Bedbugs (family Cimicidae) are a growing problem in apartments, motels/hotels and other public venues. All life stages feed on blood. These insects live in dark cracks and crevices in the vicinity of where people sleep or sit, such as overstuffed couches, only leaving these sites to feed. They only stay on the host long enough to feed. Bedbug bites cause itchy red papules. They are not known to transmit any disease-causing pathogen.

Bed bugs are in the family Cimicidae. The most common species that attacks humans is Cimex lectularius, which is a species distributed throughout North America, Central Asia, and Europe. Bed bug infestations used to be quite common, and still are in areas where conditions are substandard.

Adult bed bugs can be identified by their rust-colored appearance, oval body shape, and small size (less than a quarter inch long). Their bodies are flattened, and they are wingless. Immatures are smaller in size, and lighter yellow in color. Bed bugs require single blood meals to molt into five progressively larger immature stages. Both nymphs and adults generally feed at night and hide in crevices during the day. Adults generally live less than a year, and within that year, there can be three to four generations.

They are called bed bugs because some common hiding places are mattress seams, box springs and cracks in bed frames. Signs of bed bugs are fecal spots on sheets, and an odd odor. Bed bugs feel for less than ten minutes and can take six times their original body weight in blood.

Bed bugs are hard to rid from their location because they are next to impossible to starve. An adult has lasted a record 550 days without a blood meal! However, keeping bedding and living spaces clean is a good idea. Also, adults cannot climb slippery surfaces, so putting legs in glass jars of metal cans will work. Finally, extreme temperatures (hot or cold) will keep them from sticking around.