Bed Bug infestations in Oldham,Rochdale and Middleton in 2010
One of the most reviled and lesser known pests known to man is the bed bug Cimex lectularius. Most of us dozed off to sleep at night as young ones with the words of our guardians in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”
Bed Bugs may have started to dine on man at about the time we started sleeping in, bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on our blood when our ancestors began living in bat infested caves.
Until the production of DDT in the early part of the 20th century bed bugs were common inhabitants in most poor quality homes.
The later decades of the 20th century saw pest control companies called out to very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being usually confined to cheap holiday hotels and student accomodation etc.
Many people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the naked eye, with bed bugs which certainly are.
Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and very engorged after feeding on human blood.
Lacking a suitable human meal to feed on they can lay dormant for lengthy periods of up to 18 months.
Signs of a bed bug problems are oftenspots of blood on bed-sheets and on the corners of mattresses and some people can react extremely badly to their bites.
The early 21st century saw bed bug reports booming across the entire planet, the cheap availability of international travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is definite is that that are now making a real comeback not only in poor quality homes but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
A single stay in an infested hotel is all it needs, they stowaway in your clothing or bags. Pest control companies are also now seeing 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 sufficient to spread the these pests into your own house.
They are an tricky pest to eradicate as contrary to popular notion they do not just hide in beds. They live in any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping target, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and clearing them is both expensive and time consuming. They have even been revealed 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.
Phone Manchester Pest Control now on 0161 930 8814
