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Bed Bugs |
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About Bed Bugs |
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Bed Bug Stories |
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Signs of Bed Bugs |
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The fact that you can not see them does not mean that your premises are not infected as bed bugs are very hard to find especially when the infestation may be at its initial stage. The best defense for your property is to spot the signs of bed bugs as early as possible. This will help avoid the more severe implications for a business, including negative word of mouth, lost income and the costs of dealing with an infestation of bed bugs. It is difficult to spot first signs of an infestation of bed bugs without proper training. However, there are some obvious symptoms which, when found, clearly show that there is an infestation: Live bed bugs, adults and nymphs Small blood spots on bed sheets Fecal pellets Cast nymphal skins Distinctive sweet & sickly smell |
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They are simply parasites always looking for a meal and, once obtaining this meal, they travel back to a place of hiding. The thing that makes bed bugs so challenging for detection and control is they have excellent abilities to squeeze into cracks and crevices and will often go unnoticed by the casual observer.
The majority of bugs will cluster around areas where people will rest, but a few of them will move off to hide in more remote areas. They shun light and if they are disturbed or if they suddenly feel exposed, they will attempt to move to remote areas. It is this cryptic behavior that creates the challenge to detecting them. |
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Bed bugs can survive for months without feeding. They may be present in vacant or clean homes when new tenants unpack. Once bed bugs are established, they rapidly reproduce and spread from room to room.
Bed bugs can be very difficult to control, even for trained professionals. Utilizing a sniffing dog gives you an advantage in detection. Many insecticides are not effective at killing the eggs, so a repeat treatment is often necessary to kill the juveniles after they hatch. Even worse, some populations of bed bugs have developed resistance to common insecticides, making some sprays ineffective. Alternative methods include heat and steam treatments, structural fumigations and cold treatments. |
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To detect a bed bug you must first be able to identify them. Bed bugs are oval, flattened, brown, and wingless insects approximately 1/4" to 3/8" long (5-9 mm). They are similar in appearance to a tick. After the bug has taken a blood meal, its color will change from brown to purplish-red, becomes larger and more cigar-shaped making it appear like a different insect. Young bed bugs are much smaller (1/16” or 1.6 mm when they first hatch) and nearly colorless except after feeding, but resemble the adult in general shape. As bed bugs grow you can detect cast skins, which are empty shells of bugs as they grow from one stage to the next. After feeding bed bugs deposit fecal spots (composed of digested blood) in areas adjacent to the feeding site or back at their hiding places. |
