By Staff
"Night, night; sleep tight; don't let the bed bugs bite." When I was a wee nipper that was the ditty my dad tucked me into bed with every night.
I continued the same tradition when tucking my kids in. Now I'm dog sitting my daughter's lab while she and hubby are off bear hunting in Alaska. The other night I had to laugh at myself when I absent mindedly rattled off that ditty to the dog as she lounged in my easy chair and I parted for bed. That's the first time it dawned on me that I didn't know just what a bed bug was. I'd always simply accepted it as some kind of imaginary or maybe real bug that bites you when you're sleeping. I never even went so far as to wonder how you're supposed to keep it from biting if you're asleep. Now my curiosity was up. Is it a particular bug or a generic name for lice or something? It might be a stretch for a nature column topic but what the heck, it's not domesticated so it must be a wild creature, right?
I found bed bugs are a specific species that feeds exclusively on animal blood. There are several types, one favoring bats, another birds and the one we are most concerned with, Cimex lectularius, that is particularly fond of humans and their household pets. Brown in color, its quarter inch long, flat, nearly perfect oval shaped body distinguishes it from most other common house bugs like cockroaches and spiders. It has no wings but is a fairly speedy crawler on its short, stubby legs. They're nocturnal and like to hide inconspicuously near their food source so the tiny nooks, cracks and crevices on and around bed frames and mattresses is the perfect hide-out, hence the name bed bug.
I don't feel too bad about my ignorance of them. Most Americans of this generation have never seen one. Until recently even pest control professionals rarely encountered them. Previous generations, however, knew them well. They were very common prior to WWII but in the 1940s and '50s better hygiene and, most significantly, the wide spread use of DDT pesticide all but eradicated bed bugs from the United States. They remained common in many other parts of the world, though, and now that seemingly everyone is globe trotting and immigrants are sneaking in from all over we are experiencing a resurgence of bed bugs in this country. They are the consummate hitchhikers and readily stow away in luggage and clothing. Aiding their influx is the fact that since bed bugs have long been a non issue many of the techniques and pesticides used by professional exterminators are not particularly effective on bed bugs.
They molt five times from nymph to adult hood, which takes several months, and must have a blood meal between each molt. As we lay sleeping they clandestinely crawl onto bare skin, painlessly pierce the hide with an elongated beak and suck the blood. It can take anywhere from three to 10 minutes for them to become fully engorged. Not a sleep inducing thought but it is harmless for bed bugs are not known to transmit any diseases. Some folks develop an itchy welt like a mosquito bite while others show no symptoms at all. And keep in mind not all night bites are bed bugs. The more likely culprit is mosquitoes or spiders and such.
We tend to associate bed bugs with flop houses, run down hotels and dirty dives but that's not the case. Bed bugs don't feed on filth like cockroaches. All they require is a secluded hiding spot and a juicy, warm human, which qualifies even the fanciest palace. Of course, most susceptible are places that receive a large amount of human turnover like motels, apartments and public transportation vehicles. If you're now all freaked out and will be inspecting every motel you stay in look for small specs of blood feces, shed skins and live bugs on and around the bed. The live bugs often hide on the underside of the mattress seams and around the bed rails. Night, night; sleep tight. Carpe diem.