Bed bug (Cimex lecularius)
Order: Heteroptera
Family: Cimicidés
Adult size: 5-8 mm
place: any habitat
Period: All year

Flattened shape (1-2 mm) allows it to seep everywhere ready bit (narrow cracks, seams of mattresses, behind baseboards, ..).
She is among the insects commonly known as piercing-sucking, her mouth device allowing it to penetrate your skin to suck your blood!
The bedbug is a wingless insect crawling, if you see it fly is not a bed bug but his cousin the bug wood that is much larger and completely harmless

Bed bug after eating! (3 mm / 3 mm)

There are three stages in the development cycle of the bedbug: the egg – nymph – adult. To change the nymph which measures the egg as about 1 mm in adults, bed bug goes through four stages.
The egg white is about 1 mm, the nymph is identical to the adult but smaller.
Depending on the temperature, a bug can you stick in 1 to 3 times a week for food
The meal of a bed bug lasts 10 to 15 minutes.
one male may mate with several females and one or several times a day.
Normally, like most insects, reproduction occurs in spring, after a good meal, but beware the heating may change the natural cycle
A female can lay hundreds of eggs and that for six months if conditions are favorable (temperature and power supply)
Eggs hatch after 1-3 weeks. Time of hatching depends on the ambient temperature, the hotter it gets, the more the cycle accelerates, the colder it gets the more it slows
The nymph becomes an adult after 2 to 4 weeks (she needs blood to grow).
The adults can survive up to six months without food and even up to one year if the temperature is low.

It is certain that she prefers the conditions but we saw a year without food or unheated rooms do not bother!
Normally the bedbug is a nocturnal insect that attacks the human (or other mammal) when it is idle (in bed), but nevertheless, a female can sting the day hungry.
Even if you do not see it you will find on your sheets traces of blood and excrement.

In general the bedbug preferably occupies the bedroom but it may well, in the absence of food, spread to other parts of the house. Do not expect to see in daylight, they are big shy, he’ll have to think and look for an insect or particularly small and flat can hide.
If adults can walk into your house, the female generally lays close to the man so that the nymph can feed quickly without browsing the miles!
It is likely that if you turn the light at night you will see, but we must be very fast, as soon as the disturbed joined the bedbug hiding.

The bed bug is not considered as a vector for disease, but these bites can cause edema and whitish hard with the possibility of local inflammation.
As for the mosquito reaction is due to the saliva contains an anesthetic to reduce pain and the sting like a mosquito, all persons are not sharp and it is even possible to be bitten without you being aware of (approximately 10% of people)

Bugs can spread quickly from one room to another or from one apartment to another.
Nobody is immune to this insect and it is very easy to take home with you without your knowledge, just from being in contact with an infested person (public place, public transportation) and you’re within a few week at the head of a bed bug breeding

In the 50s many apartments or buildings were colonized by the bed bug and it was very common to see in the dark colony of bugs along the walls or hedges.

Recognizing this, health services have treated a sudden all the dreaded DDT and eradicated and infested premises, at least in developed countries the invasion of this insect.
The problem is that DDT, thank you for our health and the environment, has been banned, such as Lindane and again later as many other insecticides, more recently, but against the bedbug had not completely disappeared from the surface of our planet.
On one side we have insects become more resistant and the other insecticides less “toxic”.

It is easy to understand so that with increasing air traffic and travel, this insect is formidable income in most countries where they had been eradicated.
If in the 50s it was pretty substandard housing who were concerned with the bedbug, the phenomenon is no longer true in our time, everyone is concerned and especially those who travel a lot!.

