When I was very young, my parents used to say, “don’t let the bed bugs bite” while they were putting me to sleep. I didn’t know what bed bugs were and I’ve still never seen one, but apparently they died off right about the time I was born and have now come back with a vengeance. I know they’ve menaced the home of at least one relative. I hope they don’t show up in our home. In any case, check this out:
The classic bedbug strain that all newly caught bugs are compared against is a colony originally from Fort Dix, N.J., that a researcher kept alive for 30 years by letting it feed on him.
But Stephen A. Kells, a University of Minnesota entomologist, said he “prefers not to play with that risk.”
He feeds his bugs expired blood-bank blood through parafilm, which he describes as “waxy Saran Wrap.”
Coby Schal of North Carolina State said he formerly used condoms filled with rabbit blood, but switched to parafilm because his condom budget raised eyebrows with university auditors.
Bug scientists are weird people. Have you seen any bed bugs lately? Have any idea why they don’t spread disease like all other people-biting insects?
