New York And Its Latest Invaders

The most recent invaders in New York are living proof that New York does go to sleep from time to time, because that is when these little nightmares come out to get you. It used to be rats that plagued 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. A lot of them prefer animals, especially birds and bats, but a lot of them will drink human blood if there is nothing else about. Cimex lectularius is the only one which prefers human blood and they have hit New York big time. They have literally got New Yorkers quaking in their beds.

The sad reality is that bed bugs were thought to have been wiped out in the United States in the 1950’s. Long-haul travellers and immigrants have been blamed for the sporadic outbursts of bedbugs in the past, but incidents of bedbugs has reached epidemic 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 fast 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. Most 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. Like flea bites, bed bug bites are often in a row of three though.

Luckily for us, bedbugs carry no known diseases, although numerous bites can lead to anaemia and an impaired immune system, which could leave you open to other diseases. Hosts sometimes develop obsessional behavioural patterns and insomnia, which also has its consequences.

Bedbugs are born from eggs, which are laid 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 feed on blood. As they grow, they discard their skins. After six moultings they are mature 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 three hundred eggs in her life.

It used to be supposed that bedbugs lived in dirtiness, but this is not true. However, they do like to be where humans congregate and they like dark cracks to live in: loose headboards, bed frames, skirting boards and architraves are firm favourites.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with getting rid of bedbugs? If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for more details.