I have been hearing recently that bed bugs are back on the scene and infestations are appearing in certain areas. I even worried that I had them….. I think the kitty cats just had fleas though, so now they are being treated.
I knew nothing about bed bugs, so thought I would do some research and pass my knowledge in a simple, easy form in regards to detection, preventing and treatment.
Firstly, What is a bed bug?
A mini version of the monster under the bed, these vampire creatures come out at night and suck your blood!
Bed Bugs are insects that have developed to live in human created conditions very well. Originally from caves and feeding on the blood of animals and our ancestors these scary buggers now live in our house. They get in through the smallest crevices, attracted to us by our carbon dioxide output, and settle in our beds and furniture. Most active at night they come out, inject us painlessly and fill themselves up with blood.
Bed Bugs Detection?
One of the first signs you may see is bites on your poor defenseless body. As you can see from the images below, bites can vary from very minor to very severe.
The look hard, to me, to distinguish from other bug bites. But it seems that generally they last longer than mosquito bites and can cause more itching. You pretty much have the privilege of getting the nasty bites exclusively at night and they sometimes come in clusters of three, like the first image.
They tend to hide in your bed or furniture nearby, although they can travel 100 feet for feeding! So if you are looking for them it’s suggested you check on the darkest nooks and crannies in your room and house. Pay particular attention to creases in mattresses and furniture, gaps in the bed posts and behind any uplifted wallpaper. They are very small and very shy of the light so can be hard to find.
Some places suggest checking your room with a flashlight an hour or so before dawn, when they are all fed, slow and most importantly awake.
Another good tip for detection involved setting a insect glue trap or using double sided carpet tape around your bed to catch themas they walk past. You should be able to identify if the trapped bug is a bed bug as there are plenty of pictures on the web.
Bed Bug Prevention
Prevention is key…. now if you are reading this from a search engine then you may think that you have them. Don’t worry, the treatment section is up next!
They can get into clothes and suitcases so if you are visiting a hotel, check your bed, headboard and the room carefully for bugs, especially before putting your cases down near the furniture. In your own home you just have to be vigilant. If you suspect any bed beg activity then investigate immediately and treat them before they become an infestation. Also if you hear of a problem in your local area then there are human safe sprays that you can get to stop them settling in your home. These sprays can also be used in your hotel room, luggage and clothes.
I have a coupon discount on one eco-friendly spray available on line at the end of this post.
Finally…. Bed Bug treatment
The use of DDT in North American pretty much eradicated bed bugs but many think it also eradicated many other things too, so it was banned. Since the banning of DDT bed beg treatment has been a more difficult job.
First up is cutting them off and washing all linen and night clothing in hot water to try and kill the eggs and any bugs contained in those areas. You can attempt to cut them off by moving your bed away from the wall, putting sticky carpet tape around the legs or, resting each leg on a plastic tray containing water. In some cases bugs can feed off and survive off other vermin, such as mice or household pets, so be careful about these situations.
You can also find mattress encasing products to stop them getting out. I would not spend the money until I was sure that was where they were.
You can also either rub Neem oil on surfaces and some of your clothes or a natural bed bug pesticide to spray almost everything and try and kill them off before an infestation comes.
These bugs are hard to kill so you may have to persist or go to extreme measures such as call in the Terminators to spray your home and possibly take away furniture for deep freezing.
I hope you found this article informative. It is by no means a complete guide as there is too much to tell about these critters in one article. I have provided a few more information resources at the very end of this post.
If you are looking to purchase bed bug products I suggest looking on ebay for Neem Oil or Bed Bugs to find a whole lot of products.
I also have a special discount code on K4 natural completely eco-friendly bed bug sprays. Simple enter the code Wanda20 during check out to receive a 20% discount of your next purchase.
Further sources:
Wikipedia Bed Bug Article
www.bed-bug.org/
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Brennan Kingsland is a determined woman who wants to improve education for our children. She loves animals and has owned and maintained a volunteer animal shelter for many years. She is a very free spirited, gifted and intelligent writer and publisher.
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