Spy Gadgets

Judd Snell


Bed bugs had been the most notorious and annoying parasite or insect in the 19th to the early part of the 20th century. It is believed that during and after the World War II in the United States in the 1940s, the country had totally been declared bed-bug free.

But travelers from other countries and continents where bed bugs may have continued to thrive made their return to the US possible. Usually, baggage and travel possessions serve as traveling ground or traveling spots for bed bugs from one area to another, from one country to another.

You should know what bed bugs look like, to be able to identify them. Bed bugs of course, are insects. Size matters.

Bed bugs are so tiny, that sometimes, one can hardly see them with just the naked eye. But when bed bugs mature, they look like other insects. They can be as long as a fourth of an inch. Bed bugs look like other wingless insects. Hatchlings or newly hatched bed bugs are about as small as a poppy seed. Looking or viewing bed bugs, from top to bottom, they are usually flattened. Bed bugs may sometimes look like ants or termites, except that when looked at closely, they have their own physical attributes. What color are bed bugs? Bed bugs, like humans, have different colors. It can be funny, but bed bugs look like they also have races! Bed bugs’ colors usually are deep brown.

However, there are bed bugs that look like biting ants—burnt orange, while there are those that have light tan complexion to almost white.

When bed bugs are hungry, they exhibit a different color than that when they are fully fed. Bedbugs with blood in it look like balloons, but what is inside them is not air but blood. The host or victim’s precious blood may look like a black mass or dark red mass inside the bed bug’s tiny body. Bed bugs also do excrete. When they do, they produce small amounts of liquid that almost look like blood. Thus, beds or surfaces where bed bugs may have inhabited may be stained with tiny red spots. These spots most of the time have stinky smell, but sometimes, they are not sensed by our olfactory glands. How can bed bugs be found?

Because they are so, so tiny and are always crawling at very unnoticeable speed, bed bugs can not easily be detected or seen. During daytime, they stay within their protective habitats or hiding places. Bed bugs look like small creeping objects in crevices and small holes in the floor, the walls or even your bed. If you are observant enough, bed bugs may look or seem as if they are vampires. They may not have the physical characteristics that may scare you the way Dracula does, but they suck your blood. And they can never survive without it.

How to exterminate bedbugs? Bed bugs, like any other pests, are so persistent. You can hardly control bedbugs in your room without the professional help of pest control operators or providers. If you have been applying pesticides and harmful pest control substances in areas suspected of having these parasites, chances are greater that you will fail. It is because most of the pesticides in the market are repellant to insects. It means, when you have used one, bed bugs will not be killed. But they will be repelled or they will avoid getting at or near the surfaces or areas where the pesticide is applied. Through that, bed bugs start to wander. Thus, the spread of bed bugs is accelerated. They will start transferring from one spot to another. Or worse, from one household to another.

Thus, attempting to control bed bugs on your own may look like attempting to get rid of bed bugs in your home and ushering them into your nearest neighbor. If you have the conscience to allow that to happen, or if your neighbor will not bug or sue you, then go on. But exterminating bed bugs can entail great responsibility and consideration to others on your part. Professionals know better, so leave the job to them. Besides, you may not want to kill yourself through poisoning along with the bed bugs, right?

Judd Snell


Have you ever feel like you were not alone in your room, although there is no one else there beside you?

Have you ever experienced being alone in your room in the middle of the night, hence, you feel, and you are certain that there are other beings there with you?

You are not about to read another scary story. Or if you think you will be reading perverted things here, no, you are wrong.

You should check on your room, especially your bed. You may have unwanted room mates, or worse bed mates. Do not be scared. The unlikely being referred here is the insect commonly called bed bugs.

What are bed bugs? Bed bug is one among the millions of species of the insect world. Scientifically, common bed bugs are known as Cimex lectularius. Experts and professionals claim that the existence of bed bugs had been controlled in the United States in the 70s and 80s. However, due to persistence and survival of bed bugs in Asia, Europe and in Africa, travelers may have carried along the parasites during travel and migration to the country.

