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Got Bed bugs ?
Who you gonna call ?
502.426.0291
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After an interval of 50 years, bed bugs are making a comeback with a vengeance.
Bed bugs may be found virtually anywhere. Bed bug infestations occur across all social and economic
levels.
Read all about bed bugs from the University of Kentucky, Department of Agriculture, Bed Bugs
With an initial treatment and regularly scheduled follow-ups, we can rid you of bed bugs.
Bed Bug (Scientific Name: Cimex lectularius Linnaeus)
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Bed Bug Identification & Facts
- Eggs are pearly white and only .04 inches (1 mm) in length (size of a poppy seed).
- First stage immature bed bugs are only 1mm in length.
- First stage immatures are pale in color and are somewhat translucent.
- Immature bugs go through five developmental stages becoming larger with each stage (see photo).
- Nymphs (hatchlings) have five major feedings before maturity. They molt in-between each feeding leaving behind a
cast exoskeleton.
- Adult bed bugs are approximately 1/4” (6 mm) in length and less than 1/8 inch wide (<3 mm) and are reddish-brown in
color.
- Tip of the female’s abdomen is rounded; the male’s is more pointed.
- Body is flattened when unfed.
- Wingless or with vestigial wings.
- Covered with short golden hairs.
- Four-segmented antenna.
- Three-segmented beak on underside.
- Unfed bed bug nymph is straw colored.
- Engorged nymph is crimson.
- Unfed adult may be various shades of brown.
- Engorged adult is a darker reddish-brown.
- Female bed bugs lay 1 - 5 eggs per day and up to 500 viable eggs in her lifetime.
- Eggs are laid individually and mostly close to the female’s harborage site. The female will preferentially lay her eggs
onto textured materials, such as fabrics, wood, or behind pictures, in furniture, along the edges of baseboards, under
floor boards and in similar sites. The eggs are covered with a sticky substance that acts as a cement, attaching them
firmly to the surface.
- Bed Bugs nymphs have an incubation period of ten days.
- How often bed bugs will feed depends on temperature (about 80 degrees F [27 degrees C]).
- Bed bugs will feed on a weekly basis under good conditions.
- They prefer dark areas.
- They do not like air movement and will move out of drafty locations.
Feeding Habits:
- Sucks blood from preferred host (humans).
- Alternate hosts for bed bugs include, but are not limited to, mice, rats, poultry, pigeons, song birds, bats, dogs, cats,
ferrets, rabbits, pet birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, and chinchillas.
- Feeding may take anywhere from 3 to 12 minutes, mainly after midnight and until dawn.
- After feeding, the bug quickly returns to a harborage area to digest the meal over several days.
- Leaves dark fecal sports on mattresses, bedding, clothing, walls, ceilings and other places they hide.
- Bed bugs can go months without feeding, therefore, they may already occupy a "clean" dwelling.
- Multiple, painless bites may leave itchy welts
Feeding bed bugs do not transmit any diseases; however:
- repeated exposure to bed bug bites may cause anemia in children.
- consistent exposure to bed bug bites over a period of several weeks will cause a sensitivity to the saliva of these bugs
- additional exposure to bed bug bites can cause a slight to extreme allergic reaction.
- the effected person should resist scratching the skin lesions caused by bed bug bites
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