by Fred Willey on May 16, 2012
With a steady supply of blood, a bed bug reaches full maturity in just forty days. The bed bug starts out as an egg about 1.5 mm long and progresses through a series of nymph stages, molting and growing after ingesting a blood meal at each stage. Eggs become nymphs in approximately one to two weeks, depending on conditions.
Bed bug eggs looks like a grain of rice and tends to be milky white to tan or light brown in color, due to the lack of blood. However, by the time the egg hatches – which ta
kes about two weeks – the egg is red in color. The egg adheres to surfaces – especially fabrics – through a special secretion which makes beds and clothing an ideal location for bed bugs to develop.
The first instar nymph stage follows the egg stage, and the bed bug grows by about .5mm at each stage, which includes five instar nymph stages in total – all of which involve the bed bug ingesting a blood meal and molting, or shedding its outer skin, before developing into a larger instar nymph.
A full grown bed bug is about 5.5 mm long and continues to molt after each blood meal that it ingests. Full grown bed bugs are flat and oval shaped, resembling an apple seed. They are a brown to reddish brown color and are sometimes called Mahogany Flats in reference to their hue and shape.
The entire cycle can take forty days under optimum feeding circumstances – in other words, if provided a steady supply of blood. Adult female bed bugs can also survive up to eight months – sometimes even as long as a year – between feedings.
An adult female lays between 300 to 500 eggs in her lifetime, or between one and five eggs a day. In general, warmer temperatures speed up the hatching process while cooler temperatures tend to slow it down. An adult can also live up to 300 days in the optimum circumstances and with a steady supply of food. Adults reproduce very quickly, so it is vital that a bed bug pest control company is contacted as soon as an infestation is discovered.
by YoungEnvironmentalSolutions on April 30, 2012
The statistics on bed bugs in hotels and motels are scary. Some cities are nearing epidemic levels of these nasty invaders. Unfortunately, some of the most affected areas are also some of the world’s most popular travel destinations. Preventing any undesirable stow-aways from catching a ride in your luggage has to be a top travel priority.
Research
Do a little homework if you are heading to a major metropolitan area like New York City or Vancouver. These cities, along with San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and a few others have reported problem areas. Check the internet for sites like www.bedbugregistry.com to see what hotels are neighborhoods have been reported as having infestations. Do this with a level head, however. Some sites are quick to post complaints and slow to show resolved issues.
You can also call the hotel ahead of time and ask what methods they use to prevent and treat for bed bugs. For example, ask if they use bed bug-proof mattress cases. If they don’t have a plan in place or won’t tell you what measures they use, perhaps you should find another place to stay. The number of bed bugs being reported in some cities leaves no room for pride or ignorance.
Investigate
When you arrive at your hotel, do your own investigation before settling into your room. Bed bugs are seriously hard to spot, especially in the daylight hours but you can look for the evidence they leave behind. A large-scale bed bug infestation can leave a peculiar sickly-sweet smell but most hotel cleaning products will mask this scent.
Peel back the sheets and look for reddish brown on the mattresses that would indicate guests having been bitten and then bled slightly. Look for black specks that might look like black pepper. This might be fecal material left behind by the bugs. You can also look for shed carapaces (shells) and the bugs themselves, live or dead. Don’t be fooled by the cost of your hotel. Even some of the best 5 star hotels have been reported to have rooms with insect problems.
Prevent
Make some smart moves to prevent any insects from setting up housekeeping in your luggage. Use a plastic liner to keep your clothes bug-free. Keep clean clothes in one and dirty items in another. There are some excellent “zipper” seal bags on the market the work well for this purpose.
Store your bags off the floor and far from the bed. Bring your own bed bug-proof pillow covers. When you get home, wash your clothes immediately and dry them at least 140 degrees Celsius to kill any travelling bed bugs.
More than anything else, be aware of the issue so you can take precautionary measures and be prepared.
