Housing Alert: Bed Bugs are Back
I’m sure we’ve all heard our parents warn, “and, don’t let the bed bugs bite”, as we toddled off to bed…but most of us have never considered that bed bugs were real pests, because most of us have never seen a bed bug.
As creepy as it is, Bed Bugs are real and they are back with a vengence. The use of DDT eradicated bed bugs more than 50 years ago, which explains why most of us have never seen one. Today, exterminators use roach traps, instead of insecticide sprays, which do not wipe out the bed bugs along with the roaches. So, the tiny bed bug is making a resurgence in a big way.
How Can You Find Bed Bugs before You’re Eaten?
They hate light and only come out in the dark. They travel quickly to hide in pipes, floorboards, carpet, mattresses, bedframes, furniture, baseboards, inner walls, or any clothing or bedroom clutter. They are most active right before dawn and feed heavily an hour before sunrise.
Look for them specifically in the mattress seams, carpet edges, pillow cases, behind headboards and bed rails. Watch for bloodstains, droppings, eggs. They tend to congregate together, so look carefully at any tiny fold or seam.
They are usually brownish, but the young can be transparent. They are about a 1.4 inch long. About the same size as an apple seed or lentel.
Can They Infest Your Home or One You Are Buying?
Yes. Bed Bugs can be picked up at hotels, be carried in luggage, brought in on infested furniture or used clothing, or even carried in on your person. They also travel from room to room in multifamily buildings, such as condo’s and dorm’s and apartments. They can even ride in on the back of your family pet.
How Can You Get Rid of Bed Bugs?
Getting rid of bed bugs can be tough. They can travel up to 100 feet to feed. They can survive up to 1 year between blood feasts and they can hide in places you can’t see. Bed Bug infestation is so bad, it is regarded as “House Herpes” by those unfortunate enough to be infested with them.
- A Fabric Steam Cleaner will kill eggs and bugs. Since steam can penetrate mattresses and furniture, the heat will kill them in a couple of seconds. Repeat steaming once a week until no sign of them remains.
- Spray Rubbing Alcohol on them. It kills them instantly.
- Bed bugs can’t cross Vasoline or petroleum jelly. Crossing Glass and metal is also difficult. One old prevention was to place bed legs in tin cans coated with petroleum jelly. They can’t climb up onto the bed.
- Sticky tape around bed legs also works.
- Call a professional exterminator for bombing and spraying.
After bugs have been successfully treated, enclose your mattresses, etc in “bed bug proof cases” until you are certain they are gone for good.
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10 Responses to “Housing Alert: Bed Bugs are Back”
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Bed Bugs are a big nuisance to deal with. The most effective way to deal with them is to maintain proper hygiene. They find it very difficult to survive in clean environments. Pest Control is another good option.
great blog from beginning to end.
Thanks Mary. But it’s not that easy. While I shower and maintain proper hygiene on a daily basis, clean my room, sheets, etc… they are little devils I’ve found and it’s not always that easy to get rid of them.
Great Blog!!
Exterminating bed bugs requires an integrated approach.
Proper inspection to make sure that you’re treating for the proper insect, correct and professonal application of appropriate pesticide(s) to ensure that the bed bug infestation is erradicated safely and finally, the homeowner must properly treat their laundry articles.
For people suffering from a bed bug infestation in Toronto there is a company that offers full service bed bug extermination that incorporates all of these elements.
http://www.royalpest.ca
A couple side notes about these pest. As far as personal hygiene, the bugs don’t care. As long as they can get to you it doesn’t matter if you are shower on a daily or weekly occurrence. They don’t live physically on you in most cases, however I have seen people that had swarms on them. I work in a high rise apartment building and we currently have a 33% infestation rate. The main problem with these critters is that the residents think that all they have to do is have the exterminators treat their unit. This is farthest from the truth. The exterminators can only do so much, the residents need to do their part, ie. vacuuming all the furniture with a crevice tool, making sure the exterminators can get to the walls to spray the baseboards, and washing their clothing on a weekly basis and placing them in plastic bags afterwards. The chemicals that the exterminators use will only kill the hatched bugs. It has no effect on the eggs.
