Bed bug numbers have risen over the last few decades due to human passenger travel from overseas and the use of second hand furniture. Bed bugs have now become a common pest especially in areas with a high turnover of people such as blocks of flats, hotels and hostels.

An adult bed bug measures upto 6mm and is disc shaped and orangey brown in colour. Most of the time bed bugs get into a property on luggage or second hand furniture. That is why hotels with a high turnover of guests must be aware of the signs to look for when changing bedding etc.

Bed bugs are great travellers when it comes to looking for food or mating and can easily find themselves from one room to another or even from one building to another. This can cause infestations to occur. Bed bugs are great at concealing themselves in the crevices of mattresses or behind skirting boards, wall paintings or under ripped wallpaper, they can crawl up vertical walls and objects and can number from one or two into large infestations in mattresses or behind pictures. They prefer to come out when it is dark of a night and normally shy away from daylight.

A bed bug’s food source is human blood, although they can live upto a year without feeding! Bed bugs can cause terrible irritation to humans when they bite their skin to feed, and can leave red irritating welts all over the body. This can be a very harrowing experience for someone who has them in their home or has stayed in a hotel. A hotel can lose its reputation and customers if bed bugs are reported or word gets around that customers have stayed there and been bitten by them.