The latest invaders in New York are living proof that New York does go to sleep from time to time, because that is when these little horrors come out to get you. It used to be rats that beleaguered New York, now it animals small enough to live on rats in their dozens. I am talking about Cimex lectularius, the bed bug that specializes in preying on people.
Nobody really knows how many species of bed bugs there are, some say seventy odd others say a hundred and odd. Most of them prefer animals, especially birds and bats, but a lot of them will drink human blood if there is nothing else around. Cimex lectularius is the only one which prefers human blood and they have hit New York big time. They have literally got New Yorkers trembling in their beds.
The sad fact is that bed bugs were thought to have been eradicated in the United States in the 1950′s. Long-haul travellers and immigrants have been blamed for the intermittent outbursts of bedbugs in the past, but incidents of bedbugs have reached plague proportions. In 2004, there were only 82 attested infestations in New York, in 2009, just five years later, there were 10,985!
They are quite swift creatures, preferring to live close to the host, they can make a withdrawal from your blood bank usually within ten minutes, faster than you can make a withdrawal from an inner city ATM. The majority of bed bugs have drunk their fill within five minutes of finding you and they can find you very soon. Bed bugs use body heat and CO2 emissions to locate their victims and then use pheromones to tell their friends and family where you are too.
This is why a victim is usually bitten a dozen times or more, not just once like when there is a lone mosquito in your bedroom or three times, which is the mark of a flea. Similar to flea bites, bed bug bites are often in a row of three though.
Luckily for us, bedbugs carry no known diseases, although many bites can lead to anaemia and an impaired immune system, which could leave you open to other diseases. Victims sometimes develop obsession behavioural patterns and insomnia, which also has its consequences.
Bedbugs are hatched from eggs, which are produced one, two or three a day. They take about ten days to hatch out into translucent nymphs about a millimetre or so long. These must also drink blood. As they grow, they shed their skins. After six moulting they are fully-grown bed bugs and can breed.
Bedbugs feed approximately every five days, during which time they rest in the dark crevice that they call home and sleep it off. Their lifespan is between five months and a year, but they can become dormant for five months, if there is no food about. A female will lay about 300 eggs in her life.
It used to be said that bedbugs lived in dirtiness, but this is not true. However, they do like to be where humans assemble and they like dark crevices to live in: loose headboards, bed frames, skirting boards and architraves are firm favourites.
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