Bed bugs are small parasites that feed on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals. Adult bed bugs are reddish brown, oval shaped and wingless. They are mainly active at night, and can be seen by the naked eye. They are attracted to their hosts by warmth and the presence of carbon dioxide. And like a mosquito, they inject their saliva, which contains anti-coagulants and anesthetics, into your skin with one tube, while withdrawing blood with the other tube. They feed for about 5 minutes before returning to its hiding place.
Due to the anesthetics in the saliva it injects, you usually cannot feel the bite for some minutes or hours later. Bites are usually raised red bumps or flat welts, and are very itchy. Bedbug bites look very similar to mosquito bites, except they last longer. They also appear in bites of three, similar to flea bites, but they do not have the red dot in the center which is characteristic of flea bites.
Almost 50% of people get no visible sign of the bites whatsoever. For the rest of us, the bites can burn and become extremely itchy. If over-the-counter cortisone creams are not effective, see your dermatologist for a prescription strength cream or cortisone shot for more expedient relief.
In the February 15, 2010 issue of Time magazine, researchers at Rutgers University created a homemade bedbug trap using a plastic cat-food dish, an insulated jug and some dry ice pellets. They reported that this homemade contraption captured the bloodsucking critters in an infested apartment just as effectively as, if not more so than, equipment used by professional exterminators:
Get an insulated 1/3 gallon jug, like the kind sold in camping supply stores. Fill with 2.5 lbs of dry ice, which costs about $1 per lb. Tilt the spout over a cat-food dish. As the dry ice pellets slowly evaporate during the night, the open thermos spout seeps out the carbon dioxide – which falsely signals bedbugs that a breathing, blood-filled meal is nearby. The bedbugs will climb the outer surface of the dish, which you should scuff with sandpaper to give them better traction, then get stuck in its moat, made slippery smooth with a dusting of talcum powder. This is an inexpensive way to determine if you have bed bugs, or in many cases, still have bed bugs. Just an FYI…adult bedbugs can survive up to 12-18 months without feeding.
