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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!
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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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By Paige Mercer
We used to think of bed bugs as a thing of the past, or something you encountered in unsavory areas. However, bed bugs are becoming more and more common once again. In the homes of people who live in the city, suburbs, and the country. It is not pleasant for parents or children. Waking up in the morning with bug bites and enduring the itch all day is so much of a hassle, and hard to explain to children. This is why getting rid of bed bugs is important.
But where do these bugs come from? Being the minute insects that they are, bedbugs travel from one area to another, notoriously sticking themselves from one bag or shoe to another. And being so small, one will not, at first glance, notice their presence until they make that bite on your skin.
Getting rid of these pests can be troublesome because of their size. Once they have proliferated, it is much more difficult to kill them all. The female bed bug can hatch as much as 300 eggs every ten days, making them an enormous infestation problem in just a month. They can hide on the smallest cracks or openings, so you really have to track them down. More so, they can survive for a number of days without feeding.
We should not wait till we get bitten before we plan on getting rid of bed bugs. Rusty spots on our mattresses are indication of their infestation. These spots are caused by their fecal matter. When this is observed, check out the crevices of the mattress or foam and the cracks on the bed board. Bed bugs prefer to stay on wood or fabric, and usually in the area where people mostly stay – like the bedroom. Changing the linens and cleaning the mattress are not enough to remove these bugs. Getting rid of bed bugs is best left to professional intervention.
There are pest control companies that you can hire to professionally exterminate them. However, if you’re planning to do it yourself, do this by overturning the furniture, exposing all bedroom items to direct sunlight, and using pesticide fit for killing them. You have to wash all fabric material in your bedroom with strong laundry soap and hang them to dry under the sun. Loose papers must be thrown out or burned. Unused linens should be kept in an airtight package to avoid infestation.
Getting rid of bed bugs takes a lot of patience and hard work. There surely are a lot of extensive processes to take before you get rid of them all. But being able to sleep soundly on the bed, without worrying about bites in the morning is enough drive to make it your daily endeavor to clean your house and make sure it is bed bug-free.
Paige has a busy life like all of us, but she takes the time for fitness and gardening. She looks forward to crawling into the softness of her bamboo sheets to recuperate each night. She enjoys nature, reading and the comfort of her down feather bed after a long day.
Article Source: Tips For Getting Rid of Bed Bugs
Filed under Bed Bug Detection, Bed Bug Remedies, Get Rid of Bed Bugs, How to Kill Bed Bugs by on Sep 9th, 2010. Comment.
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By Robert Yates
Bed bugs are parasitic, blood-sucking insects that feed on living hosts and can be found in temperate climates throughout the world. The common bed bug feeds on human blood and is well adapted to our environment.
Other species are known to feed on poultry, bats and sometimes humans as well. Unlike cockroaches, they do not feed on waste, so the presence of bedbugs does not indicate an unclean home, as was believed in the past.
Often described as being similar in size and shape to a lentil, the insects have very flat oval bodies and six legs. Reddish-brown in colour, bed bugs can grow up to 5mm long and shed their skin throughout their lives as they increase in size. Finding the sloughed-off skin is one of the ways of identifying an infestation, although there are other methods.
Bed bugs are usually thought to be nocturnal, but this is a slight misconception. They feed at night, as this is when their hosts tend to be sleeping and blood – their only food source – is readily available. However, they can be seen moving around during the day, particularly when there is a large number of them in a home. They can easily be spotted by the naked eye.
The parasites tend to be most active around dawn. They find their food sources by crawling over them, by climbing walls or by dropping from ceilings. To feed, they inject hosts with an anticoagulant to stop the blood clotting, and an anaesthetic to prevent the host from noticing the bite. They then suck the host’s blood for up to five minutes before returning to their hiding place.
Reactions to bed bug bites vary. Some people will notice intense itching or raised red marks on the skin that are similar to mosquito bites. They may be grouped together as a result of the insect moving slightly while feeding. In some rare cases, there may be an allergic reaction to the bites, but large numbers of people show no reaction at all, making it hard to spot infestations.
