The Icky Truth about Bed Bugs
You pull the blankets and the sheets back and “Oh my gosh. What is that?” Or, you wake in the morning only to find red raised bumps itching and driving you crazy.
What is it?
Bed Bugs.
OMG. How did they get here?
What are Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are insects that are approximately ¼ of an inch long at adulthood. Unlike dust mites, they are big enough and slow enough that you can see them with the naked eye. They feed on human and animal blood. They hide out in mattresses, box springs and bed frames. A messy or full room can make it difficult to get rid of them. They can hide just about anywhere but tend to make home close to a food source.
They spend their time sleeping, waiting for their “meals” to return. Female bedbugs lay up to five eggs a day. The eggs hatch in one to two weeks. It only takes about a month for the baby bed bug to grow into an adult that can reproduce.
Bed Bug Removal
Bed bugs can infest your home by traveling themselves. They travel through an apartment complex infesting unit after unit. They can be brought in to your home from an infested motel room by luggage or clothing. Before long they have set up home in your home making life miserable. In nighttime, bed bugs are become active. They are hungry and searching for their next meal. The bed bug feeds for 5 minutes and then returns to its hiding space. They only need to eat every 5 to 10 days.
They can live for up to 9 months. Strangely enough, the less frequently they eat, the longer they live. They can live up to 18 months if they have spent time going dormant with lack of food. After feeding for about five minutes, the bug returns to its hiding place. The bites will start itching anywhere from a few minutes to several hours after the bite happens. The bite itself may not be noticeable by the red raised bump for a few days.
Bed Bug Allergies
The bites often come in a pattern of three – breakfast, lunch and dinner! They can be in a cluster or row and can be found just about anywhere on the body. The red bump and intense itching are actually an allergic reaction to the bed bugs saliva. People react very differently to bedbugs. In a small amount of cases, the bites cause such a reaction to cause severe illness.
With bed bug bites, the most common treatment is an antihistamine to relieve symptoms. The antihistamine will not reduce the duration of the symptoms of the bite.
