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Bed bugs are insects with the scientific name Cimex lectularius. Through the decades, these insects are considered pests in different countries, be it in the US, in Asian countries, in Europe and even in Africa.

Bed bugs are small and tiny miniscule creatures that creep slowly. They look like tiny crawling dots when seen by the naked eye during broad daylight.

People have their perception and opinion as to how bed bugs look like. But in general, as can be seen in pictures printed all over text books, magazines or even online through the Internet, bed bugs closely resemble their closest relatives—mites.

Physical attributes.

Since bed bugs are so tiny, it would be hard if you attempt to just capture one and closely look at it. If you are really curious, you may try. But it is advisable that you make use of a magnifying glass or lens.

Also be sure that the insect is already dead or paralyzed before touching it for inspection. Otherwise, you may find out for yourself how bed bugs generally look like, but may be a catalyst in spreading the pest.

Remember, small insects like bed bugs are very resilient, contrary to how they look like. Touching it for inspection, the bed bug might run away or crawl out of your palm.

Look at pictures of bed bugs in different easily accessible sources if you really want to know how it looks like.

To describe bed bugs, they generally are so small. Usually, they are colored deep brown. Bt some bed bugs might appear white to creamy white.

When bed bugs are full of blood (by the way, they suck blood for a living), they usually appear or look differently.

Bed bugs which just enjoyed a sumptuous meal of blood from unwilling and unaware hosts, look bloated. Normally, bed bugs look flat when viewed from to bottom.

But having blood in their stomach, bed bugs may look like tiny balloons. The difference, apparently, is that what is inside them is not air but blood.

Presence of hosts blood inside their systems can also make bed bugs appear like tiny creatures with little black or deep red masses inside their bodies.

Wingless creatures.

Unfortunately, for the bed bugs, they are wingless. That means the only way they travel from one place to another to find hosts or ideal habitats, is through crawling.

That can be tough. But imagine how rampant and wide spread they could have been if they have wings to allow them to easily fly around and wander.

Bed bugs look like tiny creatures, they are tinier than ants and mites, that creep into, through and from crevices, small cracks and tiny holes in floors, walls, furniture, bed and even clothes and bed sheets.

Bed bugs do not look like vampires or bats, but they are also nocturnal. It means they are out of sight during daytime, but go out to feed themselves during the night, when the unsuspecting victim or host is sleeping tightly.

By the way, so miniscule they may seem, but did you know that bed bugs, when reaching their full adult stage, can grow and lengthen by as long as a quarter of an inch? If you happen to closely look at one, or if you have seen one, for sure you have wished that they could have stayed tiny.

Bed bugs life span.

Bed bugs really look so tiny, but did you know that on the average, adult bed bugs (with the assumption they feed regularly are not starved) can last more than a year without consuming food?

It is true. Younger bed bugs, which, if not able to suck blood from hosts, would only last a few weeks to about a month. That is much shorter compared to their adult counterparts, but is apparently proves their resilience.

Bed bugs look like they are not active in the reproductive department, but is another wrong assumption. During their life span, female bed bugs can carry and survive three pregnancies. Whenever they lay eggs, they lay about 300 tiny eggs.

That is still pretty much considering their body size.

To wrap things up, size really do matter. In bed bugs case they prove that they are small but terrible. You may not exactly picture out how they may exactly look like, but knowing their functions and notoriety would be an effective measure and equipment against them.

Bed bugs had been the most notorious and annoying parasite or insect in the 19th to the early part of the 20th century. It is believed that during and after the World War II in the United States in the 1940s, the country had totally been declared bed-bug free.

But travelers from other countries and continents where bed bugs may have continued to thrive made their return to the US possible. Usually, baggage and travel possessions serve as traveling ground or traveling spots for bed bugs from one area to another, from one country to another.

You should know what bed bugs look like, to be able to identify them. Bed bugs of course, are insects.

Size matters.

Bed bugs are so tiny, that sometimes, one can hardly see them with just the naked eye. But when bed bugs mature, they look like other insects. They can be as long as a fourth of an inch.

