BedBugs
Bed Bugs Vampires of the Insect World
Click the 'Play' button to see a time-lapse video of the blood-sucking bed bug
feasting on its human victim. Research video courtesy of the University of Kentucky.
Copyright (c) University of Kentucky - Used by Permission.
Common Names:
Bed Bug, Tropical Bed Bug
Scientific Names:
Cimex lectularius, Cimex hemipterus
"I was living out the scene of some Sci-Fi thriller where bugs would feast on my flesh in the night.
Then the Manhattan newspapers came out with an article claiming that
the city was at an all time high infestation of bed bugs,
affecting people in all income brackets and even residing in high-end hotels..."
Bed Bug - Little Vampires of the Insect World
Bed bugs have invaded homes and even five star hotels with a vengeance and at lightning speed. These grisly little bugs only come out at night searching for a blood meal. They take up residence in our beds and bedrooms. These creepy, crawling, night stalkers feast on human blood. They pierce the skin with their elongated beak like a hypodermic needle. While feeding, bed bugs inject their victims with their saliva, which contains a numbing agent like Novocain. They drink until they become engorged with a person's blood, then crawl away satisfied until the next night. The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) "glues" its eggs in hiding places. The nymphs hatch in about ten days and molt five times, taking a blood meal between each molt. The life cycle from egg to adult varies between 36 and 120 days. This life span depends on environmental conditions since nymphs can survive up to a year without food!
Bed Bug Facts
•Bed bugs are annoying and persistent. Getting rid of them requires persistence.
•Bed bugs hide in extremely small cracks, crevices and corners, making it difficult to locate breeding sites.
•These vampires of the insect world venture from their hiding spots at night.
•Bed bugs can live a year or longer without food (blood) while staying safe in their hiding places.
•Bed bugs can travel long distances and survive in suitcases, clothing, vehicles, aircraft, and cruise ships.
•One female bed bug lays between 300-500 eggs.
Where Do They Hide?
•In early infestations, bedbugs are found only in the tufts, seams and folds of mattresses and daybed covers, later they spread to cracks and crevices in the bed, mattresses and bedroom.
•If allowed to multiply, they can be found in and behind baseboards, woodwork, window frames, door frames, pictures, moldings, furniture, loosened wallpaper, cracks in plaster and partitions.
•Their favorite hiding places are: mattress box springs, wall sockets, old books and papers, behind wallpaper, clothing, dresser drawers, curtains, drapes, cracks, crevices, corners, upholstered furniture, day beds, covers and bedspreads.
What Happens When They Bite?
•The reaction to bed bug bites varies from no apparent reaction to severe skin inflammation, irritation and itching.
•A small, hard, swollen, white welt may develop at the site of each bite. Severe itching can lasts for several hours to days at the bite area.
•A bedbug generally feeds at night, but if it is hungry and the area has dim lighting, it may feed during the day.
•If left undisturbed, a full-grown bedbug becomes engorged with blood in only 3 to 5 minutes. It then crawls into hiding for several days to digest its meal. When hunger returns, the bug emerges from hiding and seeks another blood meal.
They Feed on Humans!
•While bedbugs feed primarily on humans, they also feed on other mammals, poultry, and other birds. Their host range is confused by the fact that the insect family Cimicidae, of which the common bedbug is a member, has several closely related species with similar habits and appearance.
•They are spread mainly by clothing and baggage of travelers and visitors, secondhand beds, bedding materials, furniture, laundry and moving company blankets. Nesting birds, rodents, squirrels, poultry can be carriers and can enter your home.
•The mature bedbug is a brown-to-mahogany colored, wingless insect. Its size depends on how recently it has eaten a blood meal. An unfed bed bug is between 1/4 and 3/8 inches long. The upper surface of its body has a papery, crinkly, flimsy appearance. When engorged with blood, its body becomes elongated and swollen, and its color changes from brown to dull red. The color, size, and shape change from an unfed to a full bug is remarkable.
•Bedbug eggs are white and about 1/3-inch long. Under favorable conditions the female bedbug lays between 300-500 eggs at the rate of 3 to 8 per day. Eggs have a sticky coating and stick to objects where they are laid. It usually takes the eggs 6 to 17 days to hatch and the newly emerged nymphs will feed immediately. A bedbug goes through five molts (shedding of its skin) before it reaches maturity. Depending on environmental factors and the availability of food, there can be considerable variation in developmental rate.
•Bedbugs may live for several weeks to several months without feeding, depending on temperature.
Blood Spots on Sheets and Offensive Sickly Sweet Odor
Most bug problems are not detected until someone has been bitten. A bed bug infestation can be recognized by blood stains from crushed bugs or by blood (sometimes dark) spots of their droppings on sheets and mattresses, bed clothes, and walls. Fecal spots, eggshells, and shed skins may be found in the vicinity of their hiding places. An offensive, sickly sweet, musty odor from their scent glands may be noticeable with severe bed bug infestations.