Bed bugs are wingless insects. They are parasites that feed primarily on the blood of warm-blooded victims such as animals and human. The belief that bed bugs only bite humans is wrong. Your pets can also be host to the parasite.

Birds, dogs, cats, in short, every mammal that can come into contact with the infested bed or surroundings can be affected by bed bugs.

Bed bugs are so tiny, that one can hardly see it. The biggest bed bugs, however, during their final stage of maturity can reach about 25% of an inch long. Usually, bed bugs are oval-shaped and they appear flattened when viewed from top to bottom.

Bed bugs are usually colored deep brown or cream to white. There are also bed bugs that appear burnt orange in color.

Life span. After feeding blood, bed bugs may look like black insects or dark red. That indicates that the bed bug has already stored food inside its body. Once it has fed from its prey, or host, bed bugs usually last until about more than a year before it needs further feeding.

Adult bed bugs can last more than a year without sucking blood. It is different for younger or baby bed bugs. They can last only a few months, or even a few months without food, that is, blood.

Hence, even if a bed infested with bed bugs remains vacant or unoccupied for how many months, chances are the bed bugs still exist there.

Bed bugs on the average life span, needs about three to four replenishments or feeding sessions before it lay eggs and completes its life span.

Habitat Bed bugs normally thrive in dark spots or areas in the house. Part of their protective instinct is that they live inside crevices and dark and miniscule holes where they can not easily be detected or killed.

Bed bugs can also live in beds, beneath them, underneath them or inside them. They can remain undetected during daytime. But surely, they go out and hunt for food during night time.

Bed bugs may appear smart because they know when to attack prospective hosts— when they are asleep.

When bed bugs bite, they normally do not produce stinging sensation. Hence, the victim will only know that he or she has been bitten after a day or two, when the skin reacts to the saliva left by the bed bugs into the affected area.

The bitten skin may itch and appear reddish. Sometimes, it is also hard to distinguish bed bug bites from the usual mosquito bites.

Control of bed bugs. Bed bugs are hard to control. There are a lot of pesticides that can kill the parasite, but it is advisable that you consult a pest control expert to control and exterminate bed bugs.

There a lot of harmful pesticides that can surely kill bed bugs. But the catch is, these pesticides can be really dangerous and harmful, not just to you and your other housemates, but also to your neighbors.

You may not want to exterminate yourself and your loved ones along with bed bugs, right?

Contact the local pest control operators in your locality. If you are renting an apartment, it is the duty of the land lord to arrange for the necessary pest control to get rid of bed bugs.

Judd Snell


Getting rid of bed bugs has been a problem documented as early as medieval times in Europe or during the time of Aristotle in Greece. Often attacking when one is fast asleep, bed bugs are smart creatures that choose to move when the target least knows it. Every person will have his own version of a bed bug story and most likely it will be bad.

Bed bugs are scientifically known as “Cimex lectularius”, they are wingless with a brownish ultra thin body. Various studies indicate these creatures originated from Asia but now can be seen in all parts of the world. Bed bugs thrive in areas with a warm and dry climate but they have been able to invade the northern regions because of the proliferation of heated buildings.

The adult bed bug is 1/4 to 3/8 in length when it is unfed but its size will expand considerably after a hearty meal. A starving bed bug looks far more different compared to one that is well fed. Young bed bugs or nymphs resemble the adults but have a yellowish color after molting. A nymph can develop into a fully grown bed bug for as fast as one month depending on how much it is able to eat.

When they become a pest

Bed bugs start to become a problem when they become hungry for blood. They typically stay in their homes in between meals and are only forced to go out if they are starving. The warmth of a nearby body is what attracts them but they cannot detect a food source that is around 5-10cm away.

Bed bugs use their highly developed mouthparts to bite and suck blood from the skin of an unsuspecting person. Engorgement time can last as long as seven minutes or as short as one minute. An adult bed bug can absorb around seven times of its own body weight in blood. The bed bug immediately retreats to its hiding place after feasting and then lays eggs again.

