Bed Bugs; one of the most difficult pests to eradicate

The most common bed bugs are Cimex Lectularius (common bedbug) and Cimex Hemipterus (Tropical bedbug). Bedbugs are small, oval-shaped, brownish, parasitic insect, known to feed on human blood. Adult bed bugs have flat bodies and are roughly the size of a tiny apple seed or about 7 mm long; however, once they have finished feeding, their bodies swell and almost double in size and take on a darker color. The female bedbug lays three to five eggs per day and as many as 200 to 500 eggs in her lifetime which ranges from 6-12 months – and sometimes even more. The hatchlings, also known as nymphs, are smaller than a poppy seed. While the adults are easy to spot, the nymphs are almost invisible and very hard to see.

Bed bugs do not fly, but they move very quickly. They spend most of the time in the dark. In dwellings, they are most often seen in mattress seams, sofas, carpets, cracks in the wall, and in the crevices of wooden furniture – places that are usually warm. They come out to feed at night when people are asleep. They feed for anywhere between three and ten minutes and crawl back into hiding.