Natural Solutions to Things That Bug You (67 page)

This feeding, hiding, development, molting process repeats itself five times as the immature bed bug develops through the five instar stages to become an adult reproductive bed bug.

Bed Bug Feeding

Bed bugs feed exclusively on blood. Developing bed bugs must take a blood meal in order to successfully grow to the next level of development and adult bed bugs must take a blood meal in order to be able to successfully reproduce. Generally, bed bugs spend the significant majority of their time hiding. They are aptly named as they hide on or near a bed and emerge to feed when their host is sleeping.

Generally the host does not feel a bed bug bite. Bed bugs prefer to not climb on a host to feed if it can be avoided. Doing so may alert the host should a bed bug inadvertently bump into a hair as it crawls. Bed bug bites may appear to be in a line because a number of bed bugs may be lined along the host’s body as they rest on the bed or sheet while feeding. It is a myth that bed bugs bite in a line along a blood vessel. It is also a myth that bed bug bites appear in groups of three.

To feed, a bed bug raises its rear and lowers its head whilst forcing its needle like mouthparts into the host’s skin. The mouthparts are so fine that the sleeping host normally will not feel the insertion. While this is occurring the bed bug simultaneously injects an anticoagulant and antihistamine so that the host’s blood flows freely and area is numbed so the host does not feel the bite occur. While a bed bug may move to another suitable feeding spot they usually feed in one spot until fully engorged.

Bed bugs have piercing sucking mouthparts and pierce the skin of its host with a structure called a stylet. Similar to a mosquito’s mouthparts, the stylet is composed of the maxillae and mandibles, which have been modified into elongated shapes. Their right and left maxillae are attached at their midline with a section at the centerline forming a large food canal as well as a smaller salivary canal.

The entire maxillary and mandibular bundle is capable of penetrating the skin. However, the tips of the right and left maxillary stylets are not similar: the right is hook-like and curved, while the left is straight. The right and left mandibular stylets extend along the outside of their maxillary stylets and never reach near the tip of the fused maxillary stylets.

The stylets are stored in the labium and during feeding they are released from the groove as the jointed labium is bent out of the way. The tip never enters the wound. The mandibular stylet tip has small teeth and by alternately moving the stylets back and forth, the bed bug is capable of cutting a path through tissue to allow the maxillary bundle to reach an acceptable sized blood vessel.

Feeding time may vary from about three minutes up to about ten minutes per feeding depending upon the individual bed bug. Feeding times may vary for a variety of reasons but the bed bug will grow many times its size and weight when fully engorged from feeding.

The younger the individual bed bug the more times its original size it will grow from feeding. Immature bed bugs may grow as many as six times their original size while adults may grow almost three times their original size after feeding.

After feeding bed bugs retreat back to their hiding places or harborage. Along the way and in the harborage areas bed bugs will excrete fecal matter. This fecal matter emerges from the bed bug as a dark liquid which very much appears as an ink droplet. These droplets vary in size with the individual bed bug and appear dark or nearly black in color. The appearance of these fecal stains may vary depending upon the porosity of the surface upon which the fecal droplet is deposited.

Fecal stains are a telltale sign of a bed bug infestation and may appear as small as a pepper like black dot up to a larger black spot about the size of a BB. Fecal liquid deposited on a sheet or mattress fabric may spread further than fecal liquid deposited on a wood or metal bed frame. Fecal stains may appear in great number and concentration in advanced or long established infestations.

Generally speaking bed bugs may be recognized by their characteristic rusty red color, oval round shape and flattened body. Adult bed bugs are about one quarter to five sixteenths of an inch long. Immature bed bugs range in size from about one millimeter or about one twenty fifth of an inch long up to adult size.

Bites and Detecting Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are difficult to find and detect but their presence may be determined by the outward or telltale signs they leave behind.  Telltale signs of bed bug infestation include the presence of fecal stains, bed bug egg, shed skins, live bed bugs and carcasses.  It cannot be determined if bed bugs are actually present based upon the presence or symptoms of bite evidence alone.

It is estimated that from about thirty to thirty five percent of the population may not react to bed bug bites at all. In additional to this, there may be some folks who are not as attractive to bed bugs as are others. This means that there may be some folks who are either not bitten or simply may not yet know that they being bitten.

Reaction to bed bug bites may vary by individual and usually does. Some people may have severe reactions while others may have a minor reaction. Still, others may be bitten and display no reaction at all. And, there are many stimuli to which a bite like reaction may result. For these reasons reliance upon bite reaction alone is not a dependable indicator of the presence of bed bugs and bed bug activity.

Bed Bug Inspection

Ranging in size from as small as one millimeter up to just about five millimeters, bed bugs are capable of hiding in the smallest of places and cracks and crevices. While we know that bed bugs may prefer to harbor or hide nearby their potential hosts however, it is also possible that bed bugs may crawl or travel undetected and finds their way into many areas within a home away from the bed.

When inspecting for the presence of bed bugs we need to search those areas where bed bugs are commonly found including but not limited to: the mattress, box spring, internal box spring frame, bed frame, head board, foot board, night stand, the couch, couch frame, upholstered chairs, chair frames, other furniture, wall hangings, wall outlets and utility penetrations.

