Crevices, bed frames, baseboards, Climbing prevention: Prevent bedbugs boxes under the bed, etc., could also from moving onto furniture by coating the be treated with amorphous silica gel legs of the furniture with petroleum jelly, or diatomaceous earth (D.E.) or by wrapping the legs with double sided insecticides, which would leave a tape. residual control. D.E. works by abrading and dehydrating crawling Vacuum-Cleaning: Carefully use a insects. These dusts should not be nozzle attachment to clean all corners, used where children and pets may mattress seams, and crevices in have contact with the dusted surface. upholstered furniture to remove bugs and their eggs. Wrap waste and vacuum When pest control professionals are cleaner bags and remove them from the involved, it is important to follow their building. directions regarding room preparation. General Cleaning: Clean and sanitize dwelling places, launder bedding and Insects may emerge from concealed clothing, vacuum frequently, and repeat areas for several weeks, but will die on a regular basis. Cleaned, insect-free when they come in contact with the clothing and items can be stored in treated surfaces. tightly-closed plastic bags for later use. In apartments, hotels or motels, bedbugs can spread from one unit to another. Therefore, if they are found For more information, please contact in one unit, then adjacent units (on your nearest Environmental Public each side, and above and below) Health Office: shoulbe checked out. Bedbugs Edmonton Main Office (780) 735-1800 B. Non-Chemical Control Calgary Main Office (403) 943-2295 Lethbridge Main Office (403) 388-6689 (Cimex lectularius) Sticky glue paper (available in Grande Prairie Main Office (780) 513-7517 hardware or garden stores) can be Red Deer Main Office (403) 356-6366 used to monitor for bedbugs. Place these around walls and bed legs, and wherever bedbug activity is suspected. Carpet tape (double-sided sticky tape) can also be used. Heat treatment: The thermal death point for the common bedbug (in all stages of development) is about 45°C. A steam cleaner can be Health Link Alberta applied to cracks, crevices. Call toll free: 1-866-408-LINK (5465) Edmonton: 780-408-LINK Updated Calgary: 403-943-LINK (October 2010) DESCRIPTION LIFE CYCLE AND HABITS DISEASES Bedbugs are a type of bloodsucking insect Each female bedbug can lay about 200 Bedbugs do not, as far as is known, found all over the world. They prefer eggs. Under ideal conditions (23ºC and transmit any communicable human human blood, but will feed off other with regular feeding), in one year, there diseases. mammals. They have piercing-sucking may be three or more generations. The mouthparts, which are inserted into the eggs are laid singly or in clusters coated CONTROL MEASURES skin of the host and used to withdraw a with a sticky substance adhering to wood, blood meal. An anticoagulant in the saliva fabric, and other crevices where the bugs Bedbug control begins with locating hiding is the cause of an allergic reaction in some hide. Development to the adult stage takes places used by the insects. Because of people. about two months. Bedbugs are extremely their secretive nature, they are not seen hardy; adults can live for a year or longer crawling around in the daylight hours These insects feed mainly at night causing without food. Both nymphs (newly hatched where they would be easily identified. small, hard, swollen, white welts on the bedbugs) and adults use blood from They hide in various areas during the day skin that may become inflamed and itch humans. and come out at night to feed. severely. Unlike the random pattern of bites made by mosquitoes, bedbugs tend SOURCES OF INFESTATIONS A. Chemical Control to leave orderly rows. An infestation can be recognized by blood stains and dark Bedbugs are found in places where there Before a room is treated chemically, a spots of excreta on sheets and mattresses, are people. The areas favoured by vacuum cleaner should be used to bed clothes and walls, as well as a sweet bedbugs include covers and mattresses, remove lint and dust from mattresses, musty raspberry-like odour. particularly along the seams, and later covers, box springs, floor corners and spreading to crevices in the bed frame and other furniture. After cleaning, the Adult bedbugs are wingless insects and box springs. vacuum bag should be put in a plastic are oval, flat and reddish brown in colour. bag and discarded outside. When unfed, the adult is about 3/16 inch In severe infestations, the bugs will spread long and 1/8 inch wide (about 5mm by to crevices in baseboards, window and Sprays of pyrethrins may be used to 3mm). After feeding, the body elongates door casings, picture frames, carpet, treat cracks and crevices where and widens, and the colour changes to dull loosened wallpaper, cracked plaster, in bedbugs could be hiding, including red. The change in size, shape, and colour furniture, and ceiling stippled surfaces. seams of mattresses, bed frames, is so great that it may cause an observer furniture, electrical boxes, baseboards, to believe that two different insect species Bedbugs are spread with movement of carpet edges, and loose wall paper. are present. clothing, used beds and furniture. They can crawl from one room or apartment to The use of liquid sprays is not another. advisable on a mattress or upholstered furniture unless directed by the product Infested items should not be brought into label. Usually pyrethrin-based aerosols the home. Carefully check luggage and are applied to mattresses and furniture, clothing, especially after traveling. whereas residual spot sprays are applied to floor cracks and crevices. Adult Bedbug .