A person will only realize that he has been bitten by a bed bug once he discovers the large wheals in the affected part of the body. These wheals eventually develop into a tiny read mark that will stay for at least two to three days.

Bed bug bites can also be distinguished by the orderly way the wheals are formed, unlike mosquito bites that have a random pattern. It is always advised that the affected area should never be scratched to avoid infection and immediately washed with soap and water.

Bed bugs do prefer any part of the body that has good blood flow so the reproductive organs will always be included in their list of target spots.

Solving ‘em bugs

Treating bed bug bites is only a small part of solving the problem, as the next step is actually getting rid of these unwanted visitors. Those often traveling to areas with a tropical climate are very susceptible to bed bug infestations, as the luggage they carry might become their new home. Seeing bed bugs crawl into boxes, suitcases and belongings is very difficult, as they are tiny, agile and cryptic. Homes not yet infested could inherit this problem from the use of second hand furniture, couches or beds.

Those that want to get rid of bed bugs in beds will have a difficult task at hand. Fabrics with holes and tears are perfect locations for them to lay eggs. During the 40s and 50s the use of DDT was popular, as it helped minimize the spread of bed bug infestations but was eventually outlawed due to concerns over their effects to humans.

Pest control firms have a wide array instruments to help get rid of beg bugs ranging from pesticides, aerosols and other chemical agents. Beds in poor condition or heavily infested should be automatically discarded. Regardless if the bed is thrown out or not, encasing the box spring and mattress is very helpful especially if the bugs are still there.

Vacuuming could also help in getting rid of bed bugs and some pest control experts even use portable steam machines to treat beds. Whether the infestation is minor or major, bed bugs are always a pest especially for those that want to get a good night’s sleep. Perhaps, the most effective way to avoid a bed bug problem is to practice good hygiene and observe cleanliness.

Judd Snell


Bed bugs are insects that do not have wings. They are roughly shaped oval. They measure, once fully grown, from four to five millimeters long. You might find the next piece of information unexpected, but bed bugs are fast runners.

There are easy to see on white linoleum or marble floors, but very difficult to spot on brown wooden floors. This is so because bed bugs are rust brown in color and they even change into a deeper red brown when they finish a blood meal.

The fact that bed bugs are dorsoventrally flat assists their distribution. Since they are so thin, they can squeeze in and fit in very narrow cracks and crevices, oftenly ones that may be found on the floor. Because of their great skillful hiding, bed bugs are very hard to detect.

Bed bug distribution also adds up to the any pieces of information about the two main species of bed bugs that bite human beings.

First, is the common bed bug, more scientifically called cimex lectularius. This kind of bed bug is found in any crevice as long as it is around room temperature. They are of greater distribution in Australia. May it be remote or urban, common bed bugs do not care, only as long as they are distributed to an area that copes well with their needs.

Another kind of bed bugs is the tropical bed bug, or cimex hemipterus. This bed bug has been guessed to be distributed in the tropics a long time ago. However, it was only recently recognized by the medical entomology department. This department can tell you more information about the distribution of the cimex hemipterus in the tropics.

Bed bugs are also distributed finely in human dwellings, bat caves and bird’s nests. In truth, the habitats that have been recently mentioned are the ones found to be most suitable for these said bed bugs. Why? It seems to be quite obvious. Bed bugs are distributed to these habitats because of their offered warmth and hosts they can feed on.

However, you must always remember tht bed bugs are never evenly distributed throughout the environment. You will come to notice that instead of being distributed in the environment, bed bugs are distributed mainly in harborages.

When human dwellings is the subject, the harborages are inclusive of the crack and crevices that you can find, sometimes not find, in your house’s walls, behind your wallpaper, furniture and wood paneling, or even under your carpetting.

Bed bugs are more usually not so prone to activity during the night, but will feed on anything during the day, especially when hunger strikes them. So, most likely, these said bed bugs would be distributed to trees and leaves and roots and absolutely anything that they can land on and strike their fancy.

