Bat bugs showing up in city homes
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.
Bat bugs showing up in city homes
