All told, the red harborages "were significantly preferred compared with all other colored harborages except black," the study found.
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To test the color preferences, researchers created tiny, tent-like "harborages"—shelters—out of colored paper.
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If one does have to go it alone, I won't lie about your chances, but exterminators generally recommend sealing mattresses in bed bug-proof encasements, isolating beds from walls, washing bedding and clothes, and then using a combination of hot steam, spray pesticide, and bed bug powders (amorphous silica gel is far better than diatomaceous earth) to set up a no man's land between your bed and any potential harborages.
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Am. Entomol. 52: 105–106 In fact, bed bugs thrive in areas where there is an adequate supply of available hosts, and plenty of cracks and harborages within of the host.Harlan H. J. 2006 Bed bugs 101: the basics of Cimex lectularius. Am. Entomol.
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Bat bugs are moderately common in the midwest US and have been recorded in Scotland, and are found in houses and buildings that harbor bats. Infestations in human dwellings are usually introduced by bats carrying the bugs on their skin. Bat bugs usually remain close to the roosting locations of bats (attics, chimneys, etc.) but explore the rest of the building if the bats leave or are eliminated. In some cases, they move into harborages that are more typical of bedbugs, such as mattresses and bed frames.
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This secondary transmission occurs through direct contact with, or ingestion of, traces of baits dispersed in the environment by contaminated cockroaches. These traces were either deposited by “trampling” in the environment or on dead contaminated cockroaches. The cascading effect goes on to wipe out whole colonies from indirect exposure by contact with the corpses, feces, or harborages of cockroaches previously exposed. Such nests, when contaminated with sufficient residual pesticide via faeces, secretions, exuviae, or corpses provide an important reservoir of pesticide, which would be available to infect co species.
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Preliminary research has shown the fungus Beauveria bassiana, which has been used for years as an outdoor organic pesticide, is also highly effective at eliminating bed bugs exposed to cotton fabric sprayed with fungus spores. It is also effective against bed bug colonies due to the spores carried by infected bugs back to their harborages. Unlike typical insecticides, exposure to the fungus does not kill instantly, but kills bugs within five days of exposure. Some people, especially those with compromised immune systems, may react negatively to the concentrated presence of the fungus directly following an application.
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If feeding regularly, a female bed bug can lay between two and three eggs per day throughout her adult lifetime, which may last several months, allowing one female to produce hundreds of offspring under optimal conditions. The tiny (<1 mm) yellowish-white eggs are vase-shaped, and are laid within harborages where the insects rest between blood meals and spend virtually all of their time: although parasitic, they do not reside on their hosts and only contact them briefly for blood meals. Eggs typically hatch within 10 days at room temperature, but become non-viable below . Cimex lectularius goes through five immature life stages that each require a blood meal to develop and move on to the next stage.
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