Bed bugs can also be distributed to clothing, in bedding or even your luggage. However, much to their dismay, they do not have appendages that could allow them to cling, possibly to hair feathers or fur. This would bring you to the conclusion that bed bugs leave to feast on their hosts but once done with that thing they do, they leave their hosts since they have nothing to cling with in the first place.

Adult bed bugs live exclusively as parasites that feed mainly on warm-blooded animals, the best example, and probably the most usual, would be human beings. Since bed bugs can be distributed to poor housing conditions, then it would be conclusive that the infestations o fbed bugs can be found in these places too. And if these said bed bugs do get distributed to domestic premises, then the room they will most probably attack is the bedroom.

You already know of the fact that bed bugs are distributed to cracks and crevices where they most typically hide, but you probably would find this quite surprising. Throughout this essay, have you ever wondered or asked yourself why these insects are called bed bugs? It is because they love to distribute themselves in bedrooms, specifically in the vicinity of where the host, in this case, human beings, sleeps. Oftentimes, they would even habitate in the host’s sleeping place itself, the bed. Its distribution in bedrooms are also inclusive of bed frames, behind skirting or wallpaper and the matress itself.

Douglas Stern


Bed bugs are making a comeback nationwide and the pest control industry is seeking new technologies to combat the increasingly pesticide-resistant insects. Cutting-edge technologies at both ends of the temperature spectrum include Cryonite which uses a non-toxic carbon dioxide snow to instantly freeze and kill the noxious pests and giant infrared heaters that raise the temperature in a room and bake the bugs to death. The University of Minnesota is working on a trap that simulates a sleeping human, the bed bug’s favorite meal.

Perhaps the most popular weapon in the bed bug-fighting arsenal – possibly because of its sloppy kisses and wagging tail – is the dog. Dogs, which have been trained to sniff out weapons, arson, drugs, missing persons, termites and cancer, are now being trained to detect and pinpoint bed bugs and their eggs, helping exterminators target treatment areas.

The average dog has 200 to 250 million scent receptors in its nose. Its nasal membranes cover seven square meters. In comparison, human nasal membranes cover barely half a meter and contain only 5 million receptors. A dog’s scenting ability is so sensitive it can smell things that can’t be detected by the most sensitive scientific instruments. Depending on the dog and its training, a dog’s sensitivity to odors is 10 to 100 times greater than man’s.

“A dog’s nose is cutting-edge technology,” Carl Massicott, owner of Connecticut’s Advanced K9 Detectives, told the New York Daily News. “Our animals are 100 percent honest and trained to work for food and love instead of profits.” It’s the dog owners who are raking in the profits. Depending on facility size and travel time, the cost of K-9 bed bug detection is about $200 per hour. Typically K-9 services provide initial and follow-up detection but not bed bug extermination services. Dogs can help pest control experts determine what areas to treat and in follow-up can indicate whether all bed bugs have been killed.

A trained dog can thoroughly investigate a room and locate bed bug infestations in two to three minutes, less time than it takes a human technician who must rely on visual clues which can require a thorough inspection of the home. Typically, dogs can detect infestations within a three-foot radius but may not be able to narrow it down further. For example, a dog may indicate that bed bugs are under a piece of furniture but be unable to indicate whether the bugs are hiding in furniture joints or floorboard crevices. Dogs are trained to alert their handlers to the presence of bed bugs by swatting a paw or barking. Smaller dogs are favored for their ability to negotiate tight spaces.

Pepe Peruyero, owner of J&K Canine Academy, got started in the pest control business by training dogs to detect termites. A former law enforcement officer who worked with K-9 units in Gainesville, Florida, Peruyero assisted University of Florida entomologists in conducting rigorous scientific tests to determine dogs’ ability to detect insects. Those tests confirmed that dogs could detect not only termites, but several other types of insects, including bed bugs, and a business venture was born. Employing the same training techniques used to train drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs, Peruyero was able to develop training and testing standards for bug-sniffing dogs.