In May 2007 we started to receive calls from cottage situated on the Camino de Santiago, which faced an invasion of bed bugs probably carried by pilgrims. One person can quickly “contaminate” dozens of cottages and hundreds of people. In 2009 following a true infestation many partners decided to set up a campaign entitled “I do not work with the bug”.
For this to work requires that all hosts but also all hosted takes steps to avoid spreading bed bugs. The issue is important because if the host for this may be the temporary closure of his establishment for this can be hosted numerous bites by always great!
Insecticide in “organic” there is now only one active ingredient: pyrethrum extract of chrysanthemum
To be really effective on the bedbug insecticide will have a concentration of pyrethrum min at 1.2% as our insecticide 4J to 5% (1.26%) or the Pistal (1.4%) , this information is now required on the label but also a “helper” who can be of PBO (not at all natural and very controversial), potassium (4J), paraffin (Pistal) ..

pyrethrum may have a repellent for 24 hours as an insecticide but only a few moments, this is the problem of rapidly biodegradable natural products!
For the pilgrim we recommend:
To use our insecticide 4J concentrated to 10%.
Two solutions:
The simplest and most convenient way is to make our trip special Spray 250ml
You can also take 125ml (10% = 1.2L insecticide) of pure 4J to prepare a spray and also take the rest of 4J allowing you to re-prepare the trip.
Spray a small amount every night basically sleeping in your luggage and (repellent pyrethrum) Put your clothes in the daytime shelter for the night in a plastic bag completely waterproof.
In the morning two cases:
You have not been bitten during the night: to make the same thing every night
You’ve been bitten: back down and make your full treatment of all sides (insecticidal action of pyrethrum), it may be necessary also to verify and process your luggage
At the end of your stay and before you go home:
Treatment on two sides of your down
Completely empty your luggage, check all your clothes, process your entire bag, do not hesitate to return. It is better to lose one hour and be sure you do not bring back to bug you, rather than spend weeks will eliminate you!

Bearing in mind the resurgence of bed bugs in many establishment in France or abroad (see report by France 2 on New York and Paris) and without falling into psychosis, it may be useful to take certain precautions to especially not to take home these lovely little creatures. It may be helpful to include in your suitcase our special trip Spray 250ml
Open your bed and check your sheets, when in doubt handle all of your bed. Treating your bed with our 10% 4J insecticide will not kill the bugs that are found in the mattress or box spring but the repellent action of pyrethrum should prevent them from coming to you overnight, clients have tried with excellent results, but be careful you have to do every night, the life of the pyrethrum is very short.
Do not let the clothes hang and mostly on or near the bed (nightgown, robe), suspending them in the closet.
If significant doubt it is better that all your belongings are stored permanently in your suitcase, suitcase which must always be properly closed.
If you have not been bitten during the night, it is likely that your room contains no bed bug, otherwise it is possible to be infected your things lying around, open your suitcase, … routine should be followed carefully controlling all of your business.
The bomb Ecodoo is a solution to handle all your business and suitcase but beware it is prohibited in aircraft.
If you think it is possible that you are a holder (you or your luggage), we have to avoid to break into your home.
Remove all of your clothes you wear on you and put everything in a trash bag, after spraying the insecticide Ecodoo , tie the bag shut and leave a few hours
Empty all of your luggage also in a trash bag and proceed as above
Treat your empty luggage
As a precaution you can transfer all your clothes are in garbage bags directly into the washing machine (cycle 60 ° C min)
All the delicate tissues may be soaked a few hours, in a basin of water to which you add to the insecticide 4J (min 2% concentration, about 125ml of 4J / 5 liters)
For non-washable clothing, The laundry is also a solution

The power to resist cold, to survive without food and move very quickly by air or train allowed the beetle to mutate and adapt well to many common insecticides, so do not expect easily destroy your bug bed using a bomb or an insecticide fumigant, even companies that specialize in treatment does not guarantee the effectiveness of their interventions. Also the fact of using insecticides too “powerful” you risk creating a phenomenon of the survivors of resistance, making their destruction more difficult.
Lab tests, performed in the United States, Europe and Africa, show that bed bugs can survive today’s levels of insecticide 1000 times higher than the fatal dose needed only a decade ago . An article on the subject appeared in The Wall Street Journal, you will find here the French translation