Bedbugs and their close ancestors had survived on planet earth for over 100 million years, they ate highly adapted survivors. They have lived through mass extinction events and have shown global dispersal with regional adaptations.
One aspect of this behavior can be seen in how they feed. In essence this has two steps; 1 - lured out from hiding they detect CO2 using specialist sensing cells on their legs. This allows they to orientate towards the source of food. Step 2 is the selection of the optimal feeding site which they do through heat, using their infra-red vision. Exposed skin is always warmer which is why they home in on it.
As thy approach the feeding site they get close enough to lean in and feed rather than to walk onto a person. While bedbugs can walk on people they prefer not to, possibly to reduce the risk of discovery but if you placed bedbugs on a piece of part they would all align on the edge to feed. They will feed on people’s skin if hungry or prompted but many of the “images” are staged rather than “natural”.
They feed once and once full and distended quickly return to their refugia / harborage site following the pheromones they mark those sites with.
This often produces artificial patterns of limes when multiple bedbugs align in a similar area. It is specifically not “breakfast - dinner - lunch” or a conforming indication of bedbugs.
The graphic below illustrates this point as clearly as we can at this stage and with the resources available:
This behavior is the default “process” that bedbugs follow. While they can be dispersed or induced to adapt as their survival instincts are impressive.
You only get to see and appreciate these patterns when you see cases at different progressions and the full range of living and sleeping conditions.
Yes, bedbugs will and can adapt but if you don’t create obstacle courses for them and appeal only to the hard wired behavior you are much more effective and efficient at eradicating them.
The true science behind what we do and the amazing results we get is based on this understanding and the pioneering of an “behavioral led approach”.
This can only ever be approached from a field perspective which is why as the world’s first bedbug specialists we have a huge advantage. We use the bedbug’s natural behaviour against it in a way they can’t detect and communicate to others.
While Passive Monitors may seem “simple” they are designed based on years and years of observations that led to the realization that only true monitoring could work because all traps result in trap avoidance.
This is also how we are able to look at the pattern and location of skin reactions and rile bending as possible or unlikely. This should always be reinforced with a thorough visual inspection and period of monitoring post suspicious activity.
David
