There is a whole age bracket in the developed Western world that is coming in touch with bed bugs for the first time in their lives. The Baby Boomers of the Fifties and Sixties and their children have never seen bed bugs in their own countries, because bed bugs were virtually exterminated in the West in the 1940's and 1950's due to the extensive use of DDT to kill insects in general when the inner city ghettos were being cleaned up after the Second World War. A similar process went on in the United States.
This slum clearance and the destroying of insects encouraged the belief put about by rich people for decades that bed bugs went hand in glove with squalor and filth. However, it is not true and in fact the opposite could be the case. Cockroaches and ants will feed off dropped pieces of food, but bed bugs do not. Bed bugs only eat blood. If they see a piece of cheese on the floor, they do not think 'yum, yum, I wonder if it is Cheddar?', as a cockroach might, they walk around it and head for the nearest shapely ankle instead.
The resurgence in the population of bedbugs in the West since 1995 can almost definitely be blamed on the number of people making long-haul flights to Asia and Africa and more immigration from those continents. These people are not the poorest and dirtiest in the world. Immigrants are likely to be middle class to wealthy and long-distance flights are not made by the destitute either.
So, how do you know if you have bed bugs? Well, the response to that is, it depends on your immune system. You could have them and never know it, if you are not allergic to bedbug spittle. People say that bedbugs come out at night, but in fact, they are most lively about an hour before sunrise.
Therefore, if you want to look for them, this is the time to do it. Set your alarm for an hour before sunrise and switch the light on quickly. They are very fast movers if they have not eaten, otherwise they are quite sluggish and ponderous.
They usually live near the bed. Either in the mattress if it is ripped or behind the skirtings or wall paper. Bedbugs come in several colours, but the ones that only feed off humans, Cimex lectularius, are small (4-5 by 3.5 millimetres), brown, flat, but slightly rounded on top. They often appear banded like a well-manicured lawn, because they have short hairs on their back. They are also wingless.
People think that bed bugs bite them in bed and this is true, but not only in bed. If you like to watch TV in your comfy armchair in the dark, they can get you there as well, which means that you are also at risk in the theatre. In fact you are at risk anyplace that people gather together: pubs, restaurants, buses, taxis, cinemas, hotels, motels, airplanes, nightclubs et cetera.
If you have bedbugs you may notice red or brown marks on your sheets, this is either your blood or their excrement. you may also discover bedbug skins lying around. Bedbugs have to shed their skins six times in order to become fully mature. These skins look just like bedbugs but with nothing inside them.
This slum clearance and the destroying of insects encouraged the belief put about by rich people for decades that bed bugs went hand in glove with squalor and filth. However, it is not true and in fact the opposite could be the case. Cockroaches and ants will feed off dropped pieces of food, but bed bugs do not. Bed bugs only eat blood. If they see a piece of cheese on the floor, they do not think 'yum, yum, I wonder if it is Cheddar?', as a cockroach might, they walk around it and head for the nearest shapely ankle instead.
The resurgence in the population of bedbugs in the West since 1995 can almost definitely be blamed on the number of people making long-haul flights to Asia and Africa and more immigration from those continents. These people are not the poorest and dirtiest in the world. Immigrants are likely to be middle class to wealthy and long-distance flights are not made by the destitute either.
So, how do you know if you have bed bugs? Well, the response to that is, it depends on your immune system. You could have them and never know it, if you are not allergic to bedbug spittle. People say that bedbugs come out at night, but in fact, they are most lively about an hour before sunrise.
Therefore, if you want to look for them, this is the time to do it. Set your alarm for an hour before sunrise and switch the light on quickly. They are very fast movers if they have not eaten, otherwise they are quite sluggish and ponderous.
They usually live near the bed. Either in the mattress if it is ripped or behind the skirtings or wall paper. Bedbugs come in several colours, but the ones that only feed off humans, Cimex lectularius, are small (4-5 by 3.5 millimetres), brown, flat, but slightly rounded on top. They often appear banded like a well-manicured lawn, because they have short hairs on their back. They are also wingless.
People think that bed bugs bite them in bed and this is true, but not only in bed. If you like to watch TV in your comfy armchair in the dark, they can get you there as well, which means that you are also at risk in the theatre. In fact you are at risk anyplace that people gather together: pubs, restaurants, buses, taxis, cinemas, hotels, motels, airplanes, nightclubs et cetera.
If you have bedbugs you may notice red or brown marks on your sheets, this is either your blood or their excrement. you may also discover bedbug skins lying around. Bedbugs have to shed their skins six times in order to become fully mature. These skins look just like bedbugs but with nothing inside them.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present involved with how do you get bed bugs. If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further details.
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