What are bed bugs? Are they considered insects? What do bed bugs look like?
Bed bugs are small, oval, wingless insects that reach about 1/4 inch in length. They have flat bodies and are reddish-brown in color and therefore, may sometimes be mistaken for ticks or small cockroaches. Bed bugs feed by sucking blood from humans or animals. They do not develop wings and cannot fly.
Where are bed bugs found?
While bed bugs are most likely to be found when sanitation conditions are poor or when birds or mammals are nesting on or near a home, these insects can also live and thrive in clean environments. Crowded living quarters also facilitate the spread of bed bugs.
Bed bugs can live in any area of the home and can reside in tiny cracks in furniture as well as on textiles and upholstered furniture. They tend to be most common in areas where people sleep and generally concentrate in beds, including mattresses, box springs, and bed frames. Other sites where bed bugs often reside include curtains, corners inside dressers and other furniture. Furthermore, they can even hide in cracks in wallpaper or behind objects hanging on walls (particularly near the bed), electrical outlets, ceiling fans/lights, and inside spaces of wicker furniture. Since bed bugs can live for months without feeding, they can also be found in vacant homes.
How do bed bugs spread?
Bed bugs live in any articles of furniture, clothing, or bedding. Therefore, they or their eggs may be present in used furniture or clothing. They may also be present in boxes, suitcases or other goods that are moved from residence to residence or from a hotel to home. Bed bugs can live on clothing from infested homes and may be spread by a person unknowingly wearing the infested clothing or having been in an infested environment.
What are the symptoms of bed bug bites?
Bed bugs bite and suck blood from humans. In the act of feeding on human blood, they may inject their own saliva into the bite area, leading to a localized area of itching and swelling. Therefore, if scratched, bite areas can become infected. Bed bug insects are most active at night and bite any exposed areas of skin while an individual is most likely sleeping. Bed bug bites may go unnoticed or be mistaken for flea or mosquito bites or other skin conditions. Bed bugs also have glands whose secretions may leave odors. They may also leave dark fecal spots on bed sheets and around their hiding places.
How do I detect a bed bug infestation?
Look to identify the fecal stains, egg cases, and exuviae (shed skins) in crevices and cracks on or near beds. You should also look at other areas such as under wallpaper, behind picture frames, in couches and other furniture, in bed springs, and even in articles of clothing. While fecal stains and skin casts suggest that bed bugs have been present, these do not confirm that the infestation is still active. Observing the bed bugs themselves is definitively confirmation.
How can I prevent bed bug bites?
Avoidance of infested areas is the method for prevention of bed bug bites. Recognition of bed bug infestation and proper treatment of affected areas is the best way to prevent bed bugs in homes, residential buildings, hotels, institutional facilities, transportation vehicles, cruise ships, airlines and so on.
Hence, Bed Bug Fix® is the only naturally-derived all-purpose insecticide that prevents bed bugs by leaving a slight residual constituent to continue a safe and effective killing field in treated areas, providing ongoing protection against a reinfestation.
Scientifically, this residual effect is created by the synergistic compounds found only in the Bed Bug Fix® formula. The active ingredient complex attacks the neurotransmitter Octopamine in insects. Octopamine is the insect's equivalent to adrenaline. It regulates their heart rate, movement, behavior and metabolism. This unique formula structure in targets and blocks these Octopamine neurotransmitter receptors. Blocking Octopamine results in a total breakdown of the insect's central nervous system. In conclusion, since receptors for Octopamine are the most dominant biogenic amine receptors within insects, death occurs very quickly.