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Bedbugs are blood sucking parasites! True to their name, bedbugs frequently live in mattresses and bed frames, but they can also be found anywhere humans live. The prevalence of these resilient pests has seen a rapid increase in recent years. A bedbug bite leaves a nasty, red welt and in some people, can cause severe allergic reactions.
The History and Facts About Bedbugs: 
- For a bug that is so well entrenched in our language in the United States, for many decades it was a rare occurrence indeed for anyone to actually see a Bedbug.
- For one reason or another, or perhaps a combination of reasons, we are seeing a distinct resurgence of this blood-sucking parasite throughout the U.S.
- While many people associate them with poorer living conditions it is not uncommon for bedbugs to infest upscale homes and even good hotels and happily feed on sleeping occupants.
- Earlier in the recent history of the United States, perhaps in the first few decades of the 1900's, bedbugs were so common in our homes that we all knew the little rhyme of "Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite".
- With the advent of highly effective modern insecticides, bedbugs became almost an endangered species as homes were routinely treated for these and other pests that are capable of causing us problems.
- If a pest control company received one call in 10 years for bedbugs they seemed to be about average.
- Now, companies may get a dozen calls each month, and the reasons are not entirely understood.
- One conclusion is that worldwide travel, often to more rural and undeveloped areas where bedbugs are quite common, has allowed us to bring back bedbugs in our luggage.
- Heavy immigration to the United States might have resulted in great numbers of bedbugs coming along too.
- Bedbugs feed only at night, and hide in daylight. It would be normal to expect many of them to crawl into nearby suitcases after feeding on a sleeping person. Hotels seem to be infested more often than homes, so there could be some credence to this hitchhiker theory.
- There are several different species of Bedbugs, however, they all bear a slight resemblance to ticks, and can be distinguished by the presence of only 6 legs as opposed to the 8 legs of ticks. As mature nymphs or as adult bugs they are very round in appearance, flattened from top to bottom, and are a reddish brown color. The adults are about 3/16 of an inch across.
- Once bedbugs are present they are tough insects to get rid of.
- The females can deposit up to 200 eggs over a period of several weeks, gluing them to surfaces within their hiding places.
- Bedbugs cannot fly, but they crawl very rapidly, and now are being found in rooms away from the bedroom as well. They squeeze into wall voids where it is difficult to place an insecticide, adding to the difficulty in their control.
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