Bed Bugs

"Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite." How many of us baby boomers heard that every night as we went to bed. I know it was a favorite saying of my mother. I didn’t really believe in bedbugs. I thought my mother was making them up.

As I matured, I learned that bedbugs were once the scourge of the very rich and very poor. These evil little bugs didn’t discriminate. They made everyone’s life miserable; every night was a bite fest. They infested homes and particularly liked living in people’s beds. Who wouldn’t? For centuries these little creatures made everyone’s sleep a nightmare.

Finally, upper and middle class people learned how to get rid of the creatures. Bedbugs became the pest of the lower classes who lived in tenements and flop houses. Then DDT and other horrific pesticides eradicated the menace. There were no more bedbugs. Unfortunately, there must have been a few somewhere hiding because history is now repeating itself. Bedbugs are back!

For a long time, bed bugs were virtually unheard of in today's society. Common in pre-World War II society, bed bugs dropped off the radar for a long time due to improved hygiene practices, better sanitation and the use of DDT in the 40's and 50's. While bed bugs may not have been prevalent in the United States and other industrialized countries, they remained a rampant problem in regions like Africa, South America and Asia.

Widespread overseas travel as well as immigration have reintroduced bed bugs to our society. Also, modifications in insect control may play a role in the resurgence of bed bugs. The pesticides commonly used today may be safer for humans, pets and the environment, but they're simply not as effective in controlling bed bug infestation. Bed bugs are turning up in places like apartments, hotels, dorms and even buses.

Most active at night, bed bugs don't just live in beds. Chairs and sofas can also be home to bed bugs. These bugs feed on the blood of animals and humans, and resemble roaches and ticks. Their bodies are flat, oval and about a quarter of an inch in length. Bed bugs like to live close to the place where they feed, which is commonly a mattress, hence their name. A bed bug bite, painless while being administered, may leave a red welt or some swelling similar to a mosquito bite.

So how do you know if you've got bed bugs? You'll want to look for characteristics of these creatures, such as dark spots on mattresses, chairs, or couches. These dark spots are either bed bug excrement or blood. Bed bugs spread quickly from room to room, or apartment to apartment. How clean an area is has no bearing on bed bug infestation. Bed bugs look for warm-blooded creatures to feed on, and whether or not a home, hotel, or other area is clean or dirty makes no difference.

If you've got a bed bug problem, you'll probably need to hire a professional pest control expert to take care of the problem. They'll first need to inspect the area where bed bugs are suspected. All items that have bed bugs will have to be removed from the home and disinfected using methods including but not limited to pesticide administration.

If you think you may have bed bugs, you can find more information about these pesky critters online. The Internet is also a great place to search for professionals to remove bed bugs. It's important to attack the problem as soon as possible, before it gets out of control.

Copyright 2006 Jim Sterling - All Rights Reserved

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