Facts
|
 Bed bugs are blood feeders that do not feed on ant and cockroach baits.
Bed bugs have not been seen in America since World War II.
With an increase in international travel, bed bugs have found their way back to America.
Congress is proposing a bill called “Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite” (HR 2248)
Fairy LiceMothers' Bed Bug Terminator keeps bed bugs out of your house while protecting the environment.
Fairy LiceMothers' Bed Bug Terminator is a natural enzyme that targets the bed bug’s exoskeleton. Without this outer shell, the bed bug can not survive. This is an all natural non toxic product that you can even clean your house with. Bed Bug Terminator products are unique to the Green Marketplace.
|
|
|
Feeding Habits
|
Bed bugs are fast moving insects that are nocturnal blood-feeders.
They feed mostly at night when their host is asleep.
Nymphs may become engorged with blood within three minutes, whereas a full-grown bed bug usually feeds for ten to fifteen minutes.
After feeding, they crawl away to a hiding place to digest the meal.
Bed bugs can go without feeding for 80 to 140 days; older stages can survive longer without feeding than younger ones.
A Bed bug can take 6 times its weight in blood, and feeding can take 3 to 10 minutes.
|
|
Hiding Places
|
Bed bugs hide during the day in dark, protected sites.
They seem to prefer fabric, wood, and paper surfaces.
They usually occur in fairly close proximity to the host, although they can travel far distances.
Bed bugs initially can be found about tufts, seams, and folds of mattresses, later spreading to crevices in the bedstead.
They may hide in window and door frames, electrical boxes, floor cracks, baseboards, furniture, and under the tack board of wall-to-wall carpeting.
Bed bugs often crawl upward to hide in pictures, wall hangings, drapery pleats, loosened wallpaper, cracks in plaster, and ceiling moldings.
Bed bugs can infest airplanes, ships, trains, and buses.
Bed bugs are most frequently found in dwellings with a high rate of occupant turnover, such as hotels, motels, hostels, dormitories, shelters, apartment complexes, tenements, and prisons.
|
|
|
Life Cycle
|
Eggs are layed on rough surfaces such as wood or paper.
Eggs hatch in about 10 days. Egg Shells are left behind.
5 nymphal stages – each requiring a blood meal before molting to the next stage.
Entire life cycle from Egg to Adult requires anywhere from 5 weeks to 4 months depending on the temperature. 70 – 82 degrees causes development to occur more rapidly.
Adults live about 10 months and there can be up to 3 to 4 generations of bed bugs per year.
|
|
