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More bed bugs in the summer?
Farah Dhalla, reporter
July 18, 2012 — They are an indoor pest, but it turns out that certain weather conditions can help bed bugs grow and thrive.
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Reports of bed bugs spike in the summer
You might not like the heat ... but bed bugs do!
"When we have warmer weather like we are having now, where it's really hot and humid bed bug development speeds up," says Sean Rollo, and entomologist with Orkin Canada.
Bed bugs are small, wingless insects about the size of an apple seed. They're nocturnal in nature. They come out at night to feed when people are sleeping. Health officials say Bed Bug reports spike in the summer compared to the winter.
"The bed bug incidence rates rises during the warm months from Spring," says Matthew Lawson, Manager of Environmental Health Services in Hamilton. "It starts to go up and we see our busiest months for calls during the month of September."
They are an indoor pest. So how does the weather outside play a role in their development?
"If you're in a housing complex or in an apartment building or townhouse complex where there is no climate control, then the outside weather becomes the inside weather and then of course that reproductive rate does speed up," Rollo explains.
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The bugs can die if it's too hot
In temperatures around eighteen degrees it takes bed bugs around 4 months to become full blown adults. But if the temperature rises to thirty three degrees then it just takes them a little over ONE month to become big.
"But it's not necessarily going to take this phenomenon of bed bugs and spread it worldwide overnight because it's hot outside," Rollo adds.
If it gets too hot though, say 36 or 37 degrees, bed bugs can die. In the meantime, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.
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