• These bugs have existed for thousands of years and have honed their bug hitchhiking and hiding skills to perfection. They will have been unknowingly picked up from existing bedbug infestations - attaching themselves to your clothing, bags, backpacks, luggage, or hiding inside fabrics, furnishings, and cracks and crevices in used furniture.

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• The most common species of bed bug in the U.K is Cimex lectularius. Males and females are blood-sucking and will take a blood feed from people, but female bed bugs tend to bite more frequently as they need the blood to develop their eggs.

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• They are an increasing problem worldwide, because as people travel for both business and leisure, the chances of encountering bedbug infestations and inadvertently spreading them increases. These pests are also becoming an increasing issue in student accommodation, care homes and apartments, as once established they can move easily between rooms, spreading a bed bug infestation to other areas.

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• Bed bugs lay 200 – 500 eggs over a two month period in batches of 10 - 50.

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• Adult females must have a blood meal from warm-blooded mammals, such as people before egg-laying.

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• Eggs are usually hidden in cracks and crevices and can be attached to infested items of furniture, fittings or soft furnishings such as mattress seams, box springs, bed linen and other items, in clusters by a transparent substance.

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• There are 7 stages to the lifecycle from egg to fully grown adult bug which can be from 45 days but may take up to a year.

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• The typical lifespan of a bedbug is about 50 days to over a year depending on favourable conditions.

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• They can survive for weeks to months without feeding, waiting for a human host.