Thursday 12 April 2012

Facts About Bedbugs.

How Long Have Bed Bugs Been Around?

Bed bugs have caused problems for humans for thousands of years. As time passed by, humans could not bear the annoyance they encountered with these small insects and they tried many ways to control and exterminate the pests. Different methodologies were suggested such as the use of alcohol, oil, plants with microscopic hooks, woven baskets, pesticides and dust.
But no matter how hard you tried to contain the problem, they would always come back, even more so as the weather became warmer. This has been a dilemma until recent years, when more methods to get rid of bed bugs have emerged onto the market.

Why the Resurgence in Bed Bug Populations?

A lot of people are wondering why bed bugs are suddenly making the news again and becoming a common problem for many households. It is unclear how exactly bed bugs appear in your homes; however, it is believed that frequent traveling, obtaining second-hand furniture from a different home, and a resistance to pesticides contribute to the resurgence of these species.
There are several reasons why bed bugs are once again growing in numbers. One reason is that bed bugs were not totally exterminated in the first place.
In fact, the people with infestations had performed treatments in the past that never worked. Their method in the past to treat bed bug infestations was by throwing away any furniture that was infested with bugs or eggs.
The mistake here is that people just throw the furniture away, without killing any bed bugs eggs that might hatch in the furniture and crawl back into the house.
Throwing out bug-infested furniture also results in community bed bug infestations, because people searching for free furniture on the side of the road may see a perfectly good couch and want to take it home with them. Because they are not aware of a pest problem that is lurking silently in the furniture, they will probably end up with bed bugs in their house too as soon as the eggs hatch.

Bed Bugs Are Wittier Than We Think!

Another reason why bed bugs are becoming a recurrent problem is that quite a few people who have bed bugs in the past have only treated certain parts of their house that they thought were infested.
The mistake here is that people underestimate the wit of bed bugs. These bugs hide in safe places where the extermination methods cannot reach them, and they move fast that they can easily scatter to a different part of the house where treatment is not being applied, therefore surviving the extermination process.
Though it seems like a never-ending battle to get rid of bed bugs, there is hope! This article will help you learn how to identify bed bugs, how to treat the bites, and how to battle and prevent the spreading of bed bugs inside your home and outside of your home with modern methods that have been proven to be successful.

How Do Bed Bugs Breed?

Warm and humid conditions support the breeding and survival of bed bugs. The life cycle of a bed bug from egg to adult can take four to five weeks. Cooler conditions haven been known to shorten the life cycle of bed bugs, but then again, some of these insects may adapt to the cold temperature to survive even longer.
The breeding of bed bugs is a harsh process for the female. The male slashes or pierces the abdomen of the female to inject his sperm. Fertilization occurs at the ovaries of the female bed bug and after the introduction of the sperm, the female leaves the scene to avoid further injuries. This process is called traumatic insemination.
Male bed bugs will also attempt to mate with other male and slash the abdomen to inject its sperm. They cannot distinguish males from females because they only base attraction on body size. Males ward off other males that are trying to pierce their abdomen by producing alarm pheromones.

How Do Bed Bugs Develop?

There are three stages of bed bug development: eggs, nymphs, and adults. The female bed bug lays three to five speck-like eggs a day, reaching an astonishing two hundred eggs during its lifetime. Without magnification, these tiny eggs are very difficult to identify.
A sticky residue enables the egg to adhere to surfaces, and the eggs will mature there undisturbed. The eggs are commonly “cemented” by this sticky residue on wood, paper, cardboard or fabric, and they sometimes look like a yellow white bean with a lid.
Eggs are laid in clusters and the females will stop laying the eggs after 11 days, or possibly more if they decide to rest and feed.
It takes six to ten days for the eggs to develop and when they hatch they produce one-millimeter nymphs. These nymphs resemble the adult bed bugs, but they have lighter color. Nymphs, upon reaching maturity, molt or shed their skin around five times before becoming an adult. It begins to look for a victim to feed on as soon as it gets out of its egg.
The nymphs can survive up to 3 months without a meal and the adults can live from six to eleven months without feeding on blood. Bed bugs are most active during the night and they prefer to hide close to their hosts during the day.

What are Some of the Most Common Sources of Bed Bugs?

Furniture that is made of fabric and wood are most likely to be the breeding grounds for these bugs. This is why mattresses are the most common sources of bed bugs. These parasitic organisms are so small that you can hardly see them with your naked eye.
Bed bugs are also very good at hiding because they have adapted to squeezing themselves into crevices and spaces so that they will not be easily disturbed. Small dark spots are the usual hiding places for bed bugs.
Because of their ability to get into cracks and crevices to hide from the pesticides or treatments, many bed bug problems are not completely eradicated during an extermination process. Therefore, it is important to thoroughly check for bed bugs in any cracks, holes, and crevices and apply treatments in other places as needed.

Used Furniture

It seems to be the trend nowadays to buy secondhand furniture due to the rising costs of buying new furniture. However tempting buying used furniture may be, and even if you think they can still be repaired, you have to make sure that you inspect it very closely to check for any bed bugs or eggs. Secondhand furniture may have hundreds of eggs and bed bugs that are waiting to find their next victim.
You could decide to choose to buy secondhand metal or plastic furniture, but if you really want that wooden or cushioned furniture, you should have it steamed thoroughly or sprayed with chemicals to kill any possible bed bugs and eggs before moving the furniture into your house.

Travel

You can get bed bugs from just about anywhere. These small bugs are opportunists, and they patiently wait as long as they need to until a victim comes along that they can hitch a ride to their next destination where they can breed and feed. They can survive over a year while waiting for their next meal.
Students coming home from college may bring these insects with them. Airplanes, buses, and other public transportation methods are also not exempt from these insects. Even five-star hotels are not spared from bed bug infestations. If a person stays in a hotel, bed bugs may be unknowingly carried to the next destination on the person or their belongings.
Bed bugs can be transported on many different items such as furniture, clothing, shoes, hats, and other belongings. Pets can also carry bed bugs on their fur and into your home. Animals such as bats, rodents, raccoons, or birds roosting on the roof of the house may also contribute to a bed bug infestation.

Moving to a New Home

If you are in the real estate market and looking to buy a home, it is important to know that houses that have been unoccupied for more than a year have a lower risk for the presence of bed bugs because bed bugs can only last about 18 months without feeding.
If the house that you’re thinking of buying has recently had people living in it that most likely did not properly take care of the home, you should consider fumigating the house just in case there are bed bugs.


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