Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius)

Bed bugs are found globally as well as throughout Britain. These charming little blood feeders are found in poorer domestic dwellings right up to high end hotels, with global travel easily accessible to more and more of us the bed bug will take advantage of using suitcases, bags or just folded clothing to accompany you to your next destination.

As per their title, the bed bug feeds of the host when they are in bed and in a deep state of sleep. the bug itself tends to house where it can get easy access to the host but this does not always mean just on the seams of the mattress, they’ll hide in cracks and crevices in skirtings, in furniture, behind light fittings, in keyboards, radios, items stored under beds, pictures on walls and in curtains.

Bed bugs are not know to disease carriers, its more the irritation, annoyance and stigma that is associated to the bed bug label that upsets people the most, but there’s every chance your infestation originated in some lavish hotel in the middle east or when someone took a gap year to sleep in a hostel in Asia. They are no longer a poor persons pest.

Control

Its all about being thorough, flushing aerosols, rotation of residual treatments and IGR applications are all the norm and it is very rare that a successful treatment is carried out in a single visit. It is suspected that some bed bug populations are displaying insecticidal resistance so it is sometimes required to apply treatments over several visits rotating products as deemed necessary.