Bed bugs look like other wingless insects. Hatchlings or newly hatched bed bugs are about as small as a poppy seed. Looking or viewing bed bugs, from top to bottom, they are usually flattened.

Bed bugs may sometimes look like ants or termites, except that when looked at closely, they have their own physical attributes.

What color are bed bugs?

Bed bugs, like humans, have different colors. It can be funny, but bed bugs look like they also have races! Bed bugs colors usually are deep brown.

However, there are bed bugs that look like biting ants—burnt orange, while there are those that have light tan complexion to almost white.

When bed bugs are hungry, they exhibit a different color than that when they are fully fed. Bedbugs with blood in it look like balloons, but what is inside them is not air but blood.

The host or victims precious blood may look like a black mass or dark red mass inside the bed bugs tiny body.

Bed bugs also do excrete. When they do, they produce small amounts of liquid that almost look like blood. Thus, beds or surfaces where bed bugs may have inhabited may be stained with tiny red spots. These spots most of the time have stinky smell, but sometimes, they are not sensed by our olfactory glands.

How can bed bugs be found?

Because they are so, so tiny and are always crawling at very unnoticeable speed, bed bugs can not easily be detected or seen. During daytime, they stay within their protective habitats or hiding places.

Bed bugs look like small creeping objects in crevices and small holes in the floor, the walls or even your bed.

If you are observant enough, bed bugs may look or seem as if they are vampires. They may not have the physical characteristics that may scare you the way Dracula does, but they suck your blood. And they can never survive without it.

How to exterminate bedbugs

Bed bugs, like any other pests, are so persistent. You can hardly control bedbugs in your room without the professional help of pest control operators or providers.

If you have been applying pesticides and harmful pest control substances in areas suspected of having these parasites, chances are greater that you will fail.

It is because most of the pesticides in the market are repellant to insects. It means, when you have used one, bed bugs will not be killed. But they will be repelled or they will avoid getting at or near the surfaces or areas where the pesticide is applied.

Through that, bed bugs start to wander. Thus, the spread of bed bugs is accelerated. They will start transferring from one spot to another. Or worse, from one household to another.

Thus, attempting to control bed bugs on your own may look like attempting to get rid of bed bugs in your home and ushering them into your nearest neighbor. If you have the conscience to allow that to happen, or if your neighbor will not bug or sue you, then go on.

But exterminating bed bugs can entail great responsibility and consideration to others on your part. Professionals know better, so leave the job to them.

Besides, you may not want to kill yourself through poisoning along with the bed bugs, right?

If the question pumps into your head after waking up one morning and feeling several itchy parts all over your body, chances are you have been bitten by bed bugs during the night.

So what exactly are bed bugs? To answer the awkward question, bed bugs are simply insects. But like all the millions of other insect species, bed bugs have their own identity. They would not be left behind in the identity department.

Start from the scientific view. Bed bugs are scientifically labeled Cimex lectularius. They belong to the ever wide and diverse kingdom, or phylum as what can be more appropriate, called Insecta.

Did you know that if ever there might come a time when the world will be annihilated, all creatures in planet Earth, including humans and animals, will be exterminated. All but one type of creatures will vanish by then.

You got it right. Insects, with their flexibility and resilience will be left to occupy the planet. Bed bugs are among them. That is why, exterminating them will a hard feat.

How do they look like?

When viewed from the top (by the way, you would not want to look at them at any other angle, for sure), bed bugs look like flattened creatures. They are so tiny, that one can hardly see and look at them, not unless they are aided by magnifying glasses or lenses.

Bed bugs usually appear like tiny deep brown creatures. In other parts of the globe, like in Europe, bed bugs may appear differently—they may adopt white to creamy white color.

When they are fed, or just came from a meal, bed bugs look like tiny bloated creatures with black or deep red little mass in their stomach area.

That is because bed bugs principally feed on hosts blood. Blood is the reason they live. Otherwise, they would surely not survive.

How they feed?

Do you really have to know it? Okay, for your information, bed bugs have tiny beaks, similar and smaller to that owned by mosquitoes. They use these beaks to pierce through the skin of their host. After that, when they have pierced some skin, they start sipping and sucking some blood.