To combat these blood-suckers, try our Super Pest Kit!
The Super Pest Kit Includes:
32 oz. of our #1 Selling Product, Kleen Green™ Enzyme Cleaner
2 lb. bag of Perma-Guard™ Crawling Insect Control
10 Trapper Max™ Glue Traps
A super value for only $49.95!
How to use the Super Pest Kit to remove bed bugs
Kleen Green
™ Enzyme Cleaner
Suggested Dilution:
4 oz of Kleen Green™ to 28 oz of water in a spray bottle
•Apply a light mist to the entire mattress. Pay particular attention in spraying mattress seams, buttons and tears. Don't forget to treat the bottom of the mattress, box springs and bed frame. The objective is not the quantity of spray used, but rather the proper placement of the enzyme cleaner.
•Spray Kleen Green™ into cracks, crevices and corners! Inspect and spray along baseboards, window frames, wall paper edges, heat registers and other moldings. Check behind pictures, drapes, wall sockets and even closets. As it may be impossible to penetrate all hiding places immediately, bugs may be seen for several days after the first treatment. Retreat as necessary.
•Vacuum carpet thoroughly and wash all bedding.
*Attention apartment and condo residents: Plumbing and heating pipes are like a freeway for a bed bug! Caulk or seal any space around plumbing pipes. Then vacuum and spray Kleen Green™ liberally into all cracks, crevices and corners.
Perma-Guard™ Crawling Insect Control
(non-toxic diatomaceous earth) provides a powerful residual. Death is within 48 hours. Apply to any crack, crevice or corner. Safe on beds.
Trapper Max™ Glue Traps
instantly captures any bed bug with highly tenacious glue. Place flat on the floor under bed legs and move your bed away from any walls to prevent bed bugs from getting into your bed.
* See additional tips for bed bug removal and avoiding bed bugs during your travels on our
Pest Control
page.
Customer Testimonials
Scroll down to read more...
"All I can say is THANK YOU! You've given me my life back. I can sleep again without waking up every hour! What a good feeling to spray Kleen Green on a bug and have it stopped DEAD! I was thrilled!! I am so grateful that I found your very informative website and appreciate ALL the info contained there!"
J.B. Port Orange, Florida
"I just wanted to let you know, I used the Kleen Green at my Aunt's house where there was a serious bed bug infestation. We have sprayed 3 times and it appears as if we have gotten them all. Thank you for your wonderful product!!"
M.I.
"Your product has literally changed my life. I moved into an apartment in Brooklyn, NY and signed a yearlong lease prior to discovering that it was infested with bed bugs. For the first three months we lived in the apartment, my fiancé and I suffered day in and out with their horrific bites. We tried everything and anything we could find to improve our situation, but the bed bugs continued to prevail. It was a nightmare! I felt like I was living out the scene of some Sci-Fi thriller where bugs would feast on my flesh in the night. Then the Manhattan newspapers came out with an article claiming that the city was at an all time high infestation of bed bugs, affecting people in all income brackets and even residing in high-end hotels. I felt like this gave me little hope to improve my situation. If people with more resources couldn't formulate a solution, how could I. Then by some chance my fiancé found your website on-line and we ordered your product with only a half hope that it might have some affect. Little did we anticipate that is would eradicate our problem entirely. Thank you so much!! It has been a miracle. I only wish more people in NYC knew about your product. There are a lot of people that could use it."
N. - Brooklyn, New York
"I am happy to report that for the very first time since we began the ordeal of trying to exterminate the high populations of bed bugs in this house, we have finally succeeded, thanks to Kleen Free! A million thanks to you for the most fantastic product that finally saved me and my family from those horrible bugs!"
K.R.
"I was living in a nightmare with these awful things! We saw them crawling in the bed and when we 'squished' them, the blood spread all over the sheets. Thank God for your product. The exterminator's stuff did nothing, just nothing! We spray your Kleen Free regularly and no more bedbugs. We will never be without your good product, and would rather use this over any poison."
M.M. - Brooklyn, New York
We have hundreds more testimonials sent to us.
Love our products? Send us a letter!
We would LOVE to hear from you...
Natural Ginesis
PO BOX 682645
Franklin, TN 37068
www.naturalginesis.com
www.kleengreen.com
Note about Kleen Free™: In the above testimonials, occasionally a customer will refer to a product called Kleen Free™. When Natural Ginesis began, it sold the product Kleen Free™. We have since created a stronger, richer product called Kleen Green™. We do not carry the original product because the new product has been shown to give better cleaning and pest removal results, but we kept the testimonials here for you because our enzymes have made a difference in these customers' lives.
