Rise of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are infesting homes across the UK at an alarming rate. It's crazy. Ten years ago, pest control companies received just a few calls a month regarding bed bugs. Now half a dozen calls a week are being received from nervous homeowners.

The insects feed mostly on human blood, but will also bite pets, birds and rats. The critters can hitch a ride on clothing or crawl from apartment to apartment along pipes, wiring or through holes. And it is not uncommon for people to unknowingly bring the pests into their home on used furniture or rugs.

Often mistaken for ticks, adult bed bugs are about a ¼-inch long and reddish-brown. They are active mostly at night, and their bites can leave itchy welts on the skin. During the daytime, they tend to hide near places where people sleep – such as the seams of mattresses – or in wall cracks or beneath furniture. The eggs are white, sticky and about the size of a speck of dust.

Bed bugs live for about a year. The females can lay between 200 and 400 pear-shaped eggs at a time. The bugs thrive in the seams and folds of mattresses and pillows and inside box springs, headboards and upholstered couches and chairs.

Bed bugs are not considered a health hazard because they do not transmit disease. However, bites can become itchy or inflamed and some people will develop an allergic reaction.

The bugs are resistant to many chemicals, and researchers are now looking for alternative methods of eradication and control, such as heating or freezing techniques and the use of specially designed mattress covers.

Unfortunately, there is not much a homeowner or tenant can do to eliminate an infestation without the help of a professional pest control company.

The state of the art in extermination is integrated pest management, which means a multi-pronged attack that goes beyond spraying or misting insecticides. Techniques include caulking, spackling and using other sealants to fill cracks and crevices, refinishing and sealing floors, injecting frozen carbon dioxide "snow" into electronics to freeze pests, re-painting walls and other surfaces, using low-moisture steam and clothes dryer heat to kill bugs, and injecting bug-killing dust into electrical outlets and switches.

SDA Pest Control advises its customers to clean out all drawers, remove clutter and wash clothing, sheets and pillowcases before our employees arrive. We will then spray the home, especially cracks, crevasses, bed frames and furniture, with a cocktail of bed bug-killing chemicals. Sometimes a second treatment is necessary.

Washing all linens and placing them in a dryer for 20 minutes, along with daily vacuuming – and properly discarding the bag – can help. Spraying with pyrethrums alone will only make the bed bug problem worse, as bugs that are not killed will move to other areas of the home and breed.

Bed bugs are a widespread problem again, after a 50 year or so absence, likely due to the banning of aggressive insecticides, including DDT. Now, increases in bed bug activity have been noted, not just locally, but everywhere.

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