Bitesīed bugs usually feed in the middle of the night while people sleep and the bite is painless. The various species found in Colorado can be separated by patterns of hairs, wing pad structures and other features that are summarized in Figure 1. Their body is flattened when unfed, although they swell rapidly with a blood meal. All are wingless, although small wing pads are present on the back. They are reddish-brown to grayish-brown with an oval body form and about 3/8-in long when full-grown.
Encounters with humans occur when bird hosts nest in buildings.Īll of these species are generally similar in appearance. This species is present in the southwestern areas of the state.
Purple martins and, less commonly, woodpeckers and owls are hosts for H. Human bites are rare and occur when people spend night activities in close proximity to poultry roosting areas. They hide during the day in cracks and crevices around the poultry roost and move out to feed at night. Poultry bugs are associated with chickens and other poultry. The insects are largely dormant during the period between the time nests are abandoned in summer and just prior to the return of swallows the following spring. Swallow bug bites of humans tend to occur in late winter and spring, when the swallow bugs emerge from winter dormancy in anticipation of the return of their swallow hosts. Problems with human bites occur in homes where swallows attached and maintained nests during the previous summer. The swallow bug is a parasite of cliff swallows and, less commonly, barn swallows. However, in the absence of the bat hosts, these insects cannot sustain and reproduce. Bat bugs may move into human living areas and incidentally bite people, with such migrations particularly common when bats migrate or are eliminated from the building. Bat bugs develop in colonies of roosting bats, which sometimes occur in attics or behind walls of buildings.
Prior to the recent increase of bed bugs, the bat bug was the most common representative of this group of insects found within homes in Colorado. Bed bugs can be accidentally carried on furniture, luggage and other materials so problems with bed bugs tend to be most severe in apartments, motels and other sites that see high amounts of human traffic.īat bug (Cimex pilosellus). However, within the past decade it has had tremendous resurgence. For several decades following World War II it was largely eradicated form the United States, existing in only small pockets. The bed bug is a notorious species and is the only member of this insect family in Colorado that is adapted to living entirely with humans. Five of the cimicid bugs are presentīed bug (Cimex lectularius). The bed bug, bat bug and related species of the family Cimicidae, are blood sucking insects that feed on birds and/or mammals. Call a Propestmen Bat and Mice Experts today to make certain that bats inhabiting your home are locked out for the long haul.Figure 3 (above): Bed bug during course of 12-minute feeding. As long as a primary food source is readily available, the bat bugs will remain. In order to control biting bat bugs, the bat colony must be evicted from the home. The insects are most frequently associated with bats that roost in colonies, such as the Big Brown Bat. Closely related to bed bugs, bat bugs are parasites feeding on all of the bat species found in the state.
#BAT BUGS FULL#
So what’s the full story behind the bat bug? Like any animal roaming the countryside and cities of Ohio, bats can be afflicted with a number of parasites, including mites, fleas and bat bugs. Even worse, bat bugs prefer their primary food source - bats - but they’re willing to feed on other animals, including humans, when their primary food source is missing in action on a twilight flight. Bed bugs may be the bane to human beings, but there’s little consolation knowing that bats have their own parasitic problems to deal with – bat bugs.
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