SASKATOON,SK--MAY 07/2011-- Dave Wilson shows off a bat bug which he encounters in his job as an exterminator Thursday, July 07, 2011. (GREG PENDER/STAR PHOENIX)
Photograph by: Greg Pender, Saskatoon Star Phoenix
A cluster of red and inflamed bites on your skin after a night of slumber may not be from the increasingly prevalent bed bug.
Have you ever heard of a bat bug?
A sibling of the bed bug, with differences invisible to the naked eye, the bat bug prefers to stay in the company of winged rodents, feasting on their blood. But bats are meandering creatures who roam from roost to roost. When the nocturnal creatures fly away, the bugs get hungry, and you might be their next best source for a snack.
“Don’t panic,” says David Wilson, owner of Kreepy Kritterz pest control business. “Get it verified before you react.”
There is anecdotal evidence bat bug populations may be on the upswing in Saskatoon. Wilson said he found bat bugs in only two homes last year. But in the past two weeks, about 20 calls to his business for help with bed bugs turned out to be bat bug infestations.
Different bat bug, same bat place.
Wilson hypothesizes this moist spring and summer, which has spawned an increase in bugs like mosquitoes, ants, beetles, and other bat food, is responsible for a bat boom. One bonus of having more bats right now in Saskatoon — one of them can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour. Logically, more bats lead to more bat bugs, Wilson says.
On the plus side, bat bugs are sometimes easier to spot than bed bugs. After a delicious blood buffet, bed bugs want to burrow into a mattress or other cozy hiding place.
“The bat bug isn’t as fearful,” Wilson said. “Usually, people are just finding them on the bed, on the floor. Most common is on the wall.”
James Armstrong, a University of Saskatchewan biology student who has worked as a curator with the university’s insect collection, says recent surges in the number of bed bugs could also mean bat bugs are booming. He hasn’t heard of the growing population, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, he says.
“The good news is that bat bugs don’t spread any diseases, or are known to, anyway,” he said. “It’s really just the irritation from the bites that they cause, and the social stigma attached.”
Scott Hartley, provincial specialist for insect pests with the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, also says a surge in bat bugs would be news to him, but it’s not something the ministry tracks. Bat bugs show up in the southern parts of the province, but it’s not an insect he gets many reports about, he says. They’re most prevalent in the Southern U.S., he says.
Hartley does point out that even tiny variations in average temperatures, prompted by climate change, can have profound effects on how far north insects can survive and thrive.
Fortunately, bat bugs don’t want to be feasting on humans any more than we want to be their next meal. We’re a snack to tide them over until they can get back to the bat roost, Wilson said.
Getting rid of bat bugs begins with sealing off bat habitat from human habitat. Often, bats make their roosts in house attics or hollow apartment building walls. Sealing any crack a bug can squeeze through is an important start, and putting temperature-rated foam into heating pipes and hollow walls can help keep bugs out, too, Wilson said. Unlike bed bug fumigation, which involves bagging up clothes and covering up furniture, bat bugs can be eliminated with a basic chemical spray, Wilson said.
Have you ever heard of a bat bug?
A sibling of the bed bug, with differences invisible to the naked eye, the bat bug prefers to stay in the company of winged rodents, feasting on their blood. But bats are meandering creatures who roam from roost to roost. When the nocturnal creatures fly away, the bugs get hungry, and you might be their next best source for a snack.
“Don’t panic,” says David Wilson, owner of Kreepy Kritterz pest control business. “Get it verified before you react.”
There is anecdotal evidence bat bug populations may be on the upswing in Saskatoon. Wilson said he found bat bugs in only two homes last year. But in the past two weeks, about 20 calls to his business for help with bed bugs turned out to be bat bug infestations.
Different bat bug, same bat place.
Wilson hypothesizes this moist spring and summer, which has spawned an increase in bugs like mosquitoes, ants, beetles, and other bat food, is responsible for a bat boom. One bonus of having more bats right now in Saskatoon — one of them can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour. Logically, more bats lead to more bat bugs, Wilson says.
On the plus side, bat bugs are sometimes easier to spot than bed bugs. After a delicious blood buffet, bed bugs want to burrow into a mattress or other cozy hiding place.
“The bat bug isn’t as fearful,” Wilson said. “Usually, people are just finding them on the bed, on the floor. Most common is on the wall.”
James Armstrong, a University of Saskatchewan biology student who has worked as a curator with the university’s insect collection, says recent surges in the number of bed bugs could also mean bat bugs are booming. He hasn’t heard of the growing population, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, he says.
“The good news is that bat bugs don’t spread any diseases, or are known to, anyway,” he said. “It’s really just the irritation from the bites that they cause, and the social stigma attached.”
Scott Hartley, provincial specialist for insect pests with the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, also says a surge in bat bugs would be news to him, but it’s not something the ministry tracks. Bat bugs show up in the southern parts of the province, but it’s not an insect he gets many reports about, he says. They’re most prevalent in the Southern U.S., he says.
Hartley does point out that even tiny variations in average temperatures, prompted by climate change, can have profound effects on how far north insects can survive and thrive.
Fortunately, bat bugs don’t want to be feasting on humans any more than we want to be their next meal. We’re a snack to tide them over until they can get back to the bat roost, Wilson said.
Getting rid of bat bugs begins with sealing off bat habitat from human habitat. Often, bats make their roosts in house attics or hollow apartment building walls. Sealing any crack a bug can squeeze through is an important start, and putting temperature-rated foam into heating pipes and hollow walls can help keep bugs out, too, Wilson said. Unlike bed bug fumigation, which involves bagging up clothes and covering up furniture, bat bugs can be eliminated with a basic chemical spray, Wilson said.
If you spray for bed bugs, but don’t seal the house off from bats, the bat bugs will come back, he said. He also points out residents who live near the river or in an apartment or condo building are more likely to have bats.
Bat expert Melanie Elliott, who works as an educator and program manager at the U of S, says she’s not sure if bat populations are booming in Saskatoon, because no one is tracking them.
Elliott works with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Saskatchewan, which has been getting more questions about bats from residents this year.
For more information about removing bats from your home humanely, or other bat information, contact the society’s hotline from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 242-7177.
Bat expert Melanie Elliott, who works as an educator and program manager at the U of S, says she’s not sure if bat populations are booming in Saskatoon, because no one is tracking them.
Elliott works with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Saskatchewan, which has been getting more questions about bats from residents this year.
For more information about removing bats from your home humanely, or other bat information, contact the society’s hotline from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 242-7177.
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