When inspecting for bed bugs it is wise to use a good flashlight such as an LED type flashlight that provides suitably bright light. And, because bed bugs are so small, using a magnifying glass may enhance your ability to find bed bugs and your inspection results.

When conducting bed bug inspections we are looking for the telltale signs of bed bugs as previously mentioned. One of the easiest of the telltale signs of bed bugs to find are fecal stains. These fecal stains may be deposited on various surfaces by bed bugs where they crawl and harbor.  Bed bug fecal material is evacuated from the bed bug anus as a dark ink like looking liquid. These dry deposits may run or smear when cleaned or touched. In severe infestations the wall and ceiling junction may appear to be badly stained such that residents of these infested homes think that these stains are mold growing on the wall. However, these areas are in fact badly stained by bed bug fecal matter.

Bed bugs eggs may be present and found during an inspection but may be difficult to find or detect sue to their small size at just one millimeter long. Viable eggs are pearly white in color.

Hatched empty eggs may take on a yellowish color and non-viable eggs, that are those eggs that have died without hatching, take on a yellow to darkened yellowish brown color. The manipulation of a flashlight at a low angle may help to reveal eggs during an inspection as the glossy egg surface may reflect the light making the eggs more readily detectable.

Shed skins are also a telltale sign of bed bug infestation. These shed skins take on a translucent yellowish color and may be readily seen once the inspector has gained experience. From a distance, some shed skins may appear to be live bed bugs but closer inspection will quickly reveal that they are just hollow husks.

The presence of live bed bugs may be difficult to find and confirm in low level infestations because bed bugs are crypto-biotic creatures that are best served by remaining hidden from their hosts.  At the early stages of an infestation it may take a significant amount of inspection time to find just one bed bug present. Bed bug carcasses may be found in similar areas as are live bed bugs. This is especially so when an infestation has become more advanced or mature.

Bed Bug Facts

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Bed bugs are small, oval-shaped insects

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All stages of bed bugs feed exclusively on blood.

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The common bed bug,
Cimex lectularius
, prefers to feed on humans but may feed on other animals as well.

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Bed bugs hatch from an egg and go through five instars or stages to become an adult.

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Bed bugs develop through gradual metamorphosis.

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Immature bed bugs molt to develop into the next stage of development.

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Bed bugs must take a blood mea in order to develop to the next stage of development.

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Under ideal conditions an adult bed bug may survive up to eighteen months without feeding.

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Newly hatched first instar bed bugs may expire in about ten to fourteen days without feeding.

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Bed bugs can reside in any area of the home and can live in tiny cracks in furniture as well as on textiles and upholstered furniture.

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Bed bugs tend to hide most where people sleep or rest.

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Bed bugs are most active at night.

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While bed bugs are most active at night they can feed on a sleeping or resting host at any time during the day and will adapt to their host’s daily routine as needed.

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Bed bugs may bite any area of the body but the face, neck, hands, arms and legs are common sites for bedbug bites.

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Not every person reacts to bed bug bites.

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A bed bug bites are painless and may go unnoticed for a period of time.

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Small, flat, or raised bumps on the skin are the most common sign; redness, swelling, and itching commonly occur.

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The necessity of treatment for bed bug bites is dependent on the individual reaction. In severe cases, medical care may be indicated.

Bed Bug Biology

An adult bed bug female may lay up to as many as twelve to eighteen eggs per day. These eggs are coated with a sticky substance. When this substance dries the eggs become glued in place where deposited. Eggs hatch in from three to ten days depending upon local conditions. Hatching may take longer under cooler conditions.

Depending upon where the egg was deposited, the newly emerged first instar nymph bed bug must find a suitable hiding place and host from which it will feed. To assure their survival first instar nymphs must feed within about two weeks or may perish. Immature bed bugs are translucent yellowish in color but take on a red color upon feeding.

A first instar nymph is a small bed bug being just about one and a half millimeter long or about one twenty fifth of an inch long. When fully engorged from a blood meal these tiny bed bugs may grow up to about six times their original size. To accommodate this growth the abdomen enlarges many times its size as it fills with blood. When the meal is completed the bed bug simply stops feeding and crawls off to hide in a suitable harborage.

Whilst hiding, the bed bug digests its meal and utilizes the food resources to fuel its development. Entomologists tell us that much of the food resource is used up by the development, metamorphosis and molting process.

Once development has been completed the first instar is ready to molt and shed its skin to become a second instar bed bug nymph. After the development has been completed and the skin is shed through molting the cycle repeats itself and emerged bed bug is now in need of its next blood meal. The freshly molted immature bed bug returns to the yellowish color until it feeds again.

Immature bed bugs or nymphs must go through this development process five times in order to become mature reproductive adult bed bugs.  Adult bed bugs may reach from 5 mm to7 mm in length. When viewed from the side bed bugs are built very flat which enables them to hide in small places. Adult bed bugs are rusty red in color, appearing more reddish after feeding on a blood meal.