Bed bugs don’t just live in New York City these days. They’re everywhere! Travelers and vacationers all across the country live in fear that their hotel might be hit with an infestation. A few bed bugs picked up on the go might translate to a ruined mattress and disrupted life.
An adult bed bug is about 1/5 inch long, oval in shape and flat.
Bed bugs shed skin castings and lay egss when they take up residence.
After feeding, they leave red, blotchy marks. These bites can be dangerous for a small part of the
population.
A bed-bug's-eye view of how these tiny vampires dine on human blood.
Bed bugs are back! Learn more about our shared history and how to avoid these critters.
Learn to avoid bed bugs, bacteria and whatever else the backlight reveals in your hotel room.
How and why the mystery creature - nearly eradicated 60 years ago - is making a comeback
Get a close-up look at how a bed bug infestation works and watch as they feed on Lou's arm.
1. An army of these can attack a person 500 times
in one night!
2. An adult bed bug is about 1/5-inch long, oval
in shape and flat. They're generally brown except
after sucking blood. Their body then becomes
swollen and the color changes to a dark red.
3. Bed Bugs like to hide in the cracks and electical
outlets in walls, behind wallpaper, base boards and
picture frames, between beds and around the
creases of mattresses and in bedding materials.
4. A female bed bug can lay as many as 500 eggs
during her lifetime.
5. Bed bugs are typically nocturnal insects (they
creep about at nightime).
6. While bed bugs do not transmit any pathogens
or diseases, their bites usually result in swollen red,
itchy welts.
7. Small reddish or brownish spots on one's linens
are often the first sign of an infestation. These
spots are the bed bug's droppings. Another sign is
swelling where you've been bitten.
8. A bed bug's saliva features an anesthetic
to numb the pain as it's biting. It also contains
anti-coagulant to keep the blood of it's meal
host flowing.
9. Development time from first nymph stage to
sexually mature adult is 35-48 days under
favorable environmental conditions.
10. Female bed bugs lay 1 to 5 eggs after each
blood meal and can lay a total of 200 eggs
in 9-18 months.
11. Bed bugs are nocturnal, feeding when their
host is asleep.
12. It takes a bed bug about 5 to 10 minutes to
finish a blood meal. The bites are painless, so the
host is unaware they are being bitten.
13. Waking up with red, itchy bug bites can be the
result of bed bugs. A pattern of 3 bites in a row is a
reported characteristic of bed bugs bites.
14. A “sweetish”, “buggy” odor in a heavily infested
room may or may not be apparent.
15. If the host begins sleeping in another room, bed
bugs will follow to the new location.
16. Bug bugs can come from a variety of places.
But typically one of the most common forms of
infestation is through contacts with infested
furniture in hotels, motels, and other places
of temporary accommodation.
17. Bug bugs can be passed on from used clothing
or furn iture.
18. Apartment complexes often have bug bugs because
they can get from apartment to apartment easily.
19. When a bed bug bites a human it injects two
hollow tubes into the skin. With one tube the bed
bug injects a anti-coagulant, anesthetic and with
the other tube it steals your blood.
20. Typically one can't feel a bed bug bite until
minutes or hours later.
21. The bites may take anywhere from a few days
to a few weeks to go away on their own.
22. Remember, just because they are called bug
bugs doesn't mean they are only in your bed.
Although in most cases bug bugs are in a small,
concentrated area and usually within 10-20 feet of
where you sleep.