2010 was the year of the blood-suckers. You couldn't open a newspaper, read a blog or watch TV without seeing news of terrifying creatures lurking in your bedroom. These monsters waited until you slept and then slated their undying thirst for BLOOD. With soulful amber eyes and skin that sparkled in sunlight...........um, sorry wrong blood-sucker. Although many consider twilight to be a scourge on humanity, I am actually talking about the more interesting creature of the night: the bedbug.Tiny Ninjas!!
Bedbugs, or as their friends know them: Cimex lectularius, is a small ectoparasite that belongs to
the order Hemiptera or true bugs. Adult bedbugs are flat reddish-brown insects that are visible to the naked eye. Baby or nymph bedbugs are almost invisible. Both adults and nymphs require mammalian blood to survive. Like tiny ninjas, bedbugs are able to complete their five minute feeding sessions without waking their sleeping victims. In fact, most people will receive multiple bites throughout the might without being disturbed. Bedbugs owe their ninja powers to a specially evolved mouth consisting of two hollow tubes. Once inserted into the skin, one tube injects the victim with anesthetics and anticoagulants, while the other sucks out the blood meal. When the bedbug is engorged it will drop off its host, waddle back to its hiding place and veg out for 5 to 10 days before returning to the human happy meal. Bedbugs live about 6 to 12 months and can go about a year without feeding.
the order Hemiptera or true bugs. Adult bedbugs are flat reddish-brown insects that are visible to the naked eye. Baby or nymph bedbugs are almost invisible. Both adults and nymphs require mammalian blood to survive. Like tiny ninjas, bedbugs are able to complete their five minute feeding sessions without waking their sleeping victims. In fact, most people will receive multiple bites throughout the might without being disturbed. Bedbugs owe their ninja powers to a specially evolved mouth consisting of two hollow tubes. Once inserted into the skin, one tube injects the victim with anesthetics and anticoagulants, while the other sucks out the blood meal. When the bedbug is engorged it will drop off its host, waddle back to its hiding place and veg out for 5 to 10 days before returning to the human happy meal. Bedbugs live about 6 to 12 months and can go about a year without feeding.
