We’ve recently been contacted by a couple of people who were concerned that buying a mattress made with natural materials would somehow encourage bed bugs. Bed bugs are approximately 5mm long and similar to an apple seed in appearance. They can vary in colour between dark yellow, red or brown and most often live in cracks and crevices in and around our beds. Once they’ve set up home there they crawl out at night and bite us because they feed on our blood.
I’m sure everyone is going eek! by now, but it’s much better to know your enemy! The type of mattress or bed that you have makes absolutely no difference to the resourceful bed bugs. They’re only interested in having a dark place to hide in and a steady source of food. You’re far more likely to be affected if you live in London as there is a massively growing population there, primarily because of the sheer numbers of people living in close proximity to each other. Globalisation has been a bed bugs dream because they’re such effective hitch hikers, if you sleep in an infested room or sit on an infested seat they may climb into your luggage or into your clothes, only disembarking when you get home.
It’s virtually impossible to take measures to avoid getting bed bugs, especially if you do any travelling, and having an infestation is no reflection at all on the cleanliness of your home. So if you see little black dots on your sheets, it may well be bed bug poo! There may be little spots of blood as well, and some people react to the bites so that they’re obvious, but others don’t.
I sincerely hope that no-one who’s reading this will ever have a bed bug problem, but if you do, the best thing is to contact a specialised company who deal with insect infestations. They are virtually impossible to get rid of otherwise!