Pest Control Bed Bugs

Controlling Bed Bugs and Other Pests

Pests have always been part of the major problems or concerns that affect the industries of agriculture and production.

Along with the material damage that pests cause, when they proliferate, diseases often follow, which is of major concern to health organizations.

Through the years, mankind has developed different and potent equipment and chemicals to control pests. And we continuye to find ways to cut down the population of pests without harming other parts of the environment.

Bed bugs

Bed bugs are one amongSt the major types of pests that affect households. These annoying insect do not affect plants, but along with people, bed bugs prey on poultry such as chickens and other birds.

Scientists believe that ancient bed bugs used to prey solely on birds. Why did they begin to feast on humans? It may have begun with the domestication of chickes and other birds which brought the bed bug into more contact with human populations.

But whatever the evolutionary drive might have been, today bed bugs thrive not only in bird nests, but also in people's "nests." It is believed that in developed countries, five out of ten apartments have bed bugs in it. In the developing countries, the figure is even higher.

Third world countries may not have enough money allocated to the control of bed bugs. Or it may be that the governments in third countries do not spend enough on education about the particular pest.

Bed bugs are small insects who are not a problem for just one area of the world. They have proliferated through the years and are now widely spread in almost all countries across the globe.

Bed bugs are scientifically known as Cimex lectularius. They are wingless creatures.

Bed bugs are very hardy insects. Bed bugs, in their entire lifespan can survive by having only one meal or feeding time.

In the lifesytle of bed bugs it is... Eat today, sleep tomorrow, see you next year.

Reserachers have found that a bed bug's life span is can be more than a year. Thankfully, female bed bugs only lay eggs three times during that span. And each egg-laying session the female bed bug's output is about 300 eggs. A small number compared to the laying abilites, number-wise, of other insects.

Still bed bugs have sucessfully kept their species going in all types of climates and places.

Pest control substances

In general, pest control substances used to control pests, such as bed bugs can be categorized into three groups:

1) Insect Growth Regulators. IGRs aim at affecting or hindering the development of larvae or eggs of bed bugs and other insects. It should be noted that though, these inhibitors do not exterminate adult pests, they work to impair their reproduction.

When effective, no new generations of a particular pest arise from the same site. The effects of IGS are not immediate, as the adults are still around to bother us, but eventually the pests will die out.

But IGRs are certainly an interesting way to control pests, the unique strategy of targeting an individual species reporductive abitity maybe the future of all insect control methods.

2) Contact pesticides. This group of pest control substances kill pests instantly. The chemical poisons are generally the fastest way to kill insects. Within seconds, or minutes, the target pests or insects will be exterminated.

Contact insecticides can be the fastest, since results can be seen and evaluated instantly, but among the pest control substance groups, they are the least effective.

It is because contact insecticides have a repellant property that insects and pests can easily identify.

The targeted creatures learn to avoid the surfaces that contain the pesticide's residues.

3) Insecticidal dusts. This group of substances are fast acting, but not as fast as contact insecticides in controlling pests. But they are a more likely to kill a larger population of insects, like the IGRs.

Insecticidal dusts work by attacking the protective layer covering the pest's skin. This allows secondary chemicals to get into their systems and poison them.

Pest control is not an easy task, but an activity that must be pursued.