Bed bugs and Bed bug Control Sydney

Pest Control and Termite Control Specialists

Micropest bed bugs control Sydney is a safe yet very effective bedbugs and bed bug control Sydney company which provides a 6 month warranty on bed bug pest control treatments. Micro Pest Control is one of Sydneys leading bedbugs and bed bug (bedbug) pest control companies. The following web page is designed to inform you the consumer about bed bugs (bedbugs), bed bug control, bed bug bites, bed bug (bedbug) pictures, bed bug pest control, identification and reproduction. Micro pest control is an environmentally responsible company. Watch our Bed Bugs And Bed Bug Pest Control Treatment Video.

Bed bug identification

Bed bugs (bedbugs) are wingless insects, roughly oval shaped, 4-5mm in length, they are rust brown in colour, but change to a deeper red brown after a blood meal.

Bed bug reproduction

After mating, each female lays 2-3 eggs a day. The eggs are layed on a rough surface in hiding places. The eggs will hatch within 10 days, but may take longer in cooler conditions.

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Bed Bug Eggs

Bed bug Habitat

Bed bugs tend to only feed on humans at night, and seek shelter during the day. Shelter can be under mattresses, floor boards, paintings, carpets, behind skirtings, cracks and crevices in walls, in bed frames, other furniture and behind loose wall paper.

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        Bed Bugs Hiding        Bed Bugs under Mattress

Bed bugs are likely to be brought into the house on luggage, clothing, bedding and furniture. You are likely to be bitten on the arms and shoulders.

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Bed Bug Bites

Common allergic reactions include the development of large wealts, which are accompanied by itching and inflammation. The weals usually subside to red spots that can last for several days. If bed bugs are suspected a licensed pest controller should be consulted. A careful inspection must be undertaken and all possible hiding places within infested and adjoining rooms examined.

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Bed Bug Inspection

Bed bug pest control pricelist

Because of the complexity of eliminating bed bugs, every bed bug pest control service is different. Please call for a quote.

Bed bug Pest control Sydney

The bedbug (Cimex lectularius)

Adult bedbugs are flat, thin insects, oval in outline, from 4 to 7.5 mm in length. They are deep reddish-brown in colour, without wings, and with an elongated proboscis usually seen beneath the body as an extension from the head to the level of, and between, the first pair of legs.

The bedbug has lived intimately with humans longer than any other insect. Although it is a voracious blood-sucker it has not been incriminated as a vector of disease. lt is an important pest because it causes nightly irritation, the bites produce welts and sheets are soiled. An offensive "buggy" odour characterises heavy infestations.

The incidence of bedbugs has increased greatly in Australia during the present century. Nowadays there appear to be two types of infestation, long-standing tolerated ones in substandard dwellings and occasional new infestations which can arise anywhere at all.

Bedbugs move from place to place in people's baggage - trunks, suitcases and baskets. Since there are many places in the tropics, and in the northern hemisphere, which still have considerable problems with bedbugs, travellers or migrants may bring bugs to this country and establish new colonies. Returning travellers, especially those who have gone beyond normal tourist facilities, are those most likely to be dismayed at the appearance of bedbugs in the home. Over the past few decades most reported infestations have been linked to importations from overseas.

ln places where bedbugs are well-entrenched their survival is materially assisted by the type of dwelling. The essential factor is an abundance of crevices into which the bugs can retreat during the daytime and in which they breed. Skirting boards, architraves, picture rails, pictures, and especially loose wallpaper (even more so if this covers the lath and plaster wall construction common 50 and more years ago) provide harbour-age. Some types of old masonry or mud-brick construction are also highly susceptible, likewise grass and palm frond (6 huts as used by natives of the tropics.

Habitats

The bedbug is an insect which feeds on blood throughout its life. The preferred blood source is human although laboratory colonies can be established in association with animals such as rabbits. ln natural infestations no blood source other than human is of any consequence.

Both activity and feeding are nocturnal, the day being spent hiding in dark crevices. Hiding places can be in the junctions of the bed frame, under mattress buttons, and in any available crevices of the walls. Hiding places are concentrated in an area close to where feeding takes place; bedbugs do not move unnecessary distances. Seldom will an infestation be dispersed over an entire room; characteristically the vicinity of the bed is most important. Dispersion of bedbugs is slow, the only apparent exception being from one room to another through an imperfectly sealed dividing wall.

Feeding takes place on the limbs and trunk of the victim. Several individual attempts at feeding are made before the bug is replete and this often results in a series of welts close together in a straight or curved line due to the bugs forward movement after each probing. The welts can be confluent. Insertion of the mouth parts without actual feeding also results in a welt reaction. The arrangement of these weals, if as described above, is diagnostic.

Evidence of infestation

The first evidence of bedbugs may be the awareness of bite reactions on the skin on arising in the morning. These can often be differentiated from flea bites by their arrangement in typical lines due to the multiple probing of each bug. Fleas will also probe a number of times but usually in a completely erratic fashion. The actual reactions could be very similar but the welts may be more raised in the case of bugs. Fleas and bugs both defecate while feeding but the flea passes minute droplets of bright red undigested blood which may show as tiny red flecks on sheets. The bedbug voids the digested remains of the previous meal which are decidedly larger and very dark in colour and when seen on sheets are quite characteristic. The only other blood stain from a biting insect on nightwear is that from a mosquito and this takes the form of a smear made when an engorged mosquito is squashed by the hand.

Other signs, in well-established infestations, are:

• the scattering of faecal spots on surfaces near their hiding places; these spots are mostly dark brown or black but some lighter coloured ones are intermingled, and
• the characteristic "buggy" odour of infested quarters, especially in warm weather.

Life cycle

After hatching from the egg, the immature bugs require a blood feed before they can develop to the next nymphal stage. There are five such stages and a full meal is adequate for development to the next successive stage. After the fifth moult the insects are adult. Egg Laying for the next generation commences after a blood meal and fertilisation of the bug, but not before the fifth to tenth day of adult life. Development is prolonged in cold weather, more rapid in the warmer months.

Eggs are laid in batches of about ten but a total of 200 to 500 or more may be laid during the life of the female. Hatching of eggs requires from 7 to 30 days, usually about 10. The duration of each nymphal stage is approximately a week in warm weather. Hence, the length of the life cycle from egg to adult is from about 45 days to almost a year.

Adult life may vary widely from about 50 to 300 or more days. Adult survival can occur without a blood meal for up to four months.

Control

Any established infestation comprises a series of overlapping generations and, although all active bugs may be destroyed with insecticides, provision must be made for those undergoing a moult. In particular, the unhatched eggs which may not be accessible to most form of control until they hatch must be allowed for. A safe maximum allowance should be about 30 days - all eggs should have hatched but none of the resulting bugs would have reached the stage of reproduction.

Cardinal points in bedbug control

The essential points in eradication (mere control is not sufficient) are:

• to recognise the type of infestation - whether of recent origin or of long standing (this may be met with on moving into an old house). In the former case the infestation should be very localised, in the latter it could affect a number of rooms.
• to recognise the importance of obscure hiding places for the bedbug.
• to examine the bed itself very carefully and treat it adequately. However, do not place insecticide on exposed surfaces - concentrate on, or rather under, mattress buttons, seams (piping), and between all frame members.