Overview:
Do you know it is possible that as careful as you may have been with pest control in your home, you may just have been feeding bugs fat, with your blood and that of your family members. This can only be possible because you don’t know bed bugs!
This write up will tell you about the following:
- Anatomy of the bed bug
- How to identify bed bug
- Bed bug cycle
- Life cycle
- Bed bug bites
- Bed bug allergic reaction
- Bed bug causes
- Bed bug diseases
- Bed bug control techniques
Anatomy of the bed bug:
It is a small, flat, brown, parasitic insect that feeds on the blood of human beings and that of animals. They are broad, oval in shape, wingless, and about a few millimeters (3-5mm) in length. They appear reddish brown in color and swollen when they are fed.
Bed bug anatomy:
It has a small head and an out of proportion oval-shaped body. The head part is equipped with two antennae on the head while the oval-shaped body has two legs on each side of the body respectively.
The mouth part has two hollow tube like beak, one for injecting the host skin, its saliva, which contains a form of anesthetic chemical, to numb that area of the skin it’s biting while the other hollow beak is for sucking blood out of the host body. The host, usually asleep will rarely feel any bite because he or she is asleep.
Life cycle of the bed bug:
Three phases of the bugs’ life are:
- Egg phase
- Nymph phase
- Adult phase
Egg Phase:
It reproduces in such a way that makes it easy to infest any environment. An adult female bed bug lays up to five eggs per day and these eggs are laid in between cracks or gaps found on furniture and fittings in homes, hotel rooms, and any place where they can source blood of warm-blooded animals.
Nymph Phase:
The nymph is just a smaller version of the adult bug, however, it require five other phases to get to the adult phase. To accomplish these, it requires molting at every phase of the development to adult phase and also a blood meal as food to survive the stages. The nymph phase takes 21 day and the nymph is said to be able to survive days without blood meal. It however get the blood required to become an Adult bug. (pestworld.com)
Adult Phase: At this point, the bug is fully developed and it is said to be able to survive days without food because it feeds exclusively on animal blood. (Pestworld.com)
Bed bug bite:
This insect is opportunistic, it feed on it host when the host is a sleep. It bites its host by inserting two hollow tube-like beak into the sleeping host skin. One of the beaks is to inject its saliva into the host’s body. This saliva contains anesthetic chemical which numbs the area while the second hollow beak sucks the blood. The host never knows about this while the operation is going on. The only evidence that there has been bloodletting is the blood stain on the sheet on the bed.
Bed bug allergic reaction:
Commonly, people react to bed bug bites by itching the bite area. This could be severe and last about 2 weeks, depending the number of bites and how individuals react to such bites. These bite are recognized by red bulging bumps on the skin where the bite is, further vigorous itching causes deeper laceration of the skin.
For treatment of bug bites, it is recommended to see your doctor for the appropriate body cream and or further treatment.
Bed bug causes:
There are several means through which your home could get infested with bed bugs. Some of them are as follows:
- The easiest and most common cause of bed bug in your homes is when they hitch a ride on you bags and luggage from destinations into your home.
- It also happens when you bring infected used furniture and fittings into your home. They most likely come in as adults and the adult female starts laying eggs almost immediately.
- They spread around infected surroundings and could attach to cloths and items, and get into homes when such items are inadvertently, brought homes either by children after play or by adults from visits.
- Pets could bring them into the car unknowingly and eventually into homes.
Bed bug diseases:
Though bed bug is a well-known public health pest, no known disease has been traced directly transmitted to human through its bite. The most known effect of bed bug bite include:
- Severe itching
- Allergic reactions which could affect the whole body
- Sleeplessness due to the itching/allergic reactions
- Possible mental impact on people leaving in infected homes and environment
Bed bug control techniques:
There several ways to control infestation of your home by beg bug. Some of the techniques include:
- Thoroughly disinfect used furniture and fittings before bringing them into your home.
- If you’re suspicious of any luggage, thoroughly disinfect them with appropriate bed bug killer before allowing them into your home.
- Be wary of cloths and sheets spread outside, ensure you do proper shake-off before bringing them in to the house.
- Avoid bug infested places.
- Use vacuum cleaner very often on your rugs, sofas, mattresses and corners and frames of your furniture and fittings.
- Use a hand dryer at high temperature to blow hot air on joints of your bed, furniture and fittings, gently enough to kill bugs and insects and their eggs that may be hiding between joints.
- Check your pets for bug infection and them regularly.
- Use high temperature to was your laundry when you suspect any case of bug infestation
How to kill be bugs:
There are government approved methods of killing and eliminating bed bug effectively. These methods include:
- Physical methods like completely burning infected materials such as clothing’s, beddings, mattresses and event furniture and fittings in some extreme cases.
- Chemical methods such as the use of:
- Desiccants eg. Boric acid powder and diatomaceous earth
- Dichlorvos (DDVP) etc. – https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/pesticides-control-bed-bugs
Where to get bed bug pesticides:
Various effective bed bug killers are available at super store within the neighborhood or online on amazon.com. For very intense bug infestation, get the services of a professional. However, if you choose to do it yourself and you need some products or combination of products to enable you achieve effective and long lasting result, then buy online from amazon.com.
Conclusion:
Gadding your home against bed bug infestation is paramount because potential cost of living in an infested home can’t be over emphasized. The cost in terms of social, health, mental and psychological drain can’t be measured. It is therefore imperative to adopt preventive measures than to allow infestation to occur.
Preventive control measure recommended includes regular fumigation of homes against pests and bugs, avoiding or controlling the buying and use of old furniture and fittings.
Also ensure you eliminate cockroaches from your home, click to learn more.
