Bye Bye Bees, Hello Bedbugs

Bedbug Epidemic

"They’re baaaaack! Bedbugs by the billions, invading homes, apartments, dormitories, hotels, and just about anywhere humans lay down to sleep. This renewed pest-related plague was first noted in 2003. It has now spread to all fifty states.

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The quarter-inch long bugs feed primarily on humans at night when they are asleep. Some people have no reactions to the bites, but others experience swelling and redness where they are bitten. While bedbugs do not spread disease, they do leave behind tiny droppings of blood and give off a sickly sweet odor.Bedbugs can live for more than a year without eating and can withstand a wide range of temperatures from nearly freezing to almost 113 degrees Fahrenheit. This increases the difficulty of eliminating them. Female bedbugs lay from 200 to 500 eggs, attaching them with a glue-like substance. They hatch in about ten days. Though they do not grow larger than a small seed, they go through five nymph stages, each of which requires a single blood meal before molting. They can suck up to six times their weight and feeding takes from three to ten minutes. Bedbugs produce three to four generations within a year’s time."