Bed Bugs Trafford, Manchester and Cheshire.

One of the most hated and misunderstood pest insect species known to the world is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to sleep at night as youngsters with the parting rhyme of our parents in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?

Bed Bugs probably started to predate on human beings at about the period we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella mainly fed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on human beings when our forebears started dwelling} in bat infested caves.

Up to the arrival of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common guests in most poor quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century saw pest controllers dealing with very few bed bug call outs indeed, their presence being largely restricted to low quality holiday hotels and student accomadation etc.

Most people confuse dust mites, which cannot be seen by the unaided eye, with bed bugs which most certainly.

Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a few milemetres in size and swollen after a feed of human blood.

Bed bugs regularly feed on a target’s blood every week or so, emerging in the early hours of the morning and locating their target by detecting the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when nearby their target, they sense body body heat.

Without a suitable human meal to feed on they can stay dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Bed Bugs

Signs of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bed clothes and on the corners of mattresses and a lot of people can react badly to their bites.

The early part of the 21st century has seen bed bug infestations multiplying everywhere on the planet, the easy availability of world travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.

What is sure is that that are now making a real fightback not only in cheaper quality housing but top class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough cited a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 to 2001.

One night stay in an infested hotel is all it requires, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Stretford Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple ride to work on an infested tube or train can be enough to bring these bugs to your own home.

They are an expensive pest to eradicate as contrary to popular notion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny suitably close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed side telephones etc and dealing with them is both laborious and time consuming. They have even been revealed found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on very fat people.

They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be needed.

Call us on 01204 689361