News by Termicide

Since Termicide started operations we have been setting the standard in giving back to the community and the environment. The following news articles reflect our committment to Pest Management and we will endeavour to update this section often. 

Bed Bugs are on the increase

Added: 8 December, 2009

There are an increasing number of complaints from travellers about bed bugs in the hotels they stayed.

The number one carrier of bed bugs in hotels is the mattress, headboard and surrounding, furniture. This should not be a surprise, as bed bugs are known to lurk in the bed, hence the name “bed bug.”

Why the infestation? No one exactly knows but there is a rumor about bed bugs in hotels becoming immune to the regular insecticide used on them.Infestations of bed bugs in hotels were common in the Australia before World War II. But bed bugs vanished in hotels during the 1940s and ‘50s with improvements in hygiene and the widespread use of DDT dusting. The specie flourished in other parts of the world like Africa, South and Central Europe and Asia.

The increasing number of travellers and immigrants staying in hotels and other establishments - unknowingly leaving an unwanted souvenir behind – is blamed for the reoccurrence of bed bugs. Just one female bed bug can produce five eggs a day and could leave three generations of bed bugs in hotels.

Some scientists believe that the reappearance of bed bugs in hotels is due to the cutback on the quality of pesticides. DDT was banned in the 1960’s and it was the only insecticide used which effectively killed the bed bugs in hotels.

One cause for concern regarding the bed bugs in hotels is that they just don’t flourish in cheap, musty motels. Even the expensive ones are being infested. Establishments are losing money fast with court appearances for cases filed by unsatisfied patrons.

The bed bugs in hotels are the same bed bugs that invade our homes. They are small, nasty, brownish, round and flat insects that closely resemble a tick. These insects don’t care where they live as long it is a warm place where they can breed and it is near their food source – people.

Bed bugs are patient insects. They can live up to a year without a blood meal. Their size makes it hard for people to see them. Their victims don’t even feel their bites. Bed bugs feed by piercing the skin with its elongated beak and they inject a small amount of anaesthesia-like substance that makes them undetectable. The only sign you’ve been visited by a bed bug is if you have an itchy, swelling welt the next day. 

Source: Bed Bugs Exposed