Infestations can begin for a number of reasons. The most common is for them to be picked up in hotels, hostels or motels while travelling, and for the parasites to return home with their hosts and begin new colonies.
They can also be brought into a residence inside contaminated furniture such as beds or sofas, and have been known to migrate between apartments. Pets and birds can also bring them indoors.
Light infestations can be hard to spot if the victims have no reactions to bites. Bloodstains on sheets could indicate the presence of bed bugs, as can finding discarded skin cases. Another way is to notice the insects’ faeces. They look like tiny black dots made by a permanent marker and might be found in the joints of furniture, fabrics, mattresses, or anywhere the bed bugs are nesting.
Bed bugs can nest anywhere. You might find them in bed frames, on furniture, or in clothes that are not worn regularly. In severe infestations, they could also be found in lofts, crevices, behind pictures, and in boxes under the bed. Their size and feeding habits mean they can hide easily and will not usually be active during daylight hours, making them very hard to discover.
Getting rid of bed bugs takes time, and requires the extermination of the living insects as well as their eggs. This can be done with steam, using rubbing alcohol on wooden furniture, or with chemicals.
People often prefer to call a professional to assess an infestation and treat it appropriately. This is likely to be more successful than attempting to deal with the problem alone, particularly with severe infestations.
Bed bugs were all but wiped out in the 1940s, but their numbers are on the rise again. Increased international travel is believed to be the main reason, so it pays to be vigilant when you’re on the road. Look for signs of bed bugs in your room, keep suitcases shut and hang clothes up. That way you’ll have a good chance of not bringing any unwelcome hitchhikers home with you.
It is important that people learn how to deal with [http://www.rentokil.ie/residential-customers/crawling-insects/bedbugs/index.html]bed bugs. That is because these tiny blood suckers can be a real pest.
Article Source: Controlling Beg Bugs
Filed under Bed Bug Detection, Bed Bug Remedies, How to Kill Bed Bugs by on Sep 8th, 2010. Comment.
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By Mark Etinger
Back in 2006, a resident of Chicago sued a Catskills hotel $20 million because of the bed bug bites she received during her three day stay. While the 500 or so itchy, burning bites the women endured clearly represented an extreme example of exposure, the event did a lot to put a nation on alert against these tiny, blood-sucking insects.
Bed bugs, the tiny, flat parasites from the Cimicidae family of insects are often reddish-brown, a side-effect of their diet. They feed exclusively on the blood of homeothermic (i.e. warm-blooded) animals, including humans.
Female bed bugs lay their eggs in hidden places, producing as many as 500 in their lifetimes. The largest only get to about a fourth of an inch long, but it takes them less than a month to fully develop.
In the early 1940s, bed bugs were mostly eradicated in the developed world. However, the mid-90s brought a resurgence of the parasite, a rebirth accredited to increased travel to impoverished nations, as well as more and more people taking pre-owned beds, mattresses, and sectional sofas from the street.
The insects also travel relatively fast and easily through pipes and boards. Their preferred nesting place is the fabric of furniture, such as beds, couches, sofa sleepers, chaise lounges, and futons. Additionally, the bugs have been known to nest in clutter found around a sleeping area. Their preferred habitat seems to center more on remaining close to their meal supply.
It can be hard to detect bed bugs, due to their nocturnal nature and small stature. Often, detection is caused due to the things the insects leave behind, such as fecal spots, blood smears, etc.
Additionally, patterns of bug bites in a row or in a cluster usually signal an infestation. However, just because you found some itchy bumps on your skin doesn’t automatically mean you have bed bugs. A bed bug bite is often a raised red freckle-like bump, typically extraordinarily itchy, making it almost indistinguishable to a mosquito bite. However, a bed bug bite will last a much longer period of time.
While not the most dangerous parasite to be in bed with, bed bugs do present considerable discomfort, and in some rare situations, cause nausea and sickness through allergic reactions. However, some people may not even show signs of being bitten, just another reason why the bugs can be so hard to detect.
