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Bed bugs are known to be very resilient and hardy pest which all of us dread to encounter.

The eradication of bed bugs has been a perennial problem which dates back during the medieval times. During the time of Aristotle in Greece and other European countries, bed bugs have been very bothersome. Bed bugs are very silent and smart attackers. They attack during the night time when the person on target knows it the least.
We may have various types of bed bug story but where do bed bugs come from? Well, we must know some important information regarding bed bugs. Read along to find some helpful tidbits on how these bed bugs came into your home.

The blood of people and various animals serves as the major food source for bed bugs. They require these blood meals in order to grow, develop and eventually reproduce. The area of which these bed bugs are most commonly found are the areas where people spend time to rest, sleep or sit for over long periods of time.
What is so annoying about bed bugs is that they move towards the person on target when they are least likely to be noticed. The results of the bed bugs’ attack can be visible and others do react through the break out of rashes or hives.

Another concern about bed bugs is that, they have been discovered to harbor 28 different human pathogens, but fortunately, the transmission of these diseases to people has not been clinically demonstrated. These hardy pests can really inflict a lot of harm aside from there blood sucking reputation.

Origin of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are known in the scientific world to be Cimex lectalurious.

These are brownish, wingless blood sucking insects characterized by ultra thin body which expands when they have finished feeding on blood. Wide arrays of studies were made to discover the origin of the bed bugs and most accounts the origin of these creatures from the Asian region. Unfortunately, the bed bugs spread and has reached various shores of the different parts of the world.  It is very important that we know exactly where these bed bugs proliferate. The place where they thrive can give us the perfect pitch on how to eradicate them.
You might be wondering where do these bedbugs thrive and where can I find them frequently? Keep this in mind; bed bugs can live in areas with dry climate and warm environment. Many studies also showed that these hard headed pests reached the northern regions due to the emergence of heated buildings.
When Do These Bed Bugs Become Pests
Bed bugs developed to be a major concern among households, when they transform into blood sucking creatures lurking in the corners of the bed. We must admit that these blood sucking minute creatures are very undesirable residents in the home. These bed bugs live a very simple and notorious life.
Hungry bed bugs move out from their specific hiding places. They start to search for exposed areas of the skin where they can gain access to suck out blood. The common areas where these bed bugs bite are the neck, head, arms and legs as well as the bare arms. They move in less then no time when they have the urge to feed on human blood.

Once they have found an exposed area of the skin to feed, they move away from the person within 2-3 minutes or until they are full.

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.

Getting rid of bed bugs can be a tiring and tedious task. Because bed bugs are really annoying, people who live with bed bugs in their homes, desperately find and adopt measures to eliminate bed bugs.

So the question is persistent, just like their subjects—bed bugs. So how do you get rid of bed bugs?

The easy step

The easiest step would also fall to be the most stupid. This means will only require your utmost patience and perseverance.

You will have to look out and capture bed bugs when they come out of their habitats. That would mean, you will have to stay up all night because bed bugs usually come out and hunt food in the wee hours of the night. That is the time they feel their hosts will be more vulnerable.

Bed bugs can be pretty smart. But their smart behaviors are only products of their desire to survive. They come out of night because they can be sensitive to light. Instincts are instilled at them that light means danger.

Surely, during daytime, their exposure would only give them more risks. It is because however tiny they are, they can still be spotted in broad daylight.

So the easiest step would be to look out and capture bed bugs, one by one. After capturing them, squash them so they will not survive. Pretty gross. But hey, bed bugs are so tiny, blood and viscera squirming out of their tiny bodies will tend to be unnoticeable.

The dangerous way

If there is an easy yet stupid way, there is the efficient, yet sure and deadly way to get rid of bed bugs. This is through using insecticides or pesticides.

There are three groups of pesticides available in the market for the sole purpose of exterminating unwanted bed bugs. Look at them closely.

One, pesticides can be in the form of insecticidal dusts. These group of pesticides are characterized by the existence or presence of ground or pulverized glass and silica powder. Hence, they are dust.

The dust attacks bed bugs by destroying their outermost waxy protective coats. These coats are like coating that make up the skin of bed bugs. They serve as helmets.