Today, business is booming. Last year Peruyero trained just one dog to sniff out bed bugs, but this year he has already trained 15 dogs and has another dozen or so dogs on the waiting list. His is one of only six facilities worldwide that train dogs to detect bed bugs. Training takes five days and includes training the dog’s handler. Handler and dog teams must prove themselves in simulated hotel room settings, detecting the presence or absence of bed bugs with 100 percent accuracy before graduation. To prevent dogs from spreading bed bugs while they’re working, handlers are taught specific grooming protocols that include brushing, cleaning and drying the dog immediately before and after a job.

Insect detection is a cutting-edge business opportunity. “We realize that bed bugs are on their way to becoming part of our daily lives,” said Mary Silverson, vice president of Hunter Detection Services on Florida’s Gulf Coast and new owner of one of Peruyero’s bed bug-sniffing dogs. Trained pest-detection canines cost around $8,000 and their upkeep, including food, veterinary care, handler’s salary and transportation, can range from $80,000 to $100,000 a year. To keep their sniffers sharp, dogs must run through their detection paces every single day.

Bed bugs are tiny, blood-sucking insects that feed on human blood. They are easily spread and difficult to detect as only about 50 percent of the people whose beds they share react to their bites. About the size of an apple seed, bed bugs hide in tiny crevices and cracks. They are most commonly found in mattresses, box springs, furniture, baseboards, carpeting, floorboards, behind wallpaper, and in electrical outlets near the bed. Although bed bugs are not known to carry disease, the itchy red welts they raise and the emotional toll of knowing you’re being nibbled on in your sleep can cause serious mental distress. Their slightly sweet scent, which has been likened to fresh red raspberries or coriander, makes bed bugs a natural for K-9 detection.

Well-trained dogs can enter a room and within two to three minutes alert their handlers to the tiniest trace of bed bugs. Dogs can be trained to tell the difference between live bed bugs, dead ones, cast skins, eggs and even bed bug fecal matter. Paired with cutting-edge pest extermination, bed bug-sniffing dogs can perform an invaluable service for hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, colleges and universities, apartment complexes, military barracks, camps, cruise ships, airlines, and anywhere bed bugs might be a problem. The dogs quickly locate bed bug trouble spots, allowing the pest extermination experts to efficiently target and eliminate bed bug infestations. Dogs can also be used in follow-up procedures after treatment to guarantee that all bed bugs have been killed.

The exclusive Jurys Boston Hotel is one of 10 Boston hotels that uses canine patrols to check its 225 guest rooms for signs of bed bugs. In its nearly four years of operation, Jurys has never had a bed bug incident. Only twice in those four years have the specially trained canine pest hunters barked, apparently detecting the scent of bed bugs or their eggs. In both cases, Jurys took no chances. They immediately fumigated the room for bed bugs and burned the mattresses. “At the first sign or suggestion of a problem, our reaction would be to treat the room with chemicals, no questions asked,” said general manager Stephen Johnston in an interview with The Boston Globe. Johnston calls in the canine patrol for a bed bug inspection every three months.

While guest comfort may be the primary reason hotels contract for pest control, avoiding potential law suits runs a close second. A couple from New Jersey sued the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers last fall after claiming they were bitten by bed bugs during a two-night stay.

Another couple who suffered a similar experience sued the Sheraton Four Points in San Francisco. It takes just one unwitting bed bug-carrying guest to infect a hotel room. Adept hitchhikers, bed bugs can be carried into a hotel or home on clothing, suitcases, linens and used furniture.

The National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association was formed to develop and set training and certification standards for bed bug-sniffing dogs. Before you hire a K-9 patrol, ask the following questions:

Is the dog certified?

Can it differentiate between living and dead bugs?

Can it sniff out eggs?

How are the dog’s findings validated?

Remember, finding bed bugs is just the first step. Exterminating them is what’s important.