These nocturnal creatures can hide in beds, floors, furniture, wood, and paper trash during the day. We humans usually become their dinner during the night, with peak biting activity just before dawn.They can obtain their meal in as little as three minutes, after which they are engorged and drop off the host, then crawl into a hiding place to digest their meal. Bedbugs can live for 10 months, and can go weeks without feeding.
Disclosure: Serve(d) as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant or trustee for: University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Alabama Health Services Foundation
Serve(d) as a speaker or a member of a speakers bureau for: Ferndale Laboratories
Received research grant from: NIH, Veterans Administration, California Grape Assn
Received consulting fee from Astellas for review panel membership; Received salary from Massachusetts Medical Society for employment; Received salary from UpToDate for employment. for: Astellas.
It is difficult to tell bedbug bites from those of mosquitoes, fleas, or other insects. You likely won't feel bedbugs biting as they inject an anesthetic and anticoagulant when they bite. You may develop bite marks one to 14 days after being bitten. As with mosquitoes, their saliva can provoke an allergic reaction at the site of the bite. Some people have no reaction, others have a mild one, while some can have significant swelling.
Mechanical approaches, such as vacuuming up the insects and heat-treating or wrapping mattresses, are effective.[3][6] An hour at a temperature of 45 °C (113 °F) or over, or two hours at less than −17 °C (1 °F) kills them.[6] This may include a domestic clothes drier for fabric or a commercial steamer. Bed bugs and their eggs will die on contact when exposed to surface temperatures above 180 °F (82 °C) and a steamer can reach well above 230 °F (110 °C).[31][15] A study found 100% mortality rates for bed bugs exposed to temperatures greater than 50 °C (122 °F) for more than 2 minutes. The study recommended maintaining temperatures of above 48 °C (118 °F) for more than 20 min to effectively kill all life stages of bed bugs, and because in practice treatment times of 6 to 8 hours are used to account for cracks and indoor clutter.[32] This method is expensive and has caused fires.[6][15] Starving them is not effective as they can survive without eating for 100 to 300 days, depending on temperature.[6] One expert recommends not trying to get rid of bed bugs exclusively on one's own.[29]
This question is answered by the condition of the mattress and the size of infestation. If there are holes or tears in the gauze fabric or fabric of the mattress, bed bugs and eggs may be inside, as well as outside. There are restrictions on how beds can be treated with insecticides. We carry both Mattress Safe Bed Bug Encasements and ActiveGuard Mattress Liners.
If all other options have been exhausted, you may need to seek a professional PMP (Pest Management Professional). There are pesticides that are approved for professionals to use during a infestation. These pesticides, however, are not always effective, and typically not as effective as steam cleaning, excessive heat, or excessive cold. The exterminator may opt to treat the area with carbon dioxide.
Blood spots found on one's sheets, bites and the presence of bed bug feces and cast skins are some of the indications of a bed bug infestation. Bites are commonly found on the parts of the body that are more likely to be exposed to bed bugs during sleep - the hands, neck, face, shoulders, legs and arms. While not always the case, bed bug bites are often grouped together in a small area and at times may occur in a line or a zigzag pattern. Bites normally look like small, flat or raised areas that may become inflamed, itchy, red or blistered. Bed bug bite reactions don’t always appear immediately after you’re bitten and may take a few days to begin causing symptoms. However, not everyone reacts to bed bug bites in the same manner.
As per mentioned, when you shift your furniture to located these bed bugs, you alert them and they may move from one infested room to another, which could be spared from in the first place. Therefore, when you spot signs of bed bugs early, be careful not to shift furniture, drawers and closets around too much. Wait for your pest control expert to advice.
The journal Insects published a study on products containing essential oils for bed bug control. It was found that essential oils like cedar oil, cinnamon oil, clove oil, peppermint oil, rosemary oil, and lemongrass oil all have insecticidal properties against bed bug populations. The study concluded that using these essential oils in a bug spray can be an effective way to reduce bed bug populations without putting humans at risk of exposure to chemicals.8
Occasionally, you might find other bugs which resemble the common bed bug including the bat bug and swallow bug. Both of these species superficially resemble the common bed bug. However, their primary hosts are bats and birds and there are small but diagnostic morphological differences. Problem infestations with these bugs may occur in attics or unused chimneys. Typically, when one host is gone these bugs seek an alternative host blood meal. This is when humans are bitten. It is important to differentiate between the common bed bug and other bugs that feed on bats and birds because control efforts can be targeted at the wrong sites and infestations can continue.
