Can Bedbugs Fly?

Bedbugs still remain a major source of concern for people around the globe. While eliminating bedbugs may not be the easiest thing to do on earth, it important you do so as soon as you notice the presence of a bedbug infestation or get the help of certified pest management experts.

Even without wings, bedbugs are trouble enough. Imagine trying to treat your house of a bedbug infestation when they can very easily flap their wings and fly to another location only to return after the insecticides have subsided?

Truth is – bedbugs have no wing and are incapable of flying. They can only move across short distance (usually to their meals) or in clothes and personal effects during long distances. So, if you think you’ve seen even one bedbug fly at one point or the other, it could only mean that you didn’t really see a bedbug. You obviously saw a similar insect.

You may argue that bedbugs possess wing pads and so should be able to fly with them. This isn’t entirely true because every mature bedbug only possesses wing pads that are positioned above the insect’s thorax but cannot fly. As a matter of fact, these wing pads are not usually found in bedbug nymphs; you’ll therefore be wasting your time if you go about looking for wings to be able to identify bedbugs.

Here’s How You Can Identify Bedbugs

Well, identifying bedbugs is not as easy as it sounds. This is because insects like fleas and ticks look and behave in similar manners as bedbugs.

If you happen to find any blood-sucking insect that looks swollen and has 8 legs, chances are you’ve just found a tick. If what you’ve found keeps leaping away as soon as you go close to it, you might just be dealing with fleas.

Bedbugs are six-legged insects with lengthy antennae and flat bodies – they only seem to be swollen after feeding on blood. They’re usually about 0.5cm in length and often take shelter in cracks, crevices and holes in the wall and flooring materials. While their bites do not pose serious health risks of transmitting diseases, it is usually best to seek medical attention and then treat the affected area as soon as an infestation is noticed.

Myths About Bedbugs You Should Discard

1. Bedbugs can only be found in mattresses: Not at all. Bedbugs stay in any part of a house where people reside. In case you notice an infestation in your mattress, do well to check other delicate spots in your room as they may be hiding in certain spots.
2. All it takes to kill bedbugs is an insecticide spray.: This can only be true if the infestation is very small and hasn’t spread to different places.
3. Bedbugs are capable of flying: By now, you should have realized that bedbugs cannot fly unless they are able to evolve wings in time to come.
4. Bedbugs are nocturnal insects: This isn’t true because if you sleep in an infested bed during the day, those blood-sucking parasites would not hesitate to take a very long sip from your blood vessels.
5. Bedbugs often leap around my house: This cannot be true because the only locomotive features of bedbugs is their ability to crawl from unripe place to another – nothing else.

Finally

Thankfully, bedbugs are completely incapable of flying and making swift movement. They only move from one place to another efficiently by hiding themselves in clothes, and personal items. Also, their wing pads do not serve the purpose of flight, therefore, they cannot move through long distances without hitchhiking on people or their personal items.