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what I now know about bed bugs ... what do you know???

1. 

   willow-the-wisp
   

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   Posted 2 years ago
   Thu May 24 2007 12:56:16
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   To be clear about bed bug movements there are a lot of factors at play probably in this respect so I should note that this is mostly about one particular bed bug seemingly healthy and of egg laying age. Mot of the movements were recorded at daytime—in a bug that was not intent on feeding, as in—it had a decent blood spot and was not hungry.
   She’s a female--She’s the “ever loving-egg producer” Olli:

   Olli and some other Bed bugs I’ve noted too--are not very secure on smooth metal or on smooth plastic. Turn such a smooth surface on its side, or upside down Olli usually fell of smooth items. The more texture a thing had, the better she was at both navigating across it more swiftly and the less apt to fall off of it--if the surface was slowly turned upside down.
   Of note—she never fell off slightly grained cardboard—in fact she could barely be flicked off of it. Since she was my lone test subject—I only flicked at her lightly, or gently tapped the cardboard while upside down. She could stay attached to typing paper too quite well.
   Now … some other Bed bugs easily attached themselves and started crawling up my hand, yet, “Olli” who was not ready to feed actually seemd to shy away from me. What ever it is she sensed about me—even if it was just some poor sight mechanism or a smell—or the heat I generate: many times over she would get to within 2-3 inches of my totally quieted arm—and she would make an almost perfect right turn and then walk perpendicular about half the time to my arm or veer off away from my arm.(This was also during the daytime, and, as I said, she was not hungry. Olli fell off my my bare thigh at least 8 times, as if … she “walked right off of a cliff”. (The floor was light colored and I am light skinned. My thigh was about 2.1/4 feet above the floor. She was mostly walking on top of my hairs and it seemed difficult for her to do this as she tried to "ditch” me. As well-- She an adult who had been fed was easily felt on the hairs but only barley felt on skin with no hair.
   Overall I think I made her uncomfortable in some way, although I did not try to do that.
   So also when she falls—and I’ve seen this with many other bed bugs—she/they usually fall onto her backs. So, about 6 or 7 times out of 10 this was the case. (And I’ve seen sickly ones do this and not be able to flip themselves over and—I’d venture to say the quicker a bed bug can flip it self right-sided—the healthier it probably is.
   My direct experience tells me this is likely so.

   Also, Olli easily fell off of the non-haired skin on the underside of my forearm. So I’m saying during the daytime when trying to stay away from human contact … Bed bugs seem to tend to have no sense of depth from what I can tell. Is it that the eyes are a weak spot for them. Is it the sunlight—(which, Olli did, usually turn away from) or is it humans they fear when not in their Nocturnal element …

   I can fairly safely say this too: if you want to find where the bed bugs are hiding—it is likely not usually an area that would have sun shining on it, and it is more likely to be on the undersides of things or inside of things where they can feel in some way “more secure.”

   So long as the surface they are on has some grip to it--but not too much and is rather smooth ....they do best: A cotton sheet or a bit of cardboard etc seems like heaven to them. Running across a low pile rug—is like a more laborious thing.
   (I suppose they would do better in high pile as they could easily “decide” to duck down ad “hide” at the root of the rug. I only have a low pile rug and when I came after a few of them with the steamer—they tended to try and dive down into the carpet, as they also did when I knocked some off my mattress when I originally de-infested the mattress, during the last few days of Fbruary or the first few days of March 2007.
   I can't recall the exact day I found them all there--it was so stress provoking I just didn't think to take note the exact date. I have a rcord of a call put into the SFDPH dated 3-2-07 but I know I had caled them a few days prior to that and I think I got the wrong department, as, no call was retured to that first call.
   I’m told they have little suction cups on the tips of their feet. If this is so, I would guess that they have the ability to turn off that suction foot cup in some way. I say this because like I’ve said … I’ve seen them both cling to me and fall off of me—almost like they were two different species. They do not jump. But they can –if they are running off and away from you … fall a bit further out and away from exactly below you because. I’m thinking that this is due to the thrust of their running, an inch or two at most.

   I’d say this is purely Physics and the laws of motion and not an intentional thing. But this is during the day time too. I can’t say if it is true at night.

