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

Bed Bugs probably started to feed on man at around the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella mainly fed on bats and it is a fair chance that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on human beings when our ancestors started staying} 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 controllers having very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to cheap holiday camps and student lodgings etc.

A lot of people mistake dust mites, which cannot be seen by the naked, with bed bugs which very definitely are.

Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, about a few milemetres in size and very swollen after a feed of human blood.

Bed bugs usually feed on human blood every week or so, appearing in the hours before dawn and locating their target by smelling the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close in on their target, the heat from the body of their intended target.

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

Bed Bug Bites

The first signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on sheets 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 infestations multiplying all over the planet, the easy availability of overseas and economic migration have both been argued as reasons for the resurgence.

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

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

|One night away in an infested hotel 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 transport of all kinds so a simple trip to work on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread bed bugs to your own home.

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

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

Call Harrier Pest Control on 0161 930 8814