HEALTH - BED BUGS - How to win your WAR against - Bed bugs are commonly mistaken for other pests!
No this is not about Cousin Vinny sleeping on the couch! These are little bitty suckers sharing your bed with you and your children!
OR are you sharing THEIR bed?
This 69 page EBOOK will give you selected tips on how to make their life miserable and how to help find them another home (or grave even)
What Bed Bugs Look Like
Now that you know a bit more about this bad creature, it is time to learn more about what they
actually look like.
You will find several pictures located here to help you, but it is important to read the necessary
information about them as well.
Bed bugs are commonly mistaken for other pests in the home.
Or, you may think that you have bed bugs in your home when you actually do not but have
some other pest lurking there.
If you plan to treat bed bugs, you need to have proper identification of these insects. Here are
some key points to help you to identify them.
• In their adult stage, they are brown to a reddish tint of brown.
• They are an oval shape but they are also flattened out.
• In size, the adult bed bug is about 3/16 to 1/5 of an inch long.
• When they have just had a meal, the bed bug is swollen looking. They will be longer
now and have a dark red color to them.
• On the front of their heads, they have what looks like a beak that allows them to pierce
and suck from their mouths.
• Adult bed bugs do have wings. These wings do not allow them to fly, though. They are
small in size and are very short looking.
• The eggs of bed bugs are white or colorless.
They will darken in their color as they
mature. They will eventually have a brownish tint to them when they are mature.
• The nymphs look a lot like that of the adult bed bugs in their appearance, just at a
smaller size.
They Look Like Others
Bed bugs are commonly mistaken for other bugs that are in the same family, (Family Cimicidae)
or in a closely related one.
They are often confused with Cimex adjunctus, which are bat bugs
or with Cimexopsis spp which are chimney swift bugs. The swallow bug, Oeciacus spp is also
confused with bed bugs quite often.
Often the only way to know if a bug really is a bed bug is to have a professional look at it. A
microscope is used to determine if the pest has the tell tale characteristics of a bed bug, as we
have mentioned above.
It is often necessary for a skilled entomologist to do this type of
investigation as most can not tell the difference from these creatures listed to the bed bug.
A Brief History Of The Bed Bug
You may not think of an animal like the bed bug of having a history, but this one does. In fact, it
has been found that this is one of the strongest species of animals present on the Earth
because of what it has accomplished.
While most humans would be okay with the bed bug being extinct this is anything but what is
likely to happen over the next years.
A Look Back
Taking a look back, it can be found that the bed bug has been found in ancient writings. It is
commonly believed that the bed bug has been around for thousands of years, probably as long
as humans have inhabited Earth as well.
The bed bug was first called a pest in the 17th century. They came to the Americas just as the
colonists did.
They traveled with them on board the shipping vessels that were used by
immigrants. With each new wave of colonists came a new wave of bed bugs.
The 1940’s and 1950’s
In the 1940’s and the 1950’s, the United States was using a product called DDT. This is known
as the first type of pesticide that was used. It was first developed in the early period of World
War II. Its purpose was to stop the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and typhus by
killing off the mosquitoes and other pests that helped to spread the disease.
DDT was used throughout the military but it was also used by everyday people as well. This
allowed it to be used heavily and virtually everywhere in the United States readily. It was even
used as an agricultural insecticide.
So, what does this have to do with the bed bug? DDT actually almost caused the extinction of
the bed bug in North America. During the middle of the 20th century, it was hard to find a bed
bug.
Are They Gone, Then?
Unfortunately for most people, the bed bug did not die out during this time period but over the
last several decades has staged a come back that is large enough to cause them to re-infest
many areas quickly.
North America has seen a tremendous growth of bed bugs in the last ten or so years.
But, there is something different this time around….
DDT is no longer used today as a pesticide. It was banned from use, as were other products
that are similar to it, as it was found to be dangerous not only for the bed bug and other pests
but also to the human population itself.
This poses as bit of a struggle for those that are trying to treat bed bug infestations today. Many
of the products that are used today are just no effective at treating these pests.
In fact, the bed
bug can be just as hard to treat and get rid of as that of the cockroach. In short, there is no
100% guaranteed method to treat an infestation of bed bugs.
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