I. Bed bugs do what bed bugs do.
We need to remember and consider that bed bugs continue to do what bed bugs do. Bed bugs are insects. We are aware of the biology, behavior and capabilities of these creatures. Basically, bed bugs hide, emerge when their hosts are sleeping or at rest, feed, go back to hiding, defecate leaving fecal stains, mate or copulate, females lay eggs, develop, molt leaving shed skins, and basically do what bed bugs do.
Biologically we know the bed bug life cycle, development process, egg laying capacity, that they feed exclusively on blood and other such related factors. We know that these biological factors must be well considered for the overall success of our bed bug prevention and management program efforts.
We are also learning more and more about the behavior of bed bugs each day. We can argue that bed bugs are lower life forms. Yes, as insects they are a higher life form then say an amoeba however, for the most part, their behavior is instinctual. It is fair and reasonable to state that bed bugs react to external stimuli instinctually and that they are not capable of problem solving as we would expect a rat would be. Note that behavioral testing has shown that rats are capable of learning and problem solving.
II. Bed bugs are bed bugs.
Yes, bed bugs are in fact bed bugs. They are not cockroach nymphs. They are not carpet beetle larvae. They are not psocids or book lice. They are not mosquitoes. They are not ticks. They are not fleas. They are not spider beetles. They are not spiders. They are not bits of debris. They are not pieces of skin. They are not shreds of fabric, dust or paper fibers. They are bed bugs.
We know that may things may be mistaken for or misidentified as bed bugs. However, these various entities are not bed bugs. In order to avoid confusion and misidentification we need to learn what is a bed bug and what isn’t. Doing so will serve to avoid various problems and consequences associated with misidentification.
Bed bugs are insects. All life stages of bed bugs are visible to the unaided eye of average human vision provided you know what you’re looking at. At just one millimeter in length, or about 1/25th of an inch, eggs are small. Viable eggs appear pearly white. They have a head, thorax and abdomen. They have antennae emanating from the head. They have piercing sucking needle like mouthparts that when not being used are folded rearward under their body in the center of their thorax. They have six legs. Note that non-insects such as spiders and ticks will have eight legs (immature ticks may have six legs.) Once fed bed bugs will take on a red color. After molting immature bed bugs will appear yellowish white in color and may be translucent. Adult bed bugs may be rusty red to dark brownish red in color.
III. Bites do not always mean that it’s definitely bed bugs.
Often times we suspect that what may be bites are an indication that we have bed bugs. In fact, many a bed bug professional is contacted by potential customers due to suspect bites. With all the things we encounter that are not bed bugs, we need to assure that we actually have bed bugs. This is best done through confirmation of physical evidence of bed bugs being present. We know that bed bugs do what bed bugs do (refer to #I above). We know that if we actually have bed bugs there will be physical evidence of bed bugs present to be found during a bed bug inspection.
IV. There are five telltale signs of bed bugs.
The five telltale signs of bed bugs are eggs, shed skins, fecal stains, carcasses or dead bed bugs and live bed bugs. Our inspection process should be conducted such that we are able to find these telltale signs of bed bugs and confirm the presence of bed bugs.
V. There is no secret process, silver bullet or magical cure for bed bugs.
As much as we’d like to have some sort of magical cure or secret methodology to rid our homes of bed bugs, there are no such easy fixes for bed bugs currently available.
VI. There are no efficacious electronic bed bug detectors supported by reliable published data nor do such units have a snow cone’s chance in hell of working reliably under field conditions.
Various industry professionals have tested various supposed electronic bed bug detection devices including yours truly. These professionals report that none of the units tested to date have worked in a reliable fashion. To further examine the viability of these devices let’s consider some additional factors.
Ideally, such devices would be able to detect the presence of just a single bed bug or bed bug egg; makes sense right? As bed bug professionals, business travelers or homeowners we’d like to have a device that we could merely activate and it would alert us to the presence of lone bed bug or at least just a few bed bugs.
However, for this to occur on a consistently reliable basis, not only would this unit be required to differentiate the “off gases” produced that were unique to bed bugs, it would also need to detect them at the miniscule quantities produced by these tiny animals as well. In addition to this, these tiny amounts of “bed bug gas” would need to be present in close proximity to the detection device such that the device is able to successfully discern them. Hmm, quite a daunting task to say the least.
Science tells us that the average K9 (dog) has about 30 million olfactory receptors and the average human has less than one tenth of that. Are we humans on the verge of producing a viable K9 replacement? Well, likely not but, read on and you be the judge.
For such a device to work successfully, that is detect just one lone bed bug or egg, we would need the tiny amount of the unique bed bug gas to be present in sufficient quantities and location for the device to take it in, correctly analyze it and provide the discernible alert, right? Well, what about existing air currents within the area being surveyed; we have to wonder what effect would air movement have upon the detection process?
And, what of the human vs. dog nose factor? While the dog’s nose is inherently hard wired to the dog’s brain, the electronic device has the disadvantage of being connected to or more correctly held by a human. Think about this; suppose the dog gets a whiff of bed bug scent, it has the ability to immediately determine from which direction the scent was detected from and can further investigate in which direction the scent becomes stronger such that the dog can simply follow its nose to the bed bug detected. Simply stated the human holding an electronic device is at a significant disadvantage because there is no scent detection – human brain interaction going on.
Any of us who are regular business travelers have seen Homeland Security, Police and the Military at the airports conducting K9 inspections for weapons, explosives and drugs. We have to ask ourselves; if dogs are good enough for these folks to use on a daily basis shouldn’t they be suitable for bed bug detection as well? Electronics replace dogs? Not any time soon I’ll bet.
VII. There are no shortcuts to successful and effective bed bug work.
We need to collectively realize that bed bug work is, in fact, hard work. Despite which bed bug control methodologies are being utilized, there is a significant amount of work that needs to be done to successfully eliminate bed bugs from an infested location. Additionally, the work conducted must be thorough in order to deliver optimal results; zero bed bugs. Anything less than this means that people will experience post treatment bites and the existing infestation has a chance to grow.
VIII. Optimal bed bug work should be conducted by at least two technicians.
This point may ruffle some industry feathers but it is what it is and this point may be best made by presenting certain questions for consideration as follows: Do we know and expect that bed bugs normally harbor in bed frames, head boards, foot boards, dressers, night stands, couches, upholstered chairs, mattresses, box springs, utility outlets & penetrations, decorative wall hangings, electronics, carpet tack strips and other areas? If so, then one must wonder how are all these areas and furniture items moved, upended and otherwise handled for inspection and treatment purposes by just one person? ‘nuff said.
IX. Which product or methodology utilized is not as important as how they are used.
No matter what is written or published, at the end of the day we cannot argue that one method is significantly superior to all the other available options on a theoretical and reasonable basis. Sure, an experienced industry veteran may be able to successfully remediate a bed bug infestation using any number of viable options however, each of these options has its own set of advantages and disadvantages that must be considered for the situation at hand.
What’s significantly more important is how the chosen product or methodologies are used when conducting bed bug control work. Even if the most efficacious product or methodology is being used, they will not be optimally effective if used incorrectly, in a haphazard fashion, in an insufficient manner or by insufficiently trained applicators.
X. We don’t currently know all we need to know about bed bugs.
We’re learning all the time but we still have a long way to go.