Bed Bugs Bite

"Was your mother like mine? Did she say..."Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite." Many of us heard that every night as we went to bed. My mother said it so often but I didn’t really believe in bed bugs. I thought they were just a little tease my mother was making up.

When I grew up and had kids of my own, I learned that bedbugs were once the scourge of both rich and poor. Those little bugs didn’t care or discriminate. They made everyone’s life miserable; every night for them was a bite feast. Infesting people's homes and particularly living in people’s beds. For centuries these little creatures have made everybody’s sleep an absolute nightmare.

Eventually, the better off people learned how to get rid of the creatures. Bed bugs 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 bed bugs. Unfortunately, there must have been a few somewhere hiding because history is now repeating itself. Bed bugs are back!

For many years, bed bugs were virtually unheard of and nobody paid them any attention. Though common in pre-World War II society, bed bugs disappeared off the radar for a long time due to improved hygiene practices, better sanitation and the use of DDT in the