Bed Bugs Removal – and top 3 bed bug mistakes.

Bed Bugs are resilient creatures and one needs to become familiar with their behaviors before taking on such a cunning enemy. Before initiating a war, or attempting bed bugs removal learn your enemy’s weaknesses, if any!

And by all means, don’t make these mistakes!

 Examining the Enemy

Bed Bugs are ⅕-¼ inch long, approximately the size of an apple seed or grain of rice. They are reddish brown or mahogany in color.

Bed Bug eggs are elongated and opaque white and very small, approximately 0.04 inch long. The females attach the eggs to surfaces with a sticky substance, secreted during egg laying. Once it dries it makes it difficult for the egg to detach from the surface. This substance basically acts as a glue. The eggs hatch within 10 days under normal room temperatures.

 Temperature Sensitivity

The best conditions for development are believed to be 78% relative humidity and about 85 degrees fahrenheit. Bed Bug development will be slower at lower temperatures, down to about 40 degrees fahrenheit. Bed Bugs can’t survive long at constant temperatures above 95 degrees fahrenheit.  There thermal maximum temperature is 113 degrees fahrenheit.

 Evolved to Survive

Bed Bugs have evolved to live under undesirable conditions, such as surviving in undesirable temperatures or surviving without food for long periods of time. Adult Bed Bugs can live without food for a year or longer.  

Favorite Foods

Humans are Bed Bugs prefered choice of food. They really like us, but if they are missing their favorite dish, then they will dine on other animals such as poultry, bats, mice, rats, canaries, dogs, and cats. Bed Bugs prefer to dine at night, however, if dinner is not available during their prefered feeding times, they will readily feed during daylight hours when food presents itself.

 Bed Bugs Don’t Need Much Blood

A Bed Bug normally feeds two to three times a week for 10 minutes at a time. At this rate, females can produce 30-35 eggs a week. But what if their feeding was reduced, what would happen? Would they stop laying eggs? Would their reproduction decline significantly enough to the point in which the Bed Bug population would decline? That’s what Roberto Pereira, a research scientist at the University of Florida, set out to determine.

Roberto Pereira wanted to determine if Bed Bugs could thrive where people aren’t present consistently like movie theaters and clothing stores. Would they be able to reproduce and thrive without a consistent food source?

Bed Bugs will feed when they can, even during the day if they have to. When food (blood) is limited, Bed Bug populations are smaller. However, Bed Bugs were found to be more fertile than expected. In fact, it was determined that just five minutes of feeding per week is enough for the females to sustain limited egg production.

The Top Three Bed Bug Mistakes

Mistake #1 The Hide and Seek Syndrome:

Don’t run, they will find you, especially on the comfortable sofa.

Often times when our clients discover they have Bed Bugs they leave their bedrooms and start sleeping on the sofa. Bad idea!  They will find you and Bed Bugs are very hard to remove from sofas. You have not only spread the  Bed Bugs around you have now introduced them to your comfy sofa that will most likely have to be thrown-out.

Unfortunately, your enemy can out-maneuver you. They may not be fast moving at four feet per minute, but they are stealthy. They strike at night when you are sleeping.

Research has shown that Bed Bugs can detect human hosts from a distance. Primarily from carbon dioxide from the host’s breathing, and certain host odors and warmth. Bed Bugs can detect and respond to temperature differences as little as one or two degrees.

Most Bed Bugs are found close to their host, however some can be found as far as 20 feet or more away from the host.

Mistake #2 “I Love the Smell of Napalm in the Morning!”

While carpet bombing may be an effective strategy against some enemies, it certainly isn’t against Bed Bugs.

The biggest mistake most people make is setting off bug bombs or spraying over-the-counter pesticides.

Bed Bugs have become resistant to many pesticides. This means most bug sprays don’t kill them or only a small percentage of them, leaving the remaining Bed Bugs angry at you for killing a few of their buddies. Your pesticide applications cause them to spread out all over the place making the infestation harder to control because the Bed Bugs are now spread out over a larger area rather than confined primarily to one area.

 Bed Bug Fogging Devices Fail in Research Study

Ohio State University researchers Susan Jones and Joshua Bryant tested three over-the-counter (OTC) total release foggers to see if they could control a Bed Bug population with them. The products that were tested where Hotshot BedBug and Flea Fogger , Spectracide Bug Stop Indoor Fogger , and Eliminator Indoor Fogger.

The study tested the products on both Bed Bugs collected in the field and Bed Bugs reared  and raised in the laboratory that have never been exposed to pyrethroid insecticides. If you’re wondering how Bed Bugs are raised in a laboratory, in this case the researchers fed their Bed Bugs on warmed chicken blood.

In the study, Bed Bugs were exposed to the three foggers one after another for a two hour period, then the room was ventilated. Bed Bugs were exposed to the Hot Shot fogger both in an open petri dish and under a thin cloth to act as a harborage area. The Bed Bugs were then checked right after exposure to the product, next at 24 hours after exposure, and yet again at 5-7 days after exposure.

The field collected Bed Bugs from peoples’ homes around the Columbus area showed little or no effect from all three products after two hours of exposure. Even those that were completely exposed. The laboratory reared Bed Bugs that are susceptible to pyrethroids, were unaffected if they were provided some cloth for harborage. Most of the Bed Bugs continued to be unaffected 5-7 days after exposure. The research study concluded that these three over-the-counter foggers were ineffective in controlling Bed Bugs.

Mistake #3 Don’t Move Stuff Around for Bed Bugs Removal

For most people the discovery of bed bugs induces  a quick and sudden urge to act. To do anything that might help rid the bed bugs from their homes. For many people this sudden response to the bed bug infestation is to throughout the infested items in the house in order to get rid of the bed bug problem. This is not necessary and could end up making the problem worse. Because as infested items are moved through the house bed bugs could be shaken from the infested items and fall to the floor in areas that are not infested. When moving things around you can spread the bed bug problem throughout the house rather than keeping the bed bug infestation confined to a particular area.  In some situations when items are very infested throwing them out can make the most sense. However you should let a professional exterminator make that decision and allow them to then inform you in the proper way to remove the items in question.