One of the major fears when dealing with blood-sucking parasites is the fear of disease being passed to the host. Considering as many as 30 different kinds of infectious agents can live inside each insect, it would seem a realistic assumption that this parasite is no different. Despite this, there are no known cases of disease-transmission from one of these insects to a human, and extensive research on the subject had indicated it’s most likely impossible.
So the question, as it is with any infectious parasite, is how to get rid of it? DDT was the most commonly used pesticide against bed bugs in the ’40s and ’50s, but it was banned in 1972 for the harm it caused to people. Most modern versions of the bugs have developed a strong resistance to normal pesticides. High concentrations of carbon dioxide will do the trick, though this involves completely controlling the atmosphere of a living space.
A cheaper, easier solution is to wrap a mattress or sectional sofa suspected of being infected in plastic sheeting. As long as the plastic is impermeable and bite-proof, the infected furniture will eventually become free of the insects.
Additionally, there are a series of traps using heat, carbon dioxide, and even duct tape that can be used to eliminate as well as prevent a bed bug infestation.
SofaForU.com manufactures and sells a variety of traditional and convertible sofas and chaise lounges, providing great selection, super low prices, and inexpensive delivery.
Article Source: Protecting Fabric and Leather Sofas From Bed Bugs
Filed under Bed Bug Detection, Bed Bug Remedies, Get Rid of Bed Bugs by on Sep 6th, 2010. Comment.
Bed Bugs Sprays – How Effective Are They?
By Stephanie Crawford
These tiny creatures are very good in hiding. This is the reason why you wanted to be sure if bed bugs sprays will totally eradicate the bed bugs. If you are to use the spray, you must buy the best and must make your plan of eradicating them a success.
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The truth of the matter is you only do not need one treatment to completely eliminate these tiny creatures. You actually have two choices for the best quality pesticides. Since they are of good quality, both command a price prompting some to hire a pest exterminator. Hiring an expert for them is better as they are experts in this field and the insecticide they are using will surely eliminate the bed bugs.
If you do further research on bed bugs spray, you will discover that they can cause you harm. In fact more harm than the bites that these small creatures give you.
Now let me ask you something, have you ever heard of a biological insecticide for those tiny pests? If you have not heard of it, let me tell you that there is one and is truly your best option over the others. Using it is without fuss and a whole lot safer. It is guaranteed not to leave any poisonous smell in the house and has no ill-effects to you as well as your family. Aside from that, it also costs less.
The secret in the use of the insecticide is that the spraying must be done correctly to be assured that they got killed by the bed bugs spray. Their hiding places must be sprayed like cracks and furrows and any other areas that you can think of as their hideout. Do not just focus on your mattress thinking that this is where most of them hide. Spray on the bed frame including the legs of the bed, the headboard and every breaks or cracks be it big or small. Small openings are good places for bed bugs to hide so do not ignore these areas.
To fully achieve the finest outcome with spraying, you need to vacuum the mattress first. From there you will know how bad the invasion is. The spraying can be done for a good few days to reassure you of their being eliminated or even a lot more if the invasion is so severe.
Bed bugs spray come in various brands and all of them offer assistance to you in wiping out these little creatures. But you have to acknowledge that it is not only in the name (and this goes to any product), but what is important are the components. A pure understanding of all the components listed on these sprays will keep you on the right track in your selection. Just a tip: purchase one that is not only an insecticide but also a disinfectant, bactericide, deodorant, sanitizer, germicide, fungicide and a mildewcide as well.
Bed bugs spray must not be diluted so be careful in obtaining one that requires you to dilute it. You can really say that this is a good buy if it does not only work for bed bugs but also for other insects like dust mites, cockroaches and even ticks.
Again let me remind you to choose something that will not pose danger to you and your family. Buy something that will not leave any residue on your mattress, pillows, cushions and other areas. And before I forget, there is a powder which you can also lay around the house to ward off their coming back.
Bed bugs spray: bed bugs sprays & get rid of bedbugs
Article Source: Bed Bugs Sprays – How Effective Are They?
Filed under Bed Bug Remedies by on Sep 2nd, 2010. Comment.
