Bedbugs are nocturnal, bloodsucking insects which leave bites that are identified as pronounced red welts. Although their bites are reported to be painless, the marks they leave can be physically and emotionally scarring. Victims of infestations report having lingering fears of going to sleep, or even phobias of the beds themselves.

During the day, bedbugs can be difficult to spot, as they hide in crevasses in the mattress, floor joints, and even picture frames, and do not surface to feed until night time. During their short life spans, an individual bedbug can lay around 400 eggs, enabling them to repopulate and re-infest an area in just three to four months!

Although bedbugs had essentially disappeared from the U.S. since the 1940s, they were still thriving in foreign counties. Increased international travel has succeeded in inadvertently bringing the bugs back into North America, as stowaways in the luggage of travelers. Since DDT, a highly effective, though hazardous pesticide, was banned from use in the 1970s, many less effective pesticides have been tried, including harsh, abrasive, toxic chemicals that can cause as much irritation as the pests themselves!

Bedbugs, or Cimex lectularius, is an ancient insect whose roots are thought to go back to the times of cave dwellers.  For years, bedbugs were found in numerous communities around the US.  As late as the 1950's, bedbugs were still a considerable problem.   However, after the discovery of DDT and its application here, the incidence of bedbug infestations declined until they basically disappeared.

Why has this pest surfaced once again?  There are a number of theories, but most center on the great increase in world travel.  People visited from other countries that still had bedbug problems, carrying this pest in luggage and on clothing.  Without the historic DDT treatments, local visitors to hotels and motels had a greater risk of contact with bedbugs, eventually bringing them home with them.

Whatever the reason for resurgence, the bedbug is a formidable pest problem.  Its effect on people is substantial and debilitating, especially psychologically.  Bedbugs bite a host around the waist and on exposed skin of arms and legs.  They leave unsightly and potentially unhealthy, bloody spots on both the host attacked and the bedding and sheets.

After biting, bedbugs scurry into mattress tufts, bed frames, moldings, floor joints, picture frames and any other crack or crevice they may find.  The sole source of food for them is the blood that they take at night while the victim sleeps.  When the victim awakes, the only remaining sign of bedbugs is the telltale bite and/or blood on the sheets.  Bedbugs:

• Are blood-feeding insects
• Are difficult to find, especially during the daytime, while hiding
• Typically feed once a week on a person’s body, with five feeding cycles per lifetime
• Cause bites that are painless, but they may leave an itchy, hard bump (much like a mosquito bite) and can cause an allergic-type skin rash
• Are able to survive up to 10 months without a meal
• Are nocturnal
• Are attracted to body heat
• Can lay up to around 400 eggs in one lifetime, at an avg of 3 to 4 eggs per DAY!
• Are able to repopulate and re-infest in just three to four months
• Can hide just about anywhere and be carried in anything

Identifying The Problem

A bedbug bite leaves a nasty, red welt that is not easily dismissed and can cause more severe problems for hypersensitive individuals.  Additional evidence of bedbug infestation is the presence of brown and red streaks on sheets and mattresses from the bleeding of bites and the waste of the insects.

areas to look for bedbugs include:

• mattresses (especially mattress tufts, buttons, under handles and above and below the piping along of the upper and lower edges)
• box springs (above and below the piping at the upper and lower edges and within the enclosure underneath, if torn)
• bed frames and hollow areas where frame components connect
• behind and along floor and wall moldings, mounted headboards, and picture frames
• behind electrical wall plates and under carpet edges