   This is of interest too: I had some bed bugs “trapped” behind some heavy furniture … they eventually decided to start climbing the walls … After a bout two weeks I began to see some evidence on the ceiling that they had been there but had likely fallen off. The evidence I saw was likely pooh. I am speculating here but I think, that should they pooh—and I’m thinking they don’t have much “anal sphincter control” the act of pooping while on the ceiling is likely what made them fall off. At least—it could easily contribute. Having said that—I see where they had fallen onto a table which I am glad I realized needed SEVERAL CLEANINGS and not just one.
   Another member had been suggestion we “look up” lately … and I think it is very wise advice. I looked up and I’m glad I did. There was some evidence that my bed bugs made it up to the ceiling. Since I’m on the top floor—it seems the climbed UP the walls as opposed to coming down the wals. But they do that too—that’s how I found Olli!

   As far as house hold adjunctive chemicals are concerned I would say the Murphy’s oil concentrate SEEMED TO KILL SOME BUGS that had been dipped into a 1:5 to 1:6 Murphy’s concentrate solution and tap water. I did not measure the ratio exactly and the bugs I tested were seemingly already on their way out—so to speak. They did however die immediately. I have killed bed bugs with 91% rubbing alcohol, but it takes a good dousing—and I highly suspect that the one’s that got some spray but got away, lived to “talk” about agony and suffering--but “bb” of course they are not social creatures they tend [(I’m told, by scientists, that they tend to harbor together only because they prefer specific similar conditions: Darkness and the availability and accessibility to the host(s) are two main reasons.)]
   Any kind of a contact spray a person made would HAVE to be used VERY carefully.

   It could be said that they run in packs “like wolves-- but there is no rhyme or reason to this except to say, that they tend to have specific habits particular to them for whatever reason. We hear from professional journals that bed bugs often are found on the mattresses at the corners … Olli tends to stay at and on the corner of her little piece of non-corrugated cardboard. I think it has something to do with this need to be touching object while at rest. There is a long twisted scientific word for this--that but I don’t recall it, and I am not in the mood to try and look it up.

   As far as the spread of bed bugs … well they do not (at least during the daytime) seem to have much understanding of sound …. I taped my fingers on a wooden table 9about one second apart like the ticking of a clock thump, thump, thump, thump, thump … yet Olli, continued to walk towards my fingers without any hesitation at all. Once she stopped but I think it was for some other reason.

   When I began tapping or thumping my fingers down on the table she did stop at all--though eventually she stopped. I think that was more due to something about me, “SOMEHOW SENSED” rather than the tapping itself.

   That was the most surprising thing of note.

   Since I found this odd--I tried this test three times and got the same results—she seemed ignorant of vibration and sound—the operative word here is “seemed”.
   I only did it three times on one well fed captive Bed bug. So they are semi-stealthy and semi-clumsy when on their own in daylight and around people. I’m thinking it is sheer instinct that drives them into little cubby holes like the indented areas where a screw meets wood or behind a switch-plate.

   The EGG Olli finally laid … is glued tightly to the Tupperware. It is glued so well that it takes on a more round look than any of the pics I’ve seen of eggs on digital. It is about the shape and size of a small sesame seed and it is basically see through. It is clear—and I don’t know if this means it is not really a viable egg or not. I still hold to the single grit on a plate analogy and to the piece of damp quarts a bit larger than a grain of sand …or a speck of dust light colored dust. It is really nearly indistinguishable in color and visibility from the Tupperware it is glued on—it is that see through, like some fish eggs are see through. The little bit of cotton that I thought was an egg is still in there and there is a definite difference between the two.

   It is important to remember that this is not the end all be all document and that most of this stuff was tested during the daytime, mostly on one bug that had a full blood spot.
   So I am saying this: it may depend upon the time of day and the level of hunger a bed bug has, can likely have something to do with how they will walk, climb or travel.

   Hungry they tend to come at you—daylight or nay, but if not hungry? They do tend to shy away.

   They do seem to poop as the go … and there seems to be no regular schedule here as to the when or why. But I can say she pooped a huge wet one (not quite as much as a full drop of water dripping in a faucet--while I was experimenting with her, and she also dropped as small one-- on me--after accidentally biting me for approximately 5.5 minutes. (How she got away with that I’ll never know) I hope I caught no diseases from this bite, as they are known to harbor many serious germs.

   POST SCRIPT: I so totally welcome comments on your experiences or about this “article” (note the quotes).
   Yes, I’m saying it is to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt—but it is true and correct and as “scientific” as I can recall after a lot of prep- work and trying to choose the best words possible.

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