Now the rubbing alcohol can be misleading. To affect these blood-sucking bugs it must be no lower the 70%, but even at that strength you would have to almost drown them with it. I recommend that you use 90% Alcohol on them and maybe a 90 proof for yourself to deal with them.
If you find yourself exposed to these critters the best thing to do so that you don’t bring them into your home is to strip right at the door, put the clothing directly into a plastic bag and go straight to the washing machine. Wash on the warmest water temp with or without detergent followed by a drying cycle on HOT. The heat is the only way to kill both the hatched bugs and the eggs.
If you find that your dwelling is infested the only true way of guaranteeing that you kill them all is having the home heat treated. This can be very expensive. I’ve received quotes ranging anywhere between $700 and $1300 per unit on one bedroom apartments. The idea is to heat the entire unit/house to 130F or 55C for at least an hour. This will kill the adults instantly and hatch the eggs thus killing the hatchlings.
i think i have bed bugs but idk i wake up with little dots on my back legs or back and they itch like crazy sodo i or not have them??
I agree with John… well, everything except for saving some 90 proof for yourself – that could make you go blind… lol.
$700 to $1300 for bed bug extermination on a one bedroom seems quite steep… In Toronto, a bed bug extermination for a one bedroom goes for around $500 and includes a second follow up spray in the price.
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I had encountered bedbugs just recently, I went to my cousins house overnight, then came home and slept one night, when I woke up to use the bathroom in the morning I looked down at my thigh, and to my surprise, had found 7 mosquito like bites going up my thigh in a row, I was confused because I have never experienced them before this, so I thought that maybe a mosquito got in through the balcony door we had open. That same night at around 10pm, I went to check on my 6 month old ( in my bed),
and I had lay down beside him watching him sleep, then had seen something move out the corner of my eye, It was dark in the room, the only light was the bathroom light coming through the bedroom door. I went to see what was moving and thought it was a ladybug, then I turned on the light, and my life got twisted upside down, I freaked at how ugly the thing was in my bed, and could not believe it was on the bed with my baby! I grabed toilette paper and squished it, then it splat
blood all on it, like it burst! then I relized what had been biting me, I peeked in and it was all flat and like a light brown transparent color, and it moved! So I quickly flushed it down the toilette. I took the baby into the living room where I googled for that insect. I found a pic, and sure enough it was bed bugs. So the baby slept in the living room with me, and I did not sleep at all, I stayed up and bagged everything, and was doing rounds with a flashlight looking for them! but I found nothing. The next day I went to my moms crying, with the baby , we washed everything that was in bags that I could carry. I called the super from my moms saying I found a bed bug Im not coming back until my apartment is sprayed he got the exterminator in the next day at lunch time, he said they checked everything and even sprayed as well, but they found nothing. They said I could come home in four hours, but I stayed a way for 3 days. Then when I came back I vacumed everything! the walls you name it I vacumed it! Desposed of the vacume contents as well, I checked for spray spots to make sure they sprayed, and they did. Then I washed everything and kept them in plastic bags, until I had enough energy to hang them up on hangers. I got rid of clutter, threw out my box spring and bought a brand new one from the store. I can’t sleep I’am afraid they are still there, or are going to come back, I don’t want people over, I shut everyone out, I’m alone and isolated I can never sleep, I sit up with a flash light constantly checking, Iam afraid some one in my building has them? but the super said no one has mentioned anything about bed bugs, I am so messed up, that I think they are biting me so bad that my skin actually itches to the point of me breaking the skin and making it look like bites, I though I had lice, and my mom checked and said there was nothing, I keep going to my doctor showing him, and he says its not bites, you are scratching your dry skin too much, its all in your head! Iam going crazy!! I have not slept in over a week! I fall asleep sitting up, and freak out! then I wake grabbing a flash light and going over everything, I see a fuzzy and I have a panic attack! I have checked my bed way too many times! even vacumed it to be safe! if they were in my building would they be back by now? Its been about 3 weeks now?
Lana, you poor thing. That is horrible and your story made my skin crawl…I can’t imagine living with them. I’m hoping that since you haven’t seen them in 3 weeks…they’re all dead. If you run into more problems, please pass on anything that you think will help people discovering the same problem. I spoke with a women the other day who brought them into her house in her luggage… Disgusting!