Scientists Discover What Terrifies Bedbugs
Stock photo. (Getty Images/Daniel Tamas Mehes)
Bedbugs, it turns out, really don’t like getting wet. Researchers at UC Riverside discovered that these common household pests strongly avoid damp surfaces—an observation that came by accident. A lab feeding device leaked blood into a vial of bedbugs, and the insects refused to approach the soaked paper at the top of the container, according to Gizmodo.
“I thought the bedbugs would be happy to drink the blood from the paper,” said study co-author Dong-Hwan Choe. “But what I saw was very different.”
Follow-up experiments using plain water showed the same behavior: the bugs spent far less time on wet areas, and nearly 90% changed direction before even touching the moisture. Younger nymph bedbugs avoided water even faster than adults, with about a 60% quicker response, indicating a heightened sensitivity in younger insects.
The researchers suspect that water poses a real threat to bedbugs because their flat bodies and tiny breathing openings make them vulnerable to drowning. Published in the Journal of Ethology, the study suggests pest control professionals may need to rethink liquid insecticides. If chemicals don’t kill on contact, the bugs could simply flee wet surfaces and spread elsewhere.
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