Bed Bugs – Are They Coming Back From Holiday With You?

Bed Bugs – Are They Coming Back From Holiday With You? – Arriving at your holiday hotel at 3.0am, tired and frayed after a long and tiring, flight delays, airport security, noisy kids and unfriendly passport control and now all you want

Don't Let The Bed Bug Bite

to do is get fall into bed and look forward to the sunrise and the first day of your vacation.
That could possibly be the most expensive mistake you’ll make this holiday!
The bed bug (Cimex lectularious) is back with a vengeance and its food is you!
Bed bugs are small haematophagic insects about the size of an apple-pip.
They dine on the blood of warm blooded creatures and their favourite meal is human blood.
Having been virtually eradicated in the 20th century they are back and spreading like wildfire,  all over the world reports of massive increases in bed bug infestations are being made.
Some cite increasing economic migration, affordability of cheap travel and resistance to pesticides but whatever the reason, they are thriving and they love holiday makers!
They feed on human blood every 5 -10 days, emerging from their hiding places in the early hours of the morning when the tourist is likely to be in a deep sleep, perhaps aided by large quantities of the local sangria.
They sense the presence of a target initially by sensing the carbon dioxide in exhaled breath but switch to infra-red sensing of body heat when closing in on the target.
They pierce the body of their target with a needle containing two tubes, with one they pump in saliva which contains both an anaesthetic and an anti-coagulant and with the other they suck blood.
In a heavily infested room it is possible to receive up to 500 bites per night.
So how do you check if your room is infested?
Start by stripping the bed down to the mattress, turn the mattress over if possible and concentrate on the end nearest the headboard.
Look for dark coloured smear marks, live or dead bugs and spots of congealed blood.
Look in the stitching around the edges of the mattress, under the edges of the carpet near the bed and pull out and invert any bed-side drawers. Bed bugs are quite easy to see and move very rapidly when exposed. You can see photos of the bugs and their smear marks at http://justbedbugs.com
If you find or suspect bed bugs on no account stay in that room, or even that hotel, not even for a solitary or you will regret it, and certainly don’t unpack your suitcases in that room.
Get hold of your tour company representative immediately and insist on being moved to another hotel.
If you stay in a bed bug infested room you are most likely to them back to your own house as contrary to urban myth they can survive the journey home in your suitcase very indeed.
That concludes this article entitled – Bed Bugs – Are They Coming Back From Holiday With You?

Pest Control in Blackpool & Other Seaside Holiday Resorts

Seaside pest control brings its own set of special circumstances which sometimes require a different approach to more inland towns.

Firstly the very logistics of working in a busy seaside holiday resort can be problematic, even the basics of parking your van near the customers’ premises can be difficult especially when equipment needs to be carried. This can lead to increased charges which have to be passed onto the customer.

In summer premises are often open seven days a week and even twenty-four hours a day thus leaving little opportunity for the pest controller to go about his work.

This may not cause too much difficulty in routine preventative inspection visits but can cause extreme problems when infestation is detected in that often pesticides require premises to be vacated for a period of time.

In winter the opposite situation may occur where premises are closed for several months leaving a pest infestation to develop undetected.

Seaside holiday resorts usually have a large number of takeaways providing food to eat on the go and often will be littered overnight with uneaten food scraps providing food for rats and seagulls.

Often daily waste collections mean that bagged food waste is put outside overnight thus encouraging rodents.

Seagulls are obviously a nuisance with their noise and fouling but often will take food stuffs up onto roofs and ledges causing a build up of rotten materials which produce flies and maggots.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of seaside pest control is the resurgence of the bed bug which in recent years has seen numbers rise exponentially.

A high transient population of holiday makers often staying in inexpensive, high turnover accommodation means that the bugs can spread quickly throughout a resort and even expensive upmarket establishments are not exempt.

The very nature of a bed bug infestation means that it is difficult and expensive to cure and news of infestation is often of interest to local press who will often carry a story about a guest being bitten, thus ruining the reputation of the establishment.

Bed bug infestations require that the infested bedroom and those adjacent be treated thus losing revenue for the establishment.

A hotel or guest house could also find themselves liable for the cost of dealing with an infestation at the homes of their guests as the bugs are easily transported in luggage.

Pest Prevention carry out annual preventative inspections and treatment where necessary and can be contacted on 0800 019 8382 or

info@harrierpestprevention.co.uk

Bed Bugs In Cheshire, Manchester & Other Big Cities

Bed Bugs In Cheshire, Manchester & Other Big Cities – One of the most reviled and misunderstood pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us gone off to sleep at night as children with the words of our parents in our ears ‘sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite’?

Bed bugs may have started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our ancestors started living in bat infested caves.

Don't Let The Bed Bug Bite

Until the invention of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in much low quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century experienced pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug calls indeed, their presence being largely confined to cheap holiday camps and student lodgings etc.

Many people confuse dust mites, which aren’t visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which very definitely are.

Adult bedbugs are reddy-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and decidely swollen after a feed of our blood.

They experience an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the young are just smaller versions of the adult, they do not have a maggot stage like fleas or a fly.

Bed bugs typically feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, emerging in the hours before dawn and locating their prey by sensing the exhaled carbon dioxide from human breath and when nearing in on their target, body heat.

In the absence of a suitable human to dine on they can lay dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Indications of a bed bug problem are spots of blood on bedding and on the base of mattresses and many people can react badly to their bites.

The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers explode across the world, the cheap availability of international travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the increase.

What is positive is that thet are now making a major return not only in poor quality homes but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough reports a doubling of bed bug call-outs each year from 1995 – 2001.

A single night away in an infested hotel is all it takes, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a single journey to town on an infested bus or train can be sufficient to spread the infestation to your home.

They are an expensive pest to deal with as contrary to popular mythology they don’t just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and treatment is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living under the toe-nails of infirm persons and in the creases of flesh on heavily over-weight people.

They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly be required.

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