WEBVTT - How Do Bed Bugs Work?

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>Good morning, brain Stuff. I'm Christian Seger. You've just woken up.

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<v Speaker 1>Something smells musty and sweet. When you open your eyes,

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<v Speaker 1>your bed has a trail of molted insects, shells, rust

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<v Speaker 1>colored stains, and tiny smears of excrement. Just saying this

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<v Speaker 1>makes me feel itchy. So imagine actually finding these traces

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<v Speaker 1>of bed bugs in your home. We thought these little

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<v Speaker 1>vampires were taken care of after we bombed them to

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<v Speaker 1>hell with d d T in the nineteen eighties, but

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<v Speaker 1>they are back, and d d T was outlawed in

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<v Speaker 1>ninety two, so we can't nooke them from orbit. Just

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<v Speaker 1>to be sure anymore, So arm yourself with knowledge, because

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<v Speaker 1>here's what bed bugs are, where they live, and how

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<v Speaker 1>to get rid of them. The official name for bed

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<v Speaker 1>bugs is cimex lectlarius, and they are parasites that feed

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<v Speaker 1>off of their sleeping hosts blood. The largest they get

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<v Speaker 1>is only a quarter of an inch and they're flat,

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<v Speaker 1>so they're easy to miss. Their brownish wingless with six

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<v Speaker 1>shiny legs, and their syringe like mouthbeak is what they

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<v Speaker 1>use to pierce your skin and suck your blood. Now.

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<v Speaker 1>Unlike nos ferratu, these guys rarely wake their victims while feeding,

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<v Speaker 1>and they can even take three to ten minutes to

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<v Speaker 1>gorge on your blood. Now, while drinking, they actually release

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<v Speaker 1>their own saliva into your broken skin, which can eventually

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<v Speaker 1>cause an allergic reaction. Luckily, they don't spread disease, but

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<v Speaker 1>the bites can swell and itch. Except for thirty percent

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<v Speaker 1>of people who have no reaction to these bugs at all.

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<v Speaker 1>Even still, they probably won't drain you dry. It actually

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<v Speaker 1>would take one hundred thousand bedbugs feeding on you for

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<v Speaker 1>at least a week to make you anemic. Now, let's

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<v Speaker 1>put one misconception to rest. Though bedbugs aren't a sign

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<v Speaker 1>of poor hygiene. Even immaculate mansions can get them. It

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<v Speaker 1>only takes on to ride on in and infect your

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<v Speaker 1>whole home. But the messier the domicile, the more places

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<v Speaker 1>they have to hide. Here is a short list of

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<v Speaker 1>spots that they can conceal themselves. Sofa seems, bed frame cracks,

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<v Speaker 1>torn wall paper, backpacks, light switches, television's, clocks, phones, rugs, baseboards, curtains, clothing, towels,

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<v Speaker 1>or even pillows. Basically, anywhere that's dark and protected is

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<v Speaker 1>up for grabs. One way to tell you've got them

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<v Speaker 1>is from the coriander like odor that they release when

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<v Speaker 1>they are alarmed. The worst part is they can live

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<v Speaker 1>up to a year without eating, so even if you

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<v Speaker 1>move into a totally vacant residence, they could still be

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<v Speaker 1>there waiting. So then how do we kill them? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>like with any vampire, you should hire a professional. They

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<v Speaker 1>must be exterminated. They're incredibly tenacious critters, and to successfully

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<v Speaker 1>eradicate at them sometimes takes up to four different treatments.

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<v Speaker 1>There's dry ice sprays, steam, vacuuming, fumigation, and insecticides. Sustained

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<v Speaker 1>exposure to temperatures over a hundred and twenty degrees fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>will also kill them, which is why you'll need to

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<v Speaker 1>wash all of your linen's and blast them in a

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<v Speaker 1>hot dryer. And remember what I said about messy clutter, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you've got to clean all that up so they won't

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<v Speaker 1>have any place to hide again. Some people also use

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<v Speaker 1>plastic encasings around their mattress, box, spring and pillows to

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<v Speaker 1>keep them from ever returning again. Check out the brainstuf

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<v Speaker 1>channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com