Bed Bugs - Information and Treatment Practices

 

An adult bed bug is about 1/5-inches long and 1/8-inches wide. Its reddish-brown to mahogany colored body is greatly flattened and oval-shaped. After feeding, the bug’s body enlarges considerably, becoming longer and much less flattened. Although the body is covered with tiny hairs, these hairs are so small that they are almost invisible to the naked eye, so the general body appearance is shiny. Bed bugs have piercing-sucking mouthparts, which enable them to pierce the skin and suck blood from their hosts. The sole food of bed bugs is the blood of warm-blooded animals.

Each female bed bug lays about two eggs per day until she has laid approximately 200. At normal room temperatures these eggs will hatch in 6 to 17 days. Bed bugs can survive prolonged periods of time without food. In fact, adults can live for a year or longer without feeding.

Humans are the preferred host for the common bed bug, but they will feed readily on other animals such as poultry, mice, rats, canaries, dogs, and cats when necessary. Normally the bed bugs feed at night, but they will feed during daylight hours in places such as theaters, offices, and rest rooms, which are not ordinarily used at night. The bed bugs are attracted to carbon dioxide, the air we exhale. Excessive amounts is what attracts the bed bugs at night.

Bed bugs generally hide in cracks and crevices during the day. Typical hiding places include folds and tufts of mattresses, coils of springs, cracks and hollow posts of bedsteads, and upholstery of chairs and sofas. Bed bug bites cause welts and irritation to some people, but other people may not react at all.

When treating for bed bugs, the linens should never be sprayed, and mattresses should be treated only at seams and folds. The tuft should be treated, as should the folds at the edges. Particular attention should be paid to hollow bed frames and springs. Also, crevices along the baseboard should be treated. All dresser drawers should be inspected and treated, as should the insides of the dressers. Pictures need to be taken off the walls and inspected. Lamps and bedside clocks need to be inspected for possible bed bug intrusion. With proper inspection and treatment, bed bugs are a pest that can be controlled in a short amount of time.