And by all accounts, they are terrible house guests: they bite, they smell bad, and they won’t leave. Experts say getting rid of bedbugs from a building with an entrenched infestation is extremely difficult.
That might be because common bedbugs are human specialists, adapted to thrive in our dwellings and batten on our blood. They attack at night, while we sleep, and though some people feel a prick of pain from the bite itself, many don’t realize they have bedbugs until the bites, especially around the face, grow itchy and swollen — or until they see staining on bed sheets from bedbug waste.
Common bedbugs, about the size of a “flattened lady bug,” dine almost entirely on human blood, but will attack other mammals and birds in a pinch, especially chickens and bats.
Meanwhile, other bedbug species sometimes moonlight by attacking humans. Building a bird nest-box on the wall of a house, for instance, might attract purple martins, which could bring along their bedbug specialists. Those bedbugs might then invite themselves inside for a taste of human blood.
Scientific name: Cimex lectularius
