Unfortunately, Bed bugs have made a worldwide comeback. They’re also turning up in surprising places, such as fancy hotels, hospitals, college dorms, laboratories, airports, and maybe even your home. Many experts consider globalization a major culprit. People and goods are traveling more widely and in greater numbers than ever before. Bed bugs are nocturnal small, shy, and easily overlooked. The Adults can live for half a year without food, making them perfect stowaways in luggage and shipping crates.
Bed bugs are insects that feed exclusively on blood. They are a member of the order of true bugs, Hemiptera, and the family, Cimmicidae. A few types of bed bugs live in close association with people. The common bed bug, Cimex Lectularius, and the bat bug are often found in homes in the Northeastern United States.
Adult bed bugs are straw-colored to reddish-brown, oval bodied wingless insects. Their upper bodies are crinkly like paper and covered with short, golden hairs. Before feeding, they’re ¼ to 3/8 inch long and nearly as flat as a piece of paper which is why they can fit into such narrow crevices. Their appearance changes dramatically after they’ve fed; they become bloated and dark red and have been described as “animated blood drops.” Their eggs are white, slightly pear-shaped and about 1/32 inch long about the size of a pinhead, with a “lid” at one end through which the young will emerge. They’re found in crevices, in cluster of 10-50 eggs. Newly hatched bedbugs are nearly colorless but otherwise resemble the adults, only smaller. Bed bugs are gregarious, so you may find adults, young and eggs in the same location.
Inside buildings, bed bugs can breed all year. In the Northeast they typically have up to three generations per year. Their average lifespan is 10 months to a little over one year, and in that time a female may lay from 200-400 eggs, depending on the temperature and the amount of food available. The females need a blood meal before laying eggs. Eggs hatch in about ten days. Under ideal conditions, the young can reach adulthood in five to eight weeks. Young bed bugs much take a blood meal before they can shed their skins and grow. They shed their skins five times before becoming adults.
The common bed bug prefers to feed on humans, but will feed on mice, rats, bats, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds, especially chickens and swallows. Pets such as dogs and cats are not a major host for bed bugs.
Bed bugs feed for about five to ten minutes at night, while the host sleeps, then drop off the host and crawl to a sheltered crevice where they’ll remain for several days while digesting the meal.
They tend to bite all over the body, especially on the areas that are more exposed while we sleep such as the face, neck, arms and hands. You may not see this evidence of their feeding because people experience a range of reactions to bites from blood-sucking insects. Some people are hardly aware they’ve been bitten, but others suffer allergic reaction to the saliva injected while the insects fed, and may develop painful swellings. For this reason, people in the same household may have different opinions about how “bad” the infestation is, or whether bed bugs present at all. Heavy infestations of bed bugs have been shown to cause anemia in children and the elderly. Bed bug problems in the home may also cause stress and sleeplessness.
Bed bugs are insects that feed exclusively on blood. They are a member of the order of true bugs, Hemiptera, and the family, Cimmicidae. A few types of bed bugs live in close association with people. The common bed bug, Cimex Lectularius, and the bat bug are often found in homes in the Northeastern United States.
Adult bed bugs are straw-colored to reddish-brown, oval bodied wingless insects. Their upper bodies are crinkly like paper and covered with short, golden hairs. Before feeding, they’re ¼ to 3/8 inch long and nearly as flat as a piece of paper which is why they can fit into such narrow crevices. Their appearance changes dramatically after they’ve fed; they become bloated and dark red and have been described as “animated blood drops.” Their eggs are white, slightly pear-shaped and about 1/32 inch long about the size of a pinhead, with a “lid” at one end through which the young will emerge. They’re found in crevices, in cluster of 10-50 eggs. Newly hatched bedbugs are nearly colorless but otherwise resemble the adults, only smaller. Bed bugs are gregarious, so you may find adults, young and eggs in the same location.
Inside buildings, bed bugs can breed all year. In the Northeast they typically have up to three generations per year. Their average lifespan is 10 months to a little over one year, and in that time a female may lay from 200-400 eggs, depending on the temperature and the amount of food available. The females need a blood meal before laying eggs. Eggs hatch in about ten days. Under ideal conditions, the young can reach adulthood in five to eight weeks. Young bed bugs much take a blood meal before they can shed their skins and grow. They shed their skins five times before becoming adults.
The common bed bug prefers to feed on humans, but will feed on mice, rats, bats, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds, especially chickens and swallows. Pets such as dogs and cats are not a major host for bed bugs.
Bed bugs feed for about five to ten minutes at night, while the host sleeps, then drop off the host and crawl to a sheltered crevice where they’ll remain for several days while digesting the meal.
They tend to bite all over the body, especially on the areas that are more exposed while we sleep such as the face, neck, arms and hands. You may not see this evidence of their feeding because people experience a range of reactions to bites from blood-sucking insects. Some people are hardly aware they’ve been bitten, but others suffer allergic reaction to the saliva injected while the insects fed, and may develop painful swellings. For this reason, people in the same household may have different opinions about how “bad” the infestation is, or whether bed bugs present at all. Heavy infestations of bed bugs have been shown to cause anemia in children and the elderly. Bed bug problems in the home may also cause stress and sleeplessness.
Rich & Tami Claycomb cell: 816.390.7696 email: richardclaycomb288@hotmail.com
