Every year more and more customers call us about bed bug issues. These insects are found in our beds and homes all over the country. Statistics are telling us that we have more issues with bed bugs and their populations are growing at an alarming rate. How did these insects spread? The truth is that they can hitchhike a ride off of any item of clothing including a pant leg or a book bag. Once they get in your home, they set up shop in your bed or couch and will continue their infestation until they get large numbers. In this article, we will explore how bed bugs work, how to keep them from coming into your home, and how to get rid of them if they are there.
THE SPREAD OF BED BUGS
These insects are blood feeders. This means that they survive off of our blood. They can survive off the blood of other animals such as dogs or cats, but they prefer our blood and need it to go through their life cycle. Because of this they target us on a regular basis. Any public place that you go in could possibly carry bed bugs. They don’t care whether your house is clean or dirty or if you’re rich or poor. A common misconception is that bed bugs are only in dirty houses but this is just not true.
Bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed. For their size, they can move pretty quickly. This means they can crawl approximately 2 to 3 ft a minute. While this is quick for their size it doesn’t really present a huge danger for us as full-grown humans. But what they can do is hide and then latch onto your clothing. It’s common for kids to bring bed bugs home from school, or for someone to bring home bed bugs from a hospital visit or a doctor’s waiting room. These insects can easily grasp onto any fabric including upholstery or clothing in order to wait for you to sit down and then grab onto your clothing and go home with you. If you are having issues with bed bugs, contact your Tulsa exterminator today.
LIFECYCLE
Bed bugs enjoy an incomplete metamorphosis. This means that they essentially have three different life stages. The first stage is as an egg. These eggs are very small but can be seen by the human eye. Once they hatch, a nympho emerges. A nymph is just like the adult insect except that it’s much smaller in size. It will grow into full size in a few weeks. During this process it will have to molt five times. This means that it will outgrow its exoskeleton and must shed that exoskeleton five times during its development.
Once it reaches full grown adult hood, it will be ready to reproduce. In order to reproduce, the females must take a blood meal to have enough energy to be able to lay eggs. Also the nymphs will take a blood meal before each time they molt. Our blood is the only place they get water or nutrients from. Once the male and female mate, the female will lay eggs and the process will start all over again. Call your Broken Arrow exterminator for more information.
WHY ARE BED BUGS SO HARD TO GET RID OF?
These insects are unique because they are parasites of humans. There are not many in the insect Kingdom that are brave enough to feed off of humans. They survived by living in our home, specifically in our beds and couches. They are especially prolific when it comes to our bedding and mattresses. When people sleep they usually wear less clothes than at any other time during the day. This means that they have more skin to mattress contact then any other place or time during their life. Applying pesticides to these can be difficult because of this skin to fabric contact.
In order for a quality Tulsa pest control company to treat these insects, they must use a pesticide that is strong enough to kill the bugs, but not promote health risks to the people sleeping in these beds. In addition to this, bedbugs have a very strong ability to create immunity to pesticides that are used on them too much. Pyrethrins are one of these pesticides. This family of pesticides was used extensively against bed bugs throughout the 90s because of its safety among humans. It’s a pesticide that’s derived from a natural occurring pesticide found in chrysanthemums. But because it was overused against bed bugs, bed bugs have developed an immunity to it and are no longer susceptible to it.
WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
Bed bugs have a long and sordid history. They ‘ve been written about in many different places in ancient history. The Romans wrote about them, there are cave paintings of them, and writings about them are found in Victorian times. It’s believed that these insects are actually descendants of the bat bug. Bat bugs look almost exactly like bed bugs. In fact they can only be differentiated by an entomologist. The theory goes that when humans lived in caves, bats living in the ceiling of the caves had bat bugs. As the people slept, some of the bat bugs crawled down the walls and started biting the humans. These insects later became bed bugs.
HOW DO YOU GET RID OF BED BUGS?
We have established that it’s difficult to get rid of bed bugs, but it is not impossible to get rid of bed bugs. The best way to do it, is to contact your Broken Arrow pest control company and have them come out and help. Prices for bed bug treatments have gone down in recent years and become much more affordable for the average person. If you have any issues with bed bugs or any other infestation, call TermMax Pest Control today. We service the greater Tulsa area including Jenks, Broken Arrow, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Turley, Prattville, Owasso, Claremore, Catoosa, Coweta and much more. We’re here to help!