Because bed bugs are so tiny, they can hardly suck about a fourth of a milliliter from you. That means the blood you will lose when bitten by a bed bus will be so negligible, you would not care at all.

Another good thing, bed bugs are proven not to carry or transmit any disease unlike their relatives, like the mosquito.

Bed bugs bites may leave small red marks that may swell after a few hours. The bitten area would also tend to itch a lot, leaving a feeling of discomfort to the victim.

Exterminating bed bugs

There are a handful of ways or measures to kill bed bugs. The stupid way is to capture them one by one, and try to squash them out. That would surely kill them, but it will be gross, tedious, and will surely try your patience.

To be sure, applying insecticides or pesticides to infested areas can be a good and effective way. However, doing so would pose a lot of threats, to your health, and to the health of everyone in the house.

To be sure, no human can be exterminated along with the bed bugs, it would be wise to seek help of a credible and professional pest control company.

Pest control companies surely know bed bugs better. They also know how to effectively get rid of them.

Prevention

They say an ounce of prevention is more compared to pounds of cure. It is also true and applicable in the case of bed bugs.

Hygiene is important to prevent bed bugs infestation. Cleanliness would be of great help. Surely, pests like bed bugs dislike clean and tidy surroundings, for a start.

If you travel a lot, be sure to know that you may be a carrier of bed bugs. No, they would not thrive inside you or beneath your private parts.

Your baggage and the clothing you wear would somehow become a good breeding ground and traveling medium for the annoying insect.

Make sure the place you stay in is totally bug-free. When going home from a trip, it would also be advisable if you drop by the laundry shop and have your luggage washed before taking it home.

The measure would seem a little paranoid, but who cares? What is important is that you would not have another morning, when you wake up asking yourself what bed bugs are.

The television is in constant search for shows that feature interesting subjects. TV is almost always all about the ratings.

That is why even the most bizarre subjects are featured nowadays in various TV shows. Yes, TV stardom has expanded from the Hollywood stars now down to even the silliest creatures.

There are several TV shows, most of them animated that star or feature bed bugs. Just like movies like Antz and others that feature bugs, mites, ants and other insects, TV producers and managers have recognized the star power of bed bugs.

And why are bed bugs so popular that people will get to watch their TV shows? One factor is that they are, in real life, so annoying.

Bed bugs do not carry nor transmit diseases but they bite and cause skin irritation. What more, they rapidly multiply and produce off spring. That is why people would love to ridicule and laugh at them through TV shows.

What a desperate form of vengeance, huh?

To know more about bed bugs and differentiate them from the funny and cuddly image projected on the TV, it would be better to know more about them.

Bed bugs, the side not projected on TV

Bed bugs are among the millions of species of insects in existence. Scientifically, bed bugs are labelled as Cimex lectularius.

Experts and professionals do claim that bed bugs had been controlled successfully in the United States in the period of the 70s and 80s. However, due to persistence and survival of bed bugs in Asia, Europe and Africa, travelers may have carried the parasites during travel and migration to the country.

Bed bugs are wingless, tiny insects. They are indeed parasites that feed primarily on blood of warm-blooded hosts or victims like animals and human. The notion that bed bugs only bite humans is totally wrong. Your pets can also be host to the parasite.

Dogs, cats, birds in short, every mammal that come into contact or near the infested bed, surroundings or area can be affected by bed bugs.

Bed bugs are so small, that you can hardly see them. Biggest bed bugs, however, during their final stage of life and maturity can be as big and large as about on fourth an inch in length. Usually, bed bugs are also oval-shaped and they may appear flattened when viewed from top down to bottom.

Bed bugs are, most of the time, colored deep brown or cream to white. There are also bed bugs that appear burnt orange in color, juts like ants.

Boring TV stuff

However, not all TV shows involving bed bugs are animated and humanized features. Channels like the National Geographic channel and other informative TV networks do feature shows that are somehow documentaries.

These types of TV shows not only show actual enlarged footages of bed bugs and their activities. They show ways to curtail them.

Thus, such TV shows proliferate because more and more people get to relate to the subject. More and more people are affected and annoyed by the existence of bed bugs.

