Little Bloodsuckers

A couple of years ago, none of the calls received were about bed bugs. People would contact us begging for their home to be rid of fleas, ants or mice. But bed bugs? Hardly ever. Until now.

Decades after the tiny bloodsuckers were almost eradicated in the UK, bed bugs are making a comeback. They are being found in couches, chairs, suitcases, backpacks and, of course, in beds. They seem to prefer to hide in wooden crevices, but they will hide anywhere they can – clothes, picture frames, TVs, even inside molding.

The insects, flat, oval-shaped and roughly the size of a lentil, hide during the day, and come out at night – often just before dawn – to feast on blood. Bed bugs use their beak-like proboscis to pierce your skin and suck your blood. As they feed, their bodies swell and turn dark red. After they feed, bed bugs often leave behind tiny pieces of fecal matter on your skin.

The bites are painless, and some people never know they are bitten. Other people develop raised, white welts that itch. Scratching those bites can lead to a skin infection, and just the thought of being bitten by a bed bug can be alarming. It's often traumatic for victims of bed bugs because they equate an infestation to cleanliness, even though cleanliness doesn't have anything to do with it.

Bed bugs are most commonly found in dwellings with a high rate of occupant turnover, such as an hotel room, dormitory or apartment complex. Most occurences of bed bug infestations have been in city apartments, especially ones where students from other countries have lived. Many infestations can be traced to people coming to the United Kingdon from third-world countries or Eastern Europe.

It's not the first time the United Kingdom has had to deal with bed bugs. They were common prior to World War II, when people began using DDT and other synthetic insecticides to kill insects in their homes. Of course, you can't use those insecticides anymore, so people are baiting nowadays, and bed bugs don't respond to bait.

Other theories for the bed bug increase are that more people are buying used furniture, which may be infested with bed bugs, and the increase in large-scale poultry farms (the same bedbug that thrives on humans also likes to feed on chickens). The theory is that workers at those large plants bring bed bugs home in their clothes and lunchboxes.

Once you have a bed bug infestation, it's difficult to get rid of them as bed bugs have proven resistant to several popular insecticides. Sometimes it takes three or four treatments and customer involvement is a necessity. You'll need to wash all clothes and bed sheets in hot water, and you might have to get rid of your mattress if it's not covered.

Even if you only have a few bed bugs, they can quickly become a serious problem – females lay up to 350 eggs in a lifetime, and the eggs take just six to 17 days to hatch. So, in a couple of months, you have a pretty large population.

How can you prevent a bedbug infestation?

Here are a few tips:

When traveling, check your hotel room for bed bugs. Bring along a torch and mirror, and inspect the crevices in your bed and mattress.
Keep your suitcase zipped shut when you're not using it.
When you get home, inspect all of your clothing and baggage.
Inspect your home, especially after a visitor has spent the night.
Use a zipped mattress cover used to protect against dust mites.
If you have an infestation, call a pest control company. Ask them for referrals from customers who had bed bugs.

SDA Pest Control, "Long Acre", Bluntisham Road, Needingworth, St. Ives, Cambridgeshire
01480 465684