Bed Bug Life Cycle

On reaching adulthood they cast off their skins. Initially after the molting they are whitish or light tan in color. They turn into deep brown color or burnt orange color as the time passes. They are also semi-transparent so that blood sucked from the hosts can be seen as a black or dark red patch inside their bodies. Unlike most insects they do not make wings at any stage of their life cycle and as such cannot fly. They tend to seek protection or hide out in small cracks or crevices with no light.

Bed bugs are parasites. In other words they depend on someone else animal known as a host to live, without giving anyone beneficial in return to the host. Bed bugs have evolved to feed on the blood of warm blooded animals. The two main groups of warm blooded animals they prefer are birds and mammals. The common bed bug that infest human home is scientifically known as Cimex lectularius.

Bed bugs are only one of varied insects that inhabit human homes. Any way they can be found in almost every country in every continent. Only a small proportion of human homes are indeed infested by bed bugs at gift time in advanced world, but recently there has been an growth in their numbers.

Bed bugs that infest human homes normally try to suck blood at night while the host is sleeping. Their bite is painless. Any way repeated biting will effect in small lesions which are similar to the lesions resulting from mosquito bites or flea bites. The lesion is caused by the human body's reaction to the saliva that bed bug injects while the bite.

It is difficult to conclude the identity of the insect from the bite marks. If residents of a house report insect bites at night the best formula of determining either there is a bed bug infestation is to find live bed bugs. In order to find them, beds and bedrooms should be minutely examined. Linings and seams on the bed linen and mattresses, crevices and corners in the bed and around furniture, curtains and wallpapers, are the favorite hideouts of bed bugs and where their eggs may also be found. Other signs of their proximity contain cast off skins, and distinctive dark red or brown marks left on the bed linen due to their feces. If there is a severe infestation, bed bugs can be detected from the odor they give off, which is rather like odor given off by coriander leaves.

Once live specimens are obtained they can be compared to reference images of bedbugs for exact identification. If no identification can be made using that formula a mighty entomologist should be consulted. Once identified, such infestations can be treated through several methods.