Bed Bugs or Cimex lectularius are a pest of exposure. They can easily be spread from location to location by contact. They are not connected with home or personal hygiene and can literally affect anyone.
Although not life threatening nor disease transmitting they are an unpleasant pest to deal with and can produce emotional and psychological symptoms beyond the physical bites.
They tend to be most active at night while we rest but they are not nocturnal they are just more active at night when there is less risk of being spotted..
The definitive signs of an infestations of Bed Bugs are:
Clicking on any of these images will take you to a gallery of definitive signs of a Bed Bug infestation, this page may take some time to load due to image size needed to clearly display the pictures.
Infestations can also be accompanied by:
- Bites of various shapes and sizes, sometimes in clusters
- Unexplained itchiness
- Sweet sickly smell reminiscent of burnt almonds
If you have an infestation of Bed Bugs it is important that:
- You do not panic and make the situation worse
- Do not dispose of anything that is infected unless it is protected and done correctly (see here)
- Seek professional experienced assistance and make sure they know what they are doing, research is essential to make sure they are qualified and insured to do the work.
- Do not use store or Internet bought “aerosol” or “fogger” based products as they often make the matter worse.
The Diagram beneath is a representation of the life cycle of bed bugs illustrating the changes in size, colour and appearance as they develop from egg to adult.
The image is taken from the book Bed Bug Beware - an easy to understand guide to bed bugs their prevention and control by Richard Strand and David Cain.
This image may be reproduced for public education purposes copyright free, commercial use MUST be licensed from Xenex Associate Limited
User of iPhone and iTouch’s systems can now purchase an app to help identify bed bugs and learn how to check hotel rooms for signs of activity.
As unlikely as many sufferers may find it, bed bugs have not always occupied a position of loathing and hatred in society. In the past they have been the subject children's books, adult literature, games and even confectionary. Over the years we have collected a number of artefacts which are documented in our museum gallery below: