Most people think of bedbugs as a problem of the past. And, until a few years ago they were right. That is not the case today. Bedbugs have again become a problem and they seem to be gaining ground on us.
Bed bugs are small flattened insects that, unlike fleas and ticks, do not require a blood meal to perform their reproductive process. Instead, the source of food of the bug is blood. People tend to associate bed bugs with grime.
This is not usually the case. Bed bugs can be introduced in some of the cleanest locations. They tend to "make auto-hike" in the clothes or the luggage of passengers while the person is completely ignored by their presence. In this way, they propagate, usually motels or hotels, in houses.
They are active at night. They tend to feed once every five to ten days. They tend to hide in the folds and mattress seams during the day. They are attracted by carbon dioxide in the breath of a sleeping host. After dusk, when everything is calm, they come out, collect their meal and return to their rest areas. The bite is completely painless because they have a small amount of analgesic in their saliva.
Bed bug infestations are usually detected by small blood stains on clear color bedding. This appears when a clogged adult is inadvertently crushed by their asleep host. The red spots in the folds of the mattresses can also be an index.