Bed Bugs Northwich, Middlewich and Weaverham.

One of the most reviled and least understood pest insect species known to civilisation is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us dozed off to sleep at night as young ones with the parting words of our guardians in our ears “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”?

Bed Bugs probably started to predate on people at around the time we moved into caves, the bat bugs Cimex pilosellus and C pipistrella primarily fed on bats and it is likely that bat feeding species of bugs evolved to feed on man when our ancestors started dwelling} in bat infested caves.

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

The later part of the 20th century saw pest operatives dealing with very few bed bug problems indeed, their presence being mostly restricted to low quality holiday homes and student housing etc.

Most people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which deinitely.

Adult bedbugs are reddish in colour, about a quarter of an inch in size and engorged after a feed of human blood.

Bed bugs typically feed on human blood every few days, emerging in the hours before dawn and finding their target by sniffing the exhaled CO2 from human breath and when close to their target, they sense infra red heat.

Lacking a suitable human meal to feed on they can remain in a period of dormancy for periods of up to 18 months.

Bed Bugs

Often the first sign of a bed bug presence are spots of blood on bedding and on the edges of mattresses and many people can react badly to their bites.

The early the 21st century has seen bed bug reports explode across the planet, the easy availability of world travel and economic migration have both been argued as reasons for the resurgence.

What is sure is that that are now making a real resurgence 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 away in an infested premises 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 transport of all kinds so a simple journey home on an infested tube or train can be all it takes to bring bed bugs to your own home.

They are an expensive pest to eradicate as contrary to popular opinion 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 folds of flesh on flabby people.

They are not a pest that can be dealt with by an amateur and a pest control professional will almost certainly be required.

Call us on 0800 019 8382