TV shows like these are very educational. They will advise you how to manage bed bugs infestation in your place or area.

But such TV shows dont normally garner good TV ratings. Many people do watch them, but as soon as problems arising from bed bugs go away, their patronization of such TV shows also vanish.

Indeed, TV has become the window to the world. Through various TV shows, you will get to a lot of subjects and be to many places around the globe. You can be in New York this hour and be in Paris the next hour, without leaving your living room.

That is how wonderful TV has become.

But why do you have to settle for such TV shows? Why go to many places outside when you have to know the occurrences in your own house.

There are scenes that happen in your bedroom that you do not get to see. But they can be featured in documentary TV shows that describe infestation of bed bugs.

These TV shows deserve a much-needed break ands should be given more budget and attention by TV managers and executives to make them more interesting.

Tune in to the TV channel that feature lots of facts about bed bugs and experience them for yourself.

Bed bugs are one of the most persistent parasites and pests in the planet. Because they are so tiny, and they have the uncanny ability to get through small cracks and crevices, it is impossible to get rid of them using physical means like scrubbing surfaces or applying insecticides.

Thus, to treat bed bugs infestation, you should not take risks. You should seek help from the professionals who know what they are doing more than you do when it comes to treating or controlling bed bugs.

Bed bug bites and diseases

Health organizations from around the globe will attest that bed bugs do not spread out any plague or disease. Although, when bed bugs bite, they leave saliva under the skin of their host, bed bugs do not cause or transfer any disease.

That separates bed bugs from other blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes, which transfer malaria, dengue and a host of other ailments.

However, bed bug bites do irritate skin and leave itchy and uncomfortable marks. Sometimes, bed bug bites may look like mosquito or bites of other insects.

Hence, bed bugs may not pose serious health hazards. But the itchiness and irritation bed bugs bites will cause your body is enough reason for you to seek to treat infestation of bed bugs in your home.

You may develop blemished skin or may have lot of itch-wounds if bedbugs keep on biting you. Allergic reactions also happen to other bitten people. These allergies can sometimes lead to serious skin situations.

Planning the attack

If you plan to treat bed bugs infestation at home, you will have to develop a strategy that has been thoroughly and carefully planned.

Before contacting the local pest control operator in your area, be prepared to be asked to discard or throw several things or equipment in the room that may be a living ground or habitat for bed bugs.

Most of the time, bed bugs living inside beds can never be treated. That is because they are so tiny, they may creep to the tiniest opening or hole in beds. Pesticides treatment may almost always be futile in assuring the 100% treatment of bed bugs.

However, discarding beds and other things is not that simple. Treating bed bugs infestation in your home does not require or mean you will have to neglect protection of your neighbors and other people from the parasite.

Thus, disposal of things infested with bed bugs need some more attention. Sometimes, the thing may have to be burned. At times, the thing will have to be enclosed into bags so that bed bugs will not be able to transfer to other things or areas.

Because adult bed bugs can last almost a year without feeding, if the infested thing is not burned, it is advised that the thing should not be exposed to or near contact to any potential host, like humans and pet animals.

The once-infested room will also have to be thoroughly cleaned to treat or get rid of eggs that may have been left by the exterminated adult bugs.

Prevention is better than cure

They say prevention is better than cure or treatment. Cleanliness and hygiene is the most basic way or measure to prevent bed bugs from accumulating.

If you are into traveling, make sure the hotel or rooms you have stayed in are bed bugs-free. Otherwise, your clothes and baggage will carry them and you will return home not alone, but with lots of unlikely transients or companies.

Regular room check up or professional visits from pest control personnel is also advisable. Because these professionals know more about pest infestation than you do, you should seek their advise and help if you want to determine if your room is infested, or much more, if you want to get rid of bed bugs in your home.

If your room is infested with bed bugs, transferring to another place is not a solution. For as long as you will be carrying the cabinets, bed or other furniture with you, chances are, you are also carrying in bed bugs along.

Overall, to warp things up, treating bed bugs infestation begins at your self. Hygiene and education about bed bugs will be of great help. So keep on knowing and researching about bed bugs and seek professional help when you suspect infestation.