(Cimex lectularius L.)

Adult bedbugs are 3/16-inch long, oval, flat, and rusty-red or mahogany colored. Bedbugs are flat and thin when unfed, but become more elongate, plump, and red when they are full of blood. Bedbugs cannot fly; their wings have degenerated into stubby remnants.

Bedbugs hide in cracks and crevices during the day, preferring to rest on wood or paper surfaces instead of those of stone or metal. They leave their harborage areas at night to feed on their hosts. Over time, the harborage areas become filled with the molted skins, feces, and old egg shells of the resident bedbugs. These areas have a characteristic smell caused by a secretion that bedbugs emit.

Female bedbugs lay about 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetimes. They glue the eggs into cracks and crevices in the harborage areas. Under ideal conditions, eggs hatch in about 7 days and the nymphs molt five times, taking a blood meal between each molt. It takes about 50 days for them to become adults.

Some individuals react to the bite of the bedbug, others are unaware of its feeding activity. The bite area may become inflamed and itch severely in sensitive people.  This pest does not appear to transmit any diseases to humans.

Bedbugs can be difficult to control and often require repetitious treatments. There are several non-chemical procedures that must be performed regularly by the people who live in the apartment or dwelling in conjunction with the prescribed treatment.

Watch All provides information seminars about this growing problem for property managers and tenants at no cost. Topics include: How to identify a bedbug problem; What steps can be taken to prevent bedbug problems; How to educate tenants—without causing panic—about bedbugs; Treatment solutions for bedbugs; Options for ongoing bedbug control.

	Characteristic bite marks or wheals of the bedbug.
	Adult bedbug feeding.
	Typical harborage area for bedbugs.