distances (unlike other wingless insects such as fleas).  
• Even though bed bugs are skilled climbers, bed bugs typically move from host to host by crawling. Some studies show that they climb great heights in order to drop themselves down to lower surfaces that were otherwise inaccessible to them. Bedbugs may scale walls in order to descend upon beds and other places to find food.
• Bed bugs are most active in the middle of the night, but when hungry, they will venture out during the day to seek a host.
• They feed solely upon the blood of warm-blooded animals.
• Bed bugs and their relatives have evolved as nest parasites.
• During the day, they hide in the cracks and crevices of beds, box springs, headboards and bed frames. It's a daunting task to eliminate bedbugs from your home. Professional help is recommended. 
• Bites can leave itchy, welts on the skin and can cause allergic reactions, such as severe itching.  The bites may leave red bumps and marks!
• Although their bite can cause irritation and even infection, bedbugs do not carry or transmit diseases. Bedbug bites can become itchy and may leave red bumps and marks.

Life Cycle of Bed bugs

There are 5 stages for bed bugs to reach maturity, which usually takes about 32-48 days.

• Bed bugs occur nearly worldwide. Bed bugs became relatively scarce during the latter part of the 20th century, but their populations have had a resurgence in  in recent years, particularly throughout parts of North America, Europe, and Australia.
• Bed bugs are on the rise, and many studies have linked outbreaks to tourism. 
• Bed bugs also have been found in schools, health care facilities, trains and buses, offices and yet other kinds of structures.
• Bed bugs are easily transported into previously non-infested dwellings.

• Because bed bugs readily hide in small crevices, they and their eggs may accompany (as stowaways) luggage, furniture, clothing, pillows, briefcases, purses, boxes, and other such objects when these are moved between homes, hotels, offices and yet other places.

• Detecting bed bugs can be difficult, as they are both nocturnal and small in size. They can be found in bed sheets, box springs, walls, clothing and luggage.  They prefer tight crevices and dark locations where they can remain hidden and protected because they can conceal themselves with their flattened body.  Mattresses and other furniture may also host these parasitic insects.
• Bed bugs are most abundant in rooms where people sleep, and they generally hide nearest the bed or other furniture used for sleeping.
• Evidence of a bed bug infestation may be found in bedding and on mattresses. Bloodstains on sheets may be found since people may crush the bed bugs upon rolling and sleeping on them.  Live bed bugs leave clusters of dark brown or black spots of dried excrement on infested surfaces. 

• Search for signs of bed bugs - Carefully inspect bed frames, mattresses, and other furniture for signs of bed bugs and their eggs. Evidence of an infestation will be tiny black speckled droppings on a mattress or box spring, molted skins castings, and eggs. The other sign is obviously bites.
• If you detect an infestation of Bed bugs, Pest Control professionals administer the most effective treatments. Home remedies and those available in stores are rarely effective in treating an entire bedbug infestation.
• Battling bed bugs can be remarkably different than to combat other bugs. Hence, it is critical to ensure that the bugs are correctly identified by an independent and competent source BEFORE you attempt to take action. 
• Managing bed bugs often requires a multi-faceted approach that generally includes cleaning, room modifications, and insecticidal treatments to the residence.

If you have detected a bedbug infestation within your home, contact pest control professionals at Inter-County Exterminators, Inc. or Victory Pest Control, Inc. at (718) 723-2072 or (516) 683-1011, and they would be glad to discuss extermination options.

Images of Bedbugs:

(click to enlarge)

I’m sure we’ve all heard our parents warn, “Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”, as we toddled off to bed…but most of us have never considered that bed bugs were real pests, because most of us have never seen a bed bug.