# Gloucestershire entomologist tests bedbug treatments by letting insects feed on him

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-the-name-of-science-how-one-researcher-has-chosen-to-sleep-with-bedbugs-for-the-past-five-years-and-straps-some-of-the-60000-he-has-bred-on-his-arm-to-test-if-new-sprays-work/
- Published: 2026-11-01T10:23:46+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-01T10:32:19+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16256305/researcher-sleep-BEDBUGS-five-years.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- Researcher Richard Naylor uses himself to test bedbug products.
- He breeds around 60,000 bedbugs in his home laboratory.
- Confirmed UK activity rose 44 per cent from 2023 to 2025.

## Summary

Entomologist Dr Richard Naylor has spent five years using himself as a host to test bedbug control products, allowing the insects to feed on his arm and sleeping with them when trials require it. His work matters as infestations are increasing and the bugs’ resistance to insecticides makes them harder to eradicate.

Naylor breeds about 60,000 bedbugs in a laboratory at his home in Gloucestershire, where his non-profit Bed Bug Foundation helps businesses test products before they reach the market. He says he is bitten twice a week and now has only a brief skin reaction. Rentokil reported a 44 per cent year-on-year rise in confirmed UK bedbug activity from 2023 to 2025; experts also point to travel, the insects’ ability to hitchhike and changing conditions as factors in their spread.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.