Bedbugs

Bedbugs are back. Since the advent of holidaying abroad councils have had a marked number of reported bedbug infestations leading them to believe that holiday-makers have unwittingly returned from holiday with unpleasant souvenirs in their suitcases.

Have you got bedbugs?

How to spot a bedbug
Bedbugs are pale brown (and they change to a red brown after they've 'eaten' your blood). They are around 3.5mm long, have six legs and move rapidly when disturbed. They only come out in the dark so you're unlikely to see them in daylight.

What do they do?
Bedbugs pierce the skin of a sleeping human and feed on its blood. The bedbug will hold the host's skin using its forelegs and pierce it with its mouth whilst injecting a small amount of saliva. It takes 5-10 minutes for it to complete its feed of blood. During the course of a feed an adult bedbug can suck up to seven times its own weight in blood. They do not not transmit any known diseases.

How to know if you've got bedbugs

1. Bedbug bites often leave a hard whitish swelling.
2. A heavy infestation will give the room an unpleasant oily smell which is created by the bugs 'stink glands'.
3. A bedbug often leaves small blood spots on the sheet where it has pierced your skin and black spots which are its faeces.

Where do they live?
Bedbugs live under the seams of mattresses, under loose wallpaper, floorboards and in the cracks and crevices of furniture walls and paintings.

The bedbug life-cycle
A female lays between 200-500 eggs at the rate of 3 or 4 eggs per day but the actual number depends upon the temperature and other external factors. When temperatures are below 10°C they do not lay eggs. At temperatures above 70°F eggs hatch in 6-17 days, below this temperature they may take up to 28 days.

It takes around 2 months for a bedbug to become an adult. They do not feed every night but at intervals of a few days to a week. Bedbugs can live for 4 to 12 months without feeding. The bugs will survive longer without a meal at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures.

Bedbugs can't fly and are most commonly spread through being transported e.g. being brought back into the home in holiday luggage.

Getting rid of bedbugs

1. Strip the beds and wash the sheets at the hottest temperature possible.
2. Keep your bedroom floor clear of obstructions, remove any rubbish that could contain insects.
3. The bed frames, skirting and floors of the affected rooms will need to be sprayed with a residual insecticide.
4. Cover any fish tanks, remove other pets from the house.