Bugged by Bed Bugs

Are you bugged by bed bugs? Knock wood, thus far I have had no such encounter. After hearing a story on the local evening news about bed bugs, I found myself today researching them further.

We've all heard much about the common bed bug invading the bedding in many hotels worldwide. Have you ever wondered where all those bed bugs come from? I do!

Reading up on bed bugs according to Wikipedia, I learned something that I didn't know about bed bugs. Take a closer look at this picture:

Traumatic Insemination of a Bed Bug

Can you see the male bed bug? The female bed bug is flat on her back, whilst the male bed bug is mating with the female by piercing her abdomen. Ouch, me thinks! I do think that is a traumatic method for insemination; yes?

Something else that is rather interesting about that picture is that it is found in Wikimedia Commons to support the article on bed bugs. Furthermore, that very "image was selected as picture of the day on the English Wikipedia for June 4, 2010." How about that? Did you realize that the English Wikipedia had pictures of the day? I didn't!

Another interesting find on this topic is Bed Bugs and Book Bags Educator Training. The University of Florida/IFAS Duval County Extension offers free bed bug training for educators.

Last, but not least! According to that recent news story, our pets are supposedly bringing in the bed bugs! You see, normally bed bugs prey on humans when no other prey are available. Now they are feeding on our pets! What opportunists! It's as though our cats are dipped in chocolate, making them irresistible to bed bugs. An opportunity for a plug for a 14k Rose Gold Brown Diamond Cat Pendant. A cat dipped in chocolate. Something that is very enticing to me!

Some dogs have been trained to detect the presence of bed bugs. Would you believe they emit an odor of rotting raspberries? And, the bed bug does have some natural predators including ants, centipedes, cockroaches, the masked hunter, mites, and spiders. Ah, a sincere opportunity for more undesirable pests!

Gosh, I don't know about you, but I am seriously bugged by the idea of bed bugs crawling into bed with me. I was really hoping for something or somebody else.