Every living thing has a natural predator in the food chain apart from us humans, we are pretty much top of the food chain. But sometimes you do wonder if certain animals and insects do have predators. I was asked the other day do bed bugs have predators. Being a pest control technician I gave the client the answer that yes bed bugs do have natural predators but led me to think as to why they would ask me that question as a did an inspection on their house hold. My only guess was that they might be thinking that spiders could hunt out the bed bugs and get rid of them in a natural way. I just want to touch up here on this point that it's really not recommended to use Biological pest control where humans will reside. This is for the obvious reasons such as you don't want to have a masked hunters infestation now in your household do you? Getting bit by one of those would not be nice!

Anyway thought I would just clear that up. So as you probably already know now

Yes bed bugs do have predator

Bed bugs do have there fair share of predators and the most notorious predator they have as a mention briefly above is an insect called the masked hunter. It is actually also known as the masked BED BUG hunter! So they are a skilled bed bug hunter. The name masked hunter comes from the fact that as nymphs they hide themselves in dust, very sneaky indeed. They belong to the insect family of assassin, the bug family called Reduviidae. Not only do masked hunters see bed bugs as prey but other small insects such as woodlice, earwigs and lacewings. Masked hunters do not feed on human blood, however in saying this they will bite and pack a nasty bite indeed. Its compared to the sting of a bee so quite nasty indeed. Generally you don't need medical attention for a masked hunter bite. Masked hunters are native to Europe but have spread to America.

Spiders are another predator to the bed bug. A spider in particular has taken a liking to feasting on bed bug and it is called Thanatus flavidus. Thanatus flavidus can be found in Europe in countries like Greece, Ukraine and Russia. The other known predators to bed bugs are ants, cockroaches and mites.

As i did mention above, it's really not recommend to use biological pest control to try and get rid of bed bugs. Hope I have helped you with your question about do bed bugs have predators, Please feel free to leave comments and ask question I will be happy to answer.

Terry