ABC’s of Bed Bugs

Bed Bug Stagess

• The typical life span of a bed bug is about 12 to 18 months.
• Bed bugs are able to live for several months without feeding on a host.
• Female bed bugs can lay up to 300 eggs over their lifetime.
• Bed bugs eggs hatch within 2 weeks and takes about another 3 to 10 weeks to reach maturity depending upon the temperature and availability of food.
• Bed bugs are not known to carry disease but their bites can cause allergic reactions in some people.

 

Never dumpster dive.  You don’t know the source of the belongings that are thrown out. Don’t lie on sofas and other furnishings that have come from dumps.  Don’t decide to use the refuge areas  as a place to create a place to rest.  If you have something conteminated, which you’ll clearly know pack it in a bag, mark it, and tie it off.  Even second hand things require vigilence.  Never pull thrown out furniture of any kind into a place that you live.

 

Bed bugs can bit a lot and infest in the areas you live because you’re the host.  They like to stay right there to feed every day or two but they can live a couple years without eating and still survive.

 

They will not hurt you but they’ll drive you crazy.  They are hard to get used to as pets and their babies reproduce often and that it why they are hard to eradicate.

 

Cold kills them and when you live outdoors they’ll want to snuggle up and keep warm.  High heat kills them for a while in a tumbler dryer.  The problem with this is that a few that survive will repopulate the whole area. 

 

They enjoy darkness and that is why they can be a problem to notice until you’re scratching all the time.  There is nothing that kills them that is a spray or pesticide.  Many companies control them by repeatedly spraying every two weeks.  They love to migrate nearby the host but if you keep a fermone trap on their trails you’ll know if they are visiting.  They climb up bed legs and furnishings that are on the ground. If one has a rug or ground over that is used by the bugs it has to be thoroughly cleaned or get rid of the object. 

 

Pyretherum is a chemical that has been used in sprayers by companies but this irriates them as does alcohol (wood) and bleach.  The process has to be repeated regularly and includes steam cleaning furniture and beds.  When you do clean everything it has to be placed in bags and zip lock containers that seals the nits and babies to insure that they canot get out again.  The compound pyretherum is naturally found in Chrysanthemum. None of the insecticides kills bed bugs if you do not have impeccable standards of cleanliness.