Don't let the bed bugs bite: Tiny pests have taste for human blood

Bed bugs are making a comeback. They are nocturnal parasites that prefer to eat on humans, but will feed on other warm-blooded animals such as birds, rodents, bats and pets. They are frequently found in dwellings with a high rate of occupant turnover, such as apartment complexes, hotels, dormitories, shelters and the like.

Eggs, young and adults are readily transported in luggage, clothing, bedding and furniture.

The adults are reddish-brown, oval, flattened and about three-sixteens of an inch long. They have piercing, sucking mouthparts that they insert into a host to withdraw blood. After a blood meal, they swell up and turn dark red. They can go months between feeding.

The eggs are white, approximately one-thirty-second of an inch long. Newly hatched nymphs are nearly colorless, but become brown as they mature. Females lay from one to 12 eggs per day on rough surfaces or in cracks and crevices.

Bed bugs usually do not transmit diseases, although their bites leave raised itchy red welts.

Bed bugs hide during the day in dark, protected places such as the seams, tufts and folds of mattresses, box springs or other furniture whether upholstered or wood. They can be found in window and doorframes, behind baseboards and ceiling molding, in bed frames, behind pictures, in draperies or in cracks in the wall.

The best way to control bed bugs is to identify them accurately, since they closely resemble bat and bird bugs. The next step is to contact a licensed Pesticide Control Operator (PCO). The PCO will inspect all areas where bed bugs might be found. To avoid relocating bed bugs to other areas, do not remove items from bug-infested rooms before treatment by a PCO. All cracks and crevices must be sealed per PCO instructions.

After a bug-infested room has been inspected and/or treated by a PCO, remove clothing, linens and materials designated for disposal in sealed plastic bags. Wash infested items to be saved in the hottest water possible. Get rid of all vacuumed refuse, including the bag itself in a sealed plastic bag. All mattresses should be treated and wrapped in plastic before disposing of them. Label all items as "bed bug infested" prior to disposal or placing items curbside.

Avoid buying used furniture or mattresses. Use metal bed frames instead of wooden ones. If you must reuse previously infested mattresses and box springs, encase them in plastic hypoallergenic mattress bags at least 0.8 mm thick after treatment.

Control can be expensive and time-consuming, requiring at least one chemical or non-chemical control every two weeks for three applications, unless the pesticide label states differently. Non-chemical pest control methods include fumigation with carbon dioxide, freezing, steam or heat applications.

(This information taken from ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2105.html, Bed Bugs by Susan C. Jones, Ph.D., Ohio State University Extension and from information provided by the Nevada State Entomologist.)

• JoAnne Skelly is the Carson City/Storey County Extension educator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and may be reached at skellyj@unce.unr

.edu or 887-2252.