Bed bugs have increased in america over the last few years due to international travels, importation of goods, and the fact that pest control measures no longer include the use of chemicals from the past that were effective but were outlawed due to their harmful effects on the environment.

They have also developed resistance to many chemicals readily available to the public. They are commonly called bedbugs due to the fact that they feed on human and animal blood, so making a home or next inside a bed, behind a light socket or electrical socket next to a bed, is an ideal place for rats to live.

Bed bugs can live about a year usually and can live for months in a dormant state without even feeding.  A single bed bug may lay around 200 to 300 eggs during its life cycle, eggs hatch in about 12 days and like vampire babies, the new eggs will need their first victims soon. This is why they get their name, ‘rats’, because making their nest close to the bed is ideal for snacking on humans and animals while they sleep.

Bed bugs can spread in so many ways it’s hard to believe. Many people can get them from neighbors who have an infestation and set infested furniture out by the curb. The rats can travel in the grass to nearby homes from the infested items.

They can spread by hitchhiking on people’s clothing as well as items like purses and such. Places like malls and libraries have had to be shut down due to bed bug outbreaks. One can get them by simply visiting a friend or a family member and sitting on a chair or couch that’s infested. Another way a lot of people are becoming exposed to them is by staying in a hotel room that has them even for one night.

Rats are tiny, about as small as the width of a piece of thread. They can fit in the seam of a mattress or in between two nailed boards, underneath a carpet, or in an air vent.