Insecticidal dusts have chemicals with them. Once the bed bugs protective coats are ruined, the chemicals will set in and poison or dry out the bed bugs systems.

Second, there are contact insecticides. Contact insecticides are pesticides that should be applied to infested areas or surfaces. You will find that this group is very effective in getting rid of bed bugs.

But they also pose downsides. For one, contact insecticides are repellant in nature. Meaning, they stink so effectively to the insects senses, that they can easily sense presence of insecticides.

That characteristic of contact insecticides makes it less effective. Since it is repellant, it is not sure and guaranteed that bed bugs will be gotten rid of. They simply may avoid contact with applied surfaces. Hence, they will try to find another more conducive habitat.

Third and last group will be the insect growth regulators. This group is aimed at getting rid of bed bugs while they still are in early stages.

IGRs will attack or poison young bed bugs, or their eggs. By doing that, it is guaranty that no new generation will spurt out. The only problem and mess the complainant will have to deal with are the adult bed bugs.

Use of IGRs as pesticides can be effective, yet so much time and patience is required. As the saying goes, this measure is slowly but surely.

The most effective and safest way

If you are smart and practical at the same time, you will resort to seeking professional help as you aim to finally get rid of bed bugs.

Pest control experts and companies are overflowing in your locality, just lie how bed bugs population is overflowing in your bed and room.

Pest control experts know what to do to get rid of bed bugs effectively. They are more familiar to the proper chemicals and pesticides. That is why risks of poisoning yourself and your house mates can be ruled out.

Getting rid of bed bugs can be easy, if you only know how to. The safest and most effective way is to contact pest exterminators, and pronto! You can get rid of your unlikely bed mates.

Under everyones mattress may hide a parasite. Bed bugs are one of the most common insects in America. However it is only in the recent years that bed bugs are categorized as pests. With increase of immigrant and travelers from different places, bed bugs thrive in hotels, restaurants, shelters, homes, apartments and motels.

What are bed bugs? These are tiny, brown, flattened insects that feed on an animals blood. There are certain types of bed bugs that have a preference for humans. The common one, classified as Cimex lectularius, found in our homes is the insect adapted to living with humans.

Bed bugs can be mistaken for ticks in their adult stage. They do not fly like cockroaches but they are agile and can move really fast over walls, floors and other types of surfaces. What makes them a pest is that bed bugs are very resilient. They can live without food (blood) from their host for up to a year. This means these parasites can lie dormant, just waiting for an unsuspecting victim to arrive.

The bed bugs nocturnal behavior makes it hard for people to identify if they have one on their furniture. Eliminating them is also a problem. If people cannot see where the bed bugs are, it can be hard to determine if they were all killed when pesticide is applied.

Bed bugs are great hiders and usually come out to feed on a blood meal in the middle of the night. It is not confirmed if bed bugs are aware that their hosts are asleep when they feed. But their habits suggest that they can more or less sense if the host is in a relaxed state.

Symptoms of being bitten by bed bugs are different from one person to another. There are people who have no reaction to bites from these bed bugs. Some experience an itchy, swelling bump on the skin where the bed bugs had their fill. Others have leave inflamed welt marks on their victims.

Bed bugs feed on their hosts by piercing the human skin with long beak, which they use to suck the blood. Much like fleas and mosquitoes, their bodies become engorged in three to ten minutes without the victim noticing. Perhaps it is their patience in getting the blood meal that makes it hard for human to realize what is happening to them

A major concern is the possibility of transmitting disease. There has been no documented case of a disease passed on by bed bugs so it is dismissed by science. The extent of their damage to their hosts is limited to itchiness and swelling from their bites.

The real problem on bed bugs is infestation. They can produce three generations in a year. Female bed bugs place their eggs in very secluded areas like the folds in the mattress, and deposits eggs of up to five a day. Because of this their numbers continue to grow without the humans knowledge. Soon they spread around the house and an infestation occurs. These infestations can cause anxiety and loss of sleep.

How do you know if your bed is infested with bed bugs? Answer three simple questions to find out:

Do you wake up to find an itchy and swelling welt on your neck, face, arms, shoulders, etc when you had none before sleeping?
Does your mattress have dark stains and spotting?
Do you wake up to see small reddish brown spots on the sheets, pillowcases or walls?

If you answered, yes to two out of three questions above, then it is likely that you are lying in a mattress full of bed bugs.

The best way to get rid of them is to throw away your mattress. Bed bugs can live in wait for a long period of time so even if you try to wash it, they may resurface. Using pesticides on the bed can be dangerous for the owner. So only a new mattress is the solution.

Eliminating and entire home for bed bugs can be tedious. So if you can afford it, make sure you get your home pre-treated against these parasites. And since these insects also live in carpets and sofas, the best defense is prevention.

Bed bugs were rarely seen because of the widespread use of DDT during the 1940’s and 50’s to exterminate all sorts of pests in the United States.

However, bed bugs are making a comeback. Hotels and motels are among the places that suffer from bed bugs infestation.

According to studies, bed bugs’ comeback may be attributed to international travelling of Americans to countries with bed bugs infestation on hotels and motels and the immigration to the States by people from countries with bed bugs infestation.

You will not be even sure if your own household is bed bugs free. If you haven’t seen one but suspects that a bed bug hitched on your clothes and has started a colony on your home, try to know the basic things about bed bugs so that you would know if you need to treat your home from infestation.

– Genera and species of bed bugs

Bed bugs are small, brownish in color, flat, nocturnal insects. Bed bugs belong to the family Cimicidae that live by feeding on human and animal blood.

Bed bugs with scientific name Cimex lectularius are the common household bed bugs. They are the species of bed bugs that feed on humans and have adapted to human environments. These type of bed bugs are found in temperate climates. Believe it our not, they are the same bed bugs that torment people from the ancient times.

There are other bed bugs species such as Cimex hemipterus which are found in tropical regions like Florida. These type of bed bugs also infests poultry and bats. Another bed bugs species, the Leptocimex boueti which are found in the tropics of South America and West Africa infest not just humans but bats as well. Bed bugs species with scientific namen Cimex pilosellus and C. pipistrella primarily infest bats. A bed bug species of North America, the Haematosiphon inodora, primarily infests poultry.

– Physical characteristics of bed bugs

Adult bed bugs are small, oval, flattened, reddish brown, and wingless. Many people think that bed bugs are so small and move so quick that they are not anymore visible to the naked eye. Adult bed bugs grow to 4 to 5 mm in length and although they move fast, they are not as fast as other perceive them to be. People do not see bed bugs because bed bugs stay still on bed, sofa or matress crevices and bite people only when they are still (such as when we are sleeping).

Newly hatched bed bugs nymphs are translucent. Their color become become browner as they reach maturity. Their size are often compared to appleseeds.

– Feeding habits of bed bugs

Bed bugs can live more than a year without feeding. But when a host is present, they feed regularly every five to ten days.

Although bed bugs may attempt to feed on human blood anytime of the day, they are generally active and feed only at night. An hour before dawn is bed bugs peak attack.

Bed bugs, like any other insect that feed on human blood such as leeches, inject anesthetics on the skin of their hosts so that piercing and blood sucking won’t be felt by the human host.

This is made possible with the two hollow tube of bed bugs. One of their hollow tube releases saliva that contains an anticoagulant and anesthetics while the other tube withdraws the blood.

Bed bugs feed for about five minutes and immediately return to their hiding place such as the bed matresses and pillows.

– Health effects of bed bugs bite on humans

Unlike other blood sucking insects such as mosquitoes that carries Malaria and Dengue Fever (Yellow Fever), bed bugs are not known to have to cause transmission of any diseases that are transmitted through blood, such as Hepatitis B, HIV, and other diseases.

They are not regarded by scientists as a medical threat, although they may cause severe itching and skin marks on the bitten part of the skin. Skin infections and scars may precipitate due to scratching a bitten part and this may require medical attention by a dermatologist.

A calamine lotion may subside redness and itch of the bitten part. Wash with warm water and germicidal soap first before you apply a calamine lotion.