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By Michael Kawula
Bed bugs are a terrible problem that terrorize homeowners, motels, apartment complexes, dorm rooms and all dwellings. These bugs are flat, oval looking, reddish brown, tiny blood sucking insects. Night bugs feed off your skin leaving bumps and can cause terrible allergic reactions. These insects travel throughout the walls of living quarters and are extremely difficult to contain. They can be found in furniture, sheets, pillows, comforters, mattresses and anywhere they can latch onto humans. These annoying insects are easily transported in clothing, suitcases and anything possible.
Detecting these bugs is not very difficult. Their bites cause itching and a burning feeling. Typically you will notice bumps on your skin and red blots. Looking for blood stain marks on sheets or carpeting can show a possible detection of bed bugs. These insects also tend to have a stale odor. Their feces are also easily detected on bedding with dark spots left from their body waste. A great way to detect is to place some strong tape upside down near your bedding and check the tape in the morning to see if any are stuck on it
Bed bugs are nocturnal insects and typically found in areas that people sleep. These insects also prefer a warm area and are found in mattresses, pillows and other sleeping areas. Individuals who travel are more prone to bed bugs as many hotels have infestation problems. Individuals who are also in the service business of going from home to home are more prone to attracting them.
It is strongly recommended that individuals consult an expert as they are hard to contain. Here are some solutions to try to contain or prevent bed bugs:
Steam Cleaners that release high temperature heat can kill bed bugs. Anything 120 degrees or greater will kill a bed bug. Make sure when steaming to steam baseboards as they can nest during the day in walls or tight crevices. Remember to have a steamer that can run an hour or more so you can efficiently do the entire room and surrounding rooms.
UV-C Wands such as the purelight UV Hand Wand are great tools. UV-C light will kill not only bed bugs but also dust mites. UV light wands are great for allergy suffers as they kill many things that cause allergic reactions and also are great for eliminating odors. Another great tool is the raycop vacuum which has UV-C light and is great for vacuuming your sleeping areas.
Microban X-580 disinfectant spray kills roaches, fleas, bed bugs, mold, odors and much more. Microban works very well with a fogger puremist machine or spray bottle. A fogger puremist machine allows you to disinfect a room or even in vehicles to freshen.
Night bugs are a terrible problem that create a very itchy annoying feeling. They need to be treated immediately and with caution. Serious infestation of these insects can be very costly. Remember to react promptly, check often and try one of the three suggested solutions for preventative measures. Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.
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Mike Kawula is an owner of Discount Cleaning Products and 123BuyIt, America’s #1 Online Retailer of Commercial & Residential Tools Cleaning Supplies & Office Supplies!
Reach by email at marketing@123buyit.com or 888-233-0851
Article Source: How to Kill Bed Bugs and Prevent Them – 3 Solutions to Eliminating Bed Bugs
Filed under Avoiding Bed Bugs, Bed Bug Detection, Bed Bug Remedies, Get Rid of Bed Bugs, How to Kill Bed Bugs by on Sep 29th, 2010. Comment. 
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They are disgusting.
There’s no denying it. Those little creepy crawlies that feed solely on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals, and make their homes in the comfort of your bed send a shudder through the spine.
Have you ever wondered what a bed bug actually is, other than something to cringe at?
There are around 108 species of these bugs, but the most common – the Cimex lectularius (found in temperate climates) – is well adapted to human environments, and brave enough to make its home in your mattress.
So what do they look like?
Do you really want to know? Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown, flat, oval, and have no wings. They have microscopic hairs covering their bodies, and a large adult can grow up to 5mm in length and 3mm in width. Babies are translucent and lighter in colour, but become darker as they mature.
The Common Bed Bug. Gross.
By nature, bed bugs are blood suckers. Typically, if one if sucking the blood of a human, it’s because no other prey is available. They usually feed just before dawn since they don’t like sunlight, but have been known to feed during the day. They’re attracted to us because of the carbon dioxide we emit, as well as our body heat.
“That’s sick. But how do they get up onto the bed?”That’s the gross part… they either crawl up, or they drop down from the ceiling or a wall. When they feed, they inject a small amount of anesthetic into the skin with one tube, and extract the blood with another tube for about 5 minutes before retreating back to their hiding places. The anesthetic is what causes the itching sensation when you notice the bite later on.
These bugs can live for 5 months to a whole year depending on the climate. The warmer and more conducive to feeding it is, the shorter their lifespan. A bed bug can survive in temperatures between 16°C and 45°C. Oddly enough, they can live up to a year without feeding.
Now that you have a clear picture of these creatures, the question remains…
Do memory foam mattresses get bed bugs?
Because memory foam mattresses are made from a more solid core and don’t have convenient hiding places, bed bugs aren’t as tempted to set up shop. It’s your headboard, bed base and sheets that you need to worry about, since they like to hide in small, enclosed spaces.
They’re are also found in spring mattresses, since they have many crevices and allow the bugs a lot of roaming space. DDT is a powerful chemical that has kept the critters away for decades, but unfortunately, there is worry that the insects have developed a resistance to the stuff. The best solution for getting rid of bed bugs in your spring mattress is to get rid of the mattress itself.
Bed Bug Infestation
Helenka Prochazka manages NovosBed, the world’s best Memory Foam Mattress company.
Article Source: Do Memory Foam Mattresses Get Bed Bugs?
Filed under Bed Bug Detection, Bed Bugs, Bugs in Bed, How to Kill Bed Bugs by on Sep 28th, 2010. Comment.
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Asthma and Allergies – How to Keep Bed Bugs From Biting
By Art Emiss
I remember as a child watching TV and hearing someone say to a child on the show: “Good night, sleep tight and Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” I asked my mother what it meant one time and she said that sometimes little bugs will bite you if your sheets are dirty. I always remembered that saying to this day. My mother’s explanation was not totally the best answer but was sufficient for a 10 year old.
The one thing that all of us need to understand, bed bugs are a blood-sucking parasite that has been around for thousands of years. It was mainly found in poorer areas of town and rundown hotels. Now that we have travel from all areas of the globe, there is a new resurgence of bed bugs in the United States. Part of this problem is compounded by insecticide resistance by the creatures. It requires new formulations of insecticides to stop the resurgence of the bugs.
Bed bug infestations are becoming even worse in peoples homes, apartments, college dormitories and hotel rooms due to people traveling. There are reported infestations in cities like San Francisco and New York City along with Miami Beach. It is hard to deal with them because they hide during the day in mattress cords, dark places of the box springs or in the backs of headboards or joints of wooden bed frames. You will always find them almost always near where people spend the night.
Individuals with Asthma and Allergies are usually very sensitive to bed bugs. It depends upon the person. I have one client who went to New York and stayed at a hotel. She had to leave the hotel in the middle of the night because of all the bites she said she had. She told me they looked like mosquito bites. Apparently, she is one of the very sensitive people to bed bug bites because her Asthma got real bad that nite and almost went to the Emergency Room.
People with Asthma and Allergies must be very aware of these creatures because of possible extreme reactions to their asthma or allergies, itching of skin like hives, and even anaphylaxis which requires emergency treatment with epinephrine. This can be serious for them and it is important to be very vigilant especially when traveling. When ever I travel, I check the bedding, mattress and box springs before I rent the room for possible signs of the bedbugs. I found some in one room in Orlando last year. Left the hotel and found another never to go back there ever.
In conclusion, people with Asthma and Allergies need to be extra vigilant while traveling to avoid contact with bedbugs. If you are staying in a strange hotel, know where the local Emergency Room is in the event you come in contact with these creatures. Not all individuals with Asthma or Allergies have reactions to common bedbugs. If you are concerned about these night creatures, see you Doctor for additional advice if you have bad reactions to bites.
If you have any questions, feel free to call us or visit our website.
To learn more about your home, visit our website at http://www.safe-homes.com or http://www.air-testing.com
We also offer a free service for all homeowners who visit our website plus a Free Report on Indoor Air Quality.
Mr. Art Emiss is available as a professional speaker to help educate your community or group function to educate your group on Mold, Asthma, Allergies and the Chemically Injured.
Article Source: Asthma and Allergies – How to Keep Bed Bugs From Biting
Filed under Bed Bug Bites by on Sep 26th, 2010. Comment.
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By Owen Jones
There is a whole generation in the developed Western world that is coming in contact with bed bugs for the first time in their lives. The Baby Boomers of the Fifties and Sixties and their offspring have never seen bed bugs in their native countries, because bed bugs were practically exterminated in the West in the 1940′s and 1950′s due to the extensive use of DDT to kill insects in general when the inner city slums were being cleared up after the Second World War. A comparable process went on in the United States.
This slum clearance and the killing of insects bolstered the conviction put about by rich people for decades that bed bugs went hand in glove with squalour and dirt. However, it is not true and in fact the opposite could be the case. Cockroaches and ants will feed off dropped pieces of food, but bed bugs do not. Bed bugs only eat blood. If they see a piece of cheese on the floor, they do not think ‘yum, yum, I wonder if it is Cheddar?’, as a cockroach might, they walk around it and make for the nearest shapely ankle instead.
The recovery in the number of bedbugs in the West since 1995 can almost definitely be attributed to the number of people making long-distance flights to Asia and Africa and increased immigration from those continents. These people are not the poorest and dirtiest in the world. Immigrants tend to be middle class to wealthy and long-distance flights are not made by the poor either.
So, how do you know if you have bed bugs? Well, the answer to that is, it depends on your immune system. You may have them and never know it, if you are not allergic to bedbug saliva. People say that bedbugs come out at night, but in fact, they are most lively about an hour before sunrise.
Therefore, if you want to look for them, this is the time to do it. Set your alarm for an hour before daybreak and switch the light on immediately. They are very fast movers if they have not eaten, otherwise they are quite sluggish and ponderous.
They usually live near the bed. Either in the mattress if it is ripped or behind the skirtings or wall paper. Bedbugs come in various colours, but the ones that only feed off humans, Cimex lectularius, are small (4-5 by 3.5 millimetres), brown, flat, but slightly rounded on top. They often look banded like a well-manicured lawn, because they have short hairs on their back. They are also wingless.
People think that bed bugs bite them in bed and this is true, but not only in bed. If you like to watch TV in your favourite armchair in the dark, they can get you there as well, which means that you are also at risk in the cinema. In fact you are at risk anywhere that people congregate: pubs, restaurants, buses, taxis, cinemas, hotels, motels, airplanes, nightclubs et cetera.
If you have bedbugs you may notice red or brown flecks on your sheets, this is either your blood or their excrement. you may also find bedbug skins lying around. Bedbugs have to shed their skins six times in order to become fully mature. These skins look just like bedbugs but with nothing in them.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with how you get bed bugs. If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further details.
Article Source: How to Know If You Have Bed Bugs
Filed under Bed Bug Bites by on Sep 25th, 2010. Comment.
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By Douiglas Stern
The “pest of the 21st century” is what urban entomologist Michael Potter calls the tiny, blood-sucking pests that are spreading panic across the country. A leading expert on the habits and resurgence of Cimex lectularius, the common bed bug, the University of Kentucky researcher has found that these modern pests are increasingly resistant to pyrethroid insecticides commonly used to control them. Even worse, they are passing this resistance onto their offspring. Already a problem for apartment owners and property managers, a super bed bug is not a welcome thought, particularly with pending state legislation and new municipal regulations getting ready to place the onus for dealing with these problem pests at landlords’ doorsteps.
Bed bugs have been sharing beds with humans for centuries. After World War II, DDT effectively annihilated the pest in America and Western countries, although they continued to flourish in less developed countries. The banning of DDT coupled with the growth of international travel has caused a resurgence of man’s age-old nemesis. Since the 1990s, reported infestations in the U.S. have increased 500%. These insects are now common in all 50 states with infestations regularly reported in apartments, condominiums, hotels, college dormitories, office buildings, hospitals and private homes.
Adept hitchhikers, bed bugs travel into apartments on residents’ clothing, mattresses, furniture and inside packing boxes. Several recent infestations have been traced back to moving vans. Adult bed bugs are reddish brown and about the size of an apple seed, but nymphs and eggs are microscopic. Nuisance pests that feed on human blood, they do not transmit disease; but their bites can cause itchy, red welts, psychosomatic stress and severe allergic reactions. Feeding on sleeping humans at night, they hide in tiny crevices in or near beds between feedings. As an infestation grows, they spread to adjacent units through wall voids, electrical and plumbing conduits and air ducts. Bed bugs can easily be spread through an apartment complex via shared laundry facilities or maintenance workers.
Legally tasked with providing pest control services for tenants, New Jersey apartment owners are being now faced with losing the litigation war on treatment as well. With new pending legislation (New Jersey #A 3203), apartment owners may soon have to bear the responsibility and financial expense of providing housing that is rat, roach and soon to be bed bug-free. While other vermin can be eliminated with proper maintenance and control costs recouped in rent payments, bed bugs are an entirely different problem. Insects of convenience, they are not attracted by food or filth but are brought into apartments by residents. They are as likely to be found in upscale, well-maintained establishments as in tenements.
To date, efforts to combat bed bugs have focused on reactive measures focused on treating the problem after the fact. Cutting-edge technologies at both ends of the temperature spectrum are being used to control insecticide-resistant bugs. New monitoring and trapping products just coming onto the pest control market offer the first opportunity for proactive prevention. A game changer in the fight against bed bugs, monitors are the first 24/7 preventative tool available on the market. Not only could proactive use of bed bug monitors become a powerful tool in protecting property and tenants, but they could turn the tide in the courtroom. In defending against bed bug litigation, regular monitor use could positively influence judges and juries in favor of apartment owners.
Monitors have the potential to alert property managers to the early stages of infestation while they are confined to the bed and bedroom. Early detection can allow property owners to arrange professional extermination of an affected apartment before pests spread. If they are discovered, monitors can determine the effectiveness of treatment and warn of re-infection. Monitoring adjacent apartments can alert property managers to spreading bed bugs, allowing targeted pest control. Early detection and intervention could save apartment owners thousands of dollars in professional pest control costs.
As with any new field, innovative pest control professionals are experimenting with various bed bug monitoring products in the field to determine which are most effective in different situations. U.S. tests and European use indicate that proactive use of monitors has the potential to turn the tide in the bed bug battle. Some of the potentially game-changing products being introduced include:
NightWatch by BioSensory, Inc. uses heat and pheromone lures to attract and trap insects, attracting them with carbon dioxide.
Bug Dome, developed by Silvandersson, an eco-friendly Swedish manufacturer, plugs into any wall outlet, using heat to lure pestsinto replaceable glue traps.
BB Alert Active from MIDMOS, popular in Europe, uses replaceable packets of a blood-mimicking chemical attractant to entice insects into a glue trap.
CDC 3000 by Cimex Science is a discrete, portable, electric monitoring and trapping device the size of a briefcase. Mimicking the presence of a human body, it lures bugs within a six-foot radius, trapping them on sealed slides for counting and documentation, attracting them with carbon dioxide. Safe for use around children and pets, it can be moved from room to room.
Climbup Insect Interceptor by Susan McKnight Inc. is an inexpensive, low-tech device that is placed under bed posts to monitor for a pest presence. Concentric plastic rings coated with slippery talc trap bugs as they climb toward or from a bed.
Bed bug dogs are specially trained to sniff out these difficult to find bugs. Capable of detecting pests within a three-foot radius, dogs quickly target treatment areas or verify treatment success.
Bed bug monitoring can protect apartment owners from law suits, reassure tenants, maintain property values and uphold reputations by enabling owners to certify their properties as pest-free. If they are discovered, monitors can minimize their spread and extermination expense. In the near future, regular use of monitors by purchase, rental or contracted services is expected to become a routine part of apartment maintenance. Bed bug monitors give apartment owners and property managers their first real 24/7 proactive weapon in the growing battle against these awful pests.
Author: Douglas Stern, Managing Partner
Stern Environmental Group http://www.SternEnvironmental.com
Call Toll Free 1-888-887-8376
[mailto:info@sternenvironmental.com]info@sternenvironmental.com
Bed bug extermination experts serving New Jersey, New York, New York City, and Connecticut.
It’s Time To Get STERN With Your Pests!
Article Source: Bed Bug Monitors - The Game Changer in the Fight Against Bed Bugs
Filed under Bed Bug Detection, Bed Bugs, Bugs in Bed by on Sep 24th, 2010. 1 Comment.
