Bed bugs, a old blood sucking scrouge from the past is back again feasting on the blood of modern man. The incidences of bed bug infestations in structures in California is increasing. Infestations have been found in hotels, motels, homeless shelters, private residences,etc. A little as about five years ago, bed bug infestations in California were rare novelties that were largely unheard of. Because of increased globalization and the easy and relatively inexpensive cost of air transportation, bed bugs from some of the remotest corners of the planet can find themselves in Hollywood in a matter of hours or days.
Contemporary pest control technicians never received training on the identification, biology, behavior, foraging ecology, etc. of bed bugs. As a result, pest control technicians are experiencing great difficulty in controlling this pest. Most customers, once they find out they have a bed bug problem and are told that these creatures suck blood, demand quick, total elimination.
Sometimes drastic control methods such as structural fumigation and all-encompassing thermal pest eradication are necessary to eliminate bed bugs from a structure. From a customer's perspective, bed bug control is not control but eradication. Untrained and uninformed pest control technicians are, more often than not,unable to deliver bed bug eradication services in a timely manner which is what customers are demanding. What this does is create a very frustrating situation for all concerned.
Species 1: Hemiptera Cimicidae Cimex lectularius (bed bug)
Keywords: Bed bugs
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA