Courtesy image A graphic created by Nick Moulds’ wife, shows bed bugs infesting a mattress.

ESCANABA — As March comes to a close, tourists from across the country begin traveling for spring break and again in the summer. Tourists visit scenic areas, such as the U.P., bringing family, friends, and, unfortunately, bedbugs.

Bedbugs, or Cimex lectularius, as they’re known scientifically, are tiny, wingless insects that feed on warm-blooded animals such as humans.

According to Michigan State University (MSU), the bedbug injects saliva into the skin to help it draw blood from the host.

Bedbugs aren’t deadly, nor do they carry diseases, but they are an annoying pest for home and business owners to deal with.

Unfortunately, some are timid about calling an exterminator for bed bugs because they don’t want to give off the impression that they or their property is dirty. A local exterminator weighed in, saying bedbugs can infest any building, regardless of cleanliness or the age of the building.

“I’ve gone into brand-new homes; it’s just travel, and you stay at a hotel, and you end up bringing one home,” said the owner of Beyond Pest Management in Gladstone, Nick Moulds.

Moulds is an experienced exterminator with over 11 years of eradicating bugs in homes and businesses in the U.P.

He said it’s not the property owner’s fault when bedbugs infest their property as they can hop from one host to another.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) echoed Moulds, saying the pest is no one’s fault. They don’t discriminate – anyone can have them.

People could travel from thousands of miles away, bringing bedbugs to the area without even realizing it.

According to MSU, bugs are found worldwide, and they hitchhike on the clothing or luggage of travelers and visitors.

The females are the ones who lay eggs, meaning an infestation is likely if it is a female bug that is able to find a new host or home.

“She can lay eggs the rest of her life once she’s pregnant once,” Moulds said.

The females are impregnated through “traumatic insemination,” a process where the male bug pierces the female’s body through the abdomen and inseminates directly into the body cavity.

“A female can lay up to seven eggs in a day and up to 300 in her lifetime,” Moulds said.

He explained that they can reproduce once the female consumes a full-blood meal.

“There’s nine different stages in a bedbug’s life. In order for them to move each stage, they have to have a full blood meal once they’re hatched from the egg,” Moulds said.

The “meal” involves biting humans and filing up on blood.

Moulds compared the bite to mosquitoes, saying hosts (people) aren’t likely to feel the immediate bite, but their skin becomes irritated and begins to itch.

Toddlers and senior citizens tend to be more sensitive to the bites, eliciting a reaction. Others may be living with the bites daily and be unaware of it.

“I’ve had instances in houses where the wife’s getting bit and she’s reacting, and the husband sleeps in the same bed, but he doesn’t react,” he said.

The bugs like to hide in box springs, mattresses, sheets, curtains and other pieces of furniture near where humans sleep.

Moulds explained bed bugs search for human breath in the house, typically finding people where they sleep.

Even if a person moves from their bedroom at night, the bugs will roam around the house to find them to feed.

“I’ve had people where they’ve had them in their bedroom and they start to sleep on the couch, and they’ll eventually make their way to that host. It may take them days, but they’ll eventually make it to that host through that house,” he said.

Bedbugs are adaptable and will adjust their feeding time based on the hosts’ schedule.

“You could work a night shift and go home and go to sleep, and then that’s their time to feed. They’ll learn basically your lifestyle,” he said.

Should a house be infested, there are three options exterminators typically offer: insecticide, bio-pesticide or heat. He said the treatment options are typically personal preference and price, as they are all virtually just as effective as one another, with a margin of just one percent.

Moulds explained his process for treating a house for bedbugs with insecticide, using the example of a two-bedroom house.

Clients typically catch a bug or two in a baggie, so Moulds has a reference of what was seen and can determine if it is indeed a bedbug. He then inspects areas where they would likely be, such as box springs or headboards. He said he typically finds fecal matter before he finds the bugs.

“A lot of times, you won’t even find the bed bugs right away; you’ll find the fecal matter first,”  he said.

He explained the bugs leave a hiding spot to feed and then retreat to their place with a full belly.

“That’s where the fecal matter comes out because they try to squeeze back into the same spot that they were hiding before they came out,” Moulds said.

Once he finds them, he treats the area with insecticide before going to treat bedrooms as well as the living room; anywhere humans may sleep.

After the bugs are treated, they track the chemical to where they’re hiding, killing others.

Moulds treats the property on his initial visit after his inspection and again approximately three weeks later to ensure the pest is eradicated.

“You’re making sure all the eggs are hatched because the chemical won’t necessarily kill the eggs. So, you do a second one (treatment) about three weeks later, and that’ll catch whatever adults are left,” he explained.

He said it’s essential not to wait to deal with bedbugs, as they can reproduce rapidly.

“If they call in the earlier stages of them just finding them, it’s a lot quicker and easier of a process to eradicate a few than a few thousand. They’ll multiply very fast,” he said.

He said he’s cleaned properties where it looked like the carpet was moving in a room because of how many bed bugs were present.

“By them being that bad, they started to move to the rooms next to it,” he said.

While bedbugs are not necessarily an immediate threat, there have been occurrences where people are hospitalized because of pests.

“There’s been people that have been put in the hospital because of blood loss because they’ve had them (and) they’re really, really bad and there’s only one host (person) in the house,” he said.

While hospitalizations are rare occurrences, the bug can still be very irritating and can ruin furniture.

The bugs defecate on furniture, bedding, and other materials, leaving nearly impossible stains to remove from some surfaces or fabrics.

“If they’re bad enough, they’ll ruin it all. You won’t get the stains out because basically their fecal matter is blood, and blood doesn’t come out,” Moulds said.

The best thing for a home or business owner to do if they suspect they have bed bugs is to contact a professional like Moulds to inspect.

Moulds at Beyond Pest Management can be reached at 906-241-7715 or via email at beyond.pest.mgmt@gmail.com.