Bed bugs are tiny brown-red flat insects that are 1/4 to 3/8 in. in length. They are hatched from eggs that are the size of a speck of pepper. After hatching, an immature bed bug will pass through 5 life stages before reaching adulthood. They have to feed to pass from stage to stage. A female can lay up to 500 eggs in batches of 2 to 3 per day. It takes roughly 5 to 6 weeks for a baby to become an adult.
Bed Bug Bites
Bed Bugs feed on human blood. They are attracted to the body heat and CO2 They'll also feed on pet blood if people are not available. A bed bug will hide as close to the source of food as practicable like in the cracks of the bed. A bed bug bite is basically a skin puncture. Any skin reaction is essentially an allergenic reaction with a few of the people showing no reaction while others can show red irritation or maybe skin blistering. Two folk in sleeping in the same bed can have completely different reactions. Skin reactions can appear inside one hour or as late as 14 days after being bitten, making it difficult to define when or where it occurred.
Locating Bed Bugs
Bed bugs like to hide in thin gaps and cracks that are as close to the source of food as practicable. As these hiding places fill up with insects they spread to the next closest crevice or crack. As the population multiples they enter the walls, furniture, clock radios, and other areas. Ultimately the infestation grows to the point where it spreads into a diagonally opposite room.
After they eat, they leave behind feces on places such as a mattress. This is why checking a mattress for black or brown marks is probably one of the most reliable strategies for deciding if a room is infested. The insects are frequently confused with other insects such as young roaches, making identification difficult.
Bed Bug Treatment
Pest control experts refer to the insects as the toughest pest to kill since any treatment approach needs to first find the bed bugs, and then apply pesticides that kill both the eggs and the insects. While they can be seen with the naked eye, there tiny size makes them easy to miss. For this reason often 2 to 3 treatments are needed before the problem can be eliminated.
Bed Bug Bites
Bed Bugs feed on human blood. They are attracted to the body heat and CO2 They'll also feed on pet blood if people are not available. A bed bug will hide as close to the source of food as practicable like in the cracks of the bed. A bed bug bite is basically a skin puncture. Any skin reaction is essentially an allergenic reaction with a few of the people showing no reaction while others can show red irritation or maybe skin blistering. Two folk in sleeping in the same bed can have completely different reactions. Skin reactions can appear inside one hour or as late as 14 days after being bitten, making it difficult to define when or where it occurred.
Locating Bed Bugs
Bed bugs like to hide in thin gaps and cracks that are as close to the source of food as practicable. As these hiding places fill up with insects they spread to the next closest crevice or crack. As the population multiples they enter the walls, furniture, clock radios, and other areas. Ultimately the infestation grows to the point where it spreads into a diagonally opposite room.
After they eat, they leave behind feces on places such as a mattress. This is why checking a mattress for black or brown marks is probably one of the most reliable strategies for deciding if a room is infested. The insects are frequently confused with other insects such as young roaches, making identification difficult.
Bed Bug Treatment
Pest control experts refer to the insects as the toughest pest to kill since any treatment approach needs to first find the bed bugs, and then apply pesticides that kill both the eggs and the insects. While they can be seen with the naked eye, there tiny size makes them easy to miss. For this reason often 2 to 3 treatments are needed before the problem can be eliminated.
About the Author:
Cathy Doggins is the writer of this and many other articles on how to identify bed bugs. When not writing about insects she can be found researching insect behavior and learning about the latest extermination strategies. She is the editor of the Bed Bugs Handbook and writes frequently on the subject of insect infestations.
