Bed bugs
This page provides information and advice on dealing with bed bugs in your home. The same advice is relevant to those businesses that provide sleeping accommodation such as hotels, guesthouses, B&B, hostels, residential homes and boarding schools.
Living with bed bugs is miserable and proper treatment and eradication is essential. 
About bed bugs
Bed bugs have long been a nuisance to people and reports of infestations are increasing after several decades when they were considered a nuisance of the past. These small insects can rapidly increase in numbers and they live, hidden out of sight, around our beds.
At night, when we are fast asleep, bed bugs detect the carbon dioxide we breathe out and they emerge to feed....on us.
Bed bugs can be spread within the home on clothing and bedding. Within society bed bugs are moving with people, in suitcases and back packs. Holiday travellers or migrant workers may be more likely to come into contact and transfer this pest. Infestations have also been associated with second-hand furniture.
Are bed bugs harmful?
In theory, any insect which feeds off our blood, could transmit disease. Whilst they are considered to be parasites bed bugs are not associated with disease transmission. On very rare occasions, with heavy infestations, infants may suffer anaemia due to blood loss.
Some people are unaffected by the bites but others react with red bite marks appearing, often in a line or in groups of three. If scratched the bites can become infected and sore. Bed bugs tend to bite those areas of the body that are exposed during the night, such as the chest, arms and back.
How to identify an infestation
This nuisance pest can usually multiply to thousands before it is suspected and confirmed. Bed bugs may be suspected due to the appearance of bites on the upper body. Occasionally blood spots on sheets may be noticed or the odd bed bug found when the sheets are being changed or the bed made up. Heavy infestations can lead to mattresses being marked with leaked blood, bed bug excreta, and the eggs and adults.
In order to treat properly any pest it must first be correctly identified. Our pest control staff are willing to assist with identification but an appointment should be made. Alternatively an internet search will provide photographs and details for comparison. Any pest control company should confirm the presence of bed bugs, and the extent of the infestation, before starting treatment.
When searching for bed bugs it is essential to use a powerful torch. A magnifying glass is useful.
They hide out of sight
Bed bugs hide out of sight but, if present, can be found in many cracks and crevices around the bedroom, including:
- on the bed mattress, under the buttons and along the side seams
- on the headboard, the headboard fixing bolts and the supporting legs
- in the divan base, however, to check you usually have to cut the covering fabric to see the divan timber frame
- on any drapes and fabrics with four-poster beds
- behind any pictures on the wall above the bed
- behind the bed, under any peeling wallpaper
- on the back of bedside furniture
- occasionally bedbugs can also infest electric sockets and bedroom items such as alarm clocks
- amongst any clutter in the room such as dropped clothing or toys
- occasionally a dead bed bug may be found in the sheets of the bed or spots of blood from the wounds, made when the bed bugs are feeding.
Biology
The bed bug life cycle consists of eggs, five nymph stages and the adult (nymphs are smaller versions of the adult with each nymph stage being larger than the last until adult size is reached).
A female bed bug continues to lay eggs throughout her life, laying some 400-500 eggs. The eggs are deposited around and close to the bed.
Under perfect conditions the bed bug life cycle, from egg to adult, is three weeks. The life cycle depends on available food (human blood) and the temperature. In a warm environment (around 27°) eggs will hatch within 6 days but at a lower temperature it takes more time for the eggs to hatch and unhatched eggs are believed to be viable for several months.
Adult bed bugs can survive a year waiting for a meal.
See also
Last updated : 22/01/2010
