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Unlike other species of bugs, the bed bug is wingless. It is
thought that the species came form Asia, but they are now cosmopolitan,
being found in all four corners of the world. They were well
known in ancient times in the Mediterranean area, but as
they require a warm and dryish climate, they did not spread further north
until the advent of heating in buildings. When this
happened, their spread became relentless.
Contrary to popular belief, mating takes place off the host
in a dark harbourage. The female will lay up to 200+ eggs in
small batches of about half a dozen a day, attaching them to the surface
as she moves along. This species requires a minimum
temperature of at least 11°C to hatch successfully. Bed bugs show an
incomplete lifecycle; that is when the egg hatches, a small nymphal form of the bed bug emerges, rather than a larval stage. The nymph will
go through five or six moults, becoming larger each time,
until it reaches the mature adult. The full maturation process takes
from 6 to 18 months depending on the temperature and the
abundance of food.
Bed bugs are blood feeders, and have a sharpened proboscis
to enable them to take a blood meal from the host. They do
not feed exclusively on man, but will also feed on dogs, cats and
even rodents. They will take up to seven times their own
body weight in blood at anyone sitting, but this may have to last them for
some time. A feed takes about ten minutes. Bed bugs can go
for many months without food.
They can crawl appreciable distances, but their senses are
not capable of guiding them to a host until they come within
20cm (8" or so) of their chosen host. The urban myth that they hang from
the ceiling is not true -they can walk upside down but will
fall accidentally on the person below.
Bedbugs are not thought to be frequent carriers of disease,
but some pathogens may be transmitted during the biting
action. The main reason for their control are their bites - they release
an anti-clotting agent which causes a severe itchiness. The
very presence of the insects is unpleasant, and they also have a pungent
and distasteful odour.
Added to this is the social stigma of neighbours and others
knowing that you have an infestation. This is often
associated with uncleanliness, but bedbugs are not fussy, and will just as
happily feed off clean skin.
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