Bed bugs

Bed bugs belong to the order Hemiptera and are obligate blood-sucking, temporary ectoparasites that occur year-round and worldwide. The primary hosts of bed bugs are humans and bats, which they find via stimulus sources such as body heat, CO2, and various info chemicals. The transmission of pathogens to humans has not yet been demonstrated.

Bed bugs show a distinct aggregation behavior and can hide in minor cracks and crevices due to their flat body. When threatened, they emit an alarm pheromone, causing the bugs to disperse. Under suitable conditions and depending on their stage, bed bugs can survive without food for more than six months, but egg production and thus reproduction is not possible during this time.

In our breeding, we attach great importance to the renunciation of animal experiments with vertebrates. Therefore, our bed bugs are not fed on the vertebrate host. We use in-vitro feeding methods specially developed by the founders.

In our breeding, we keep sensitive strains of the bed bug species:

• Cimex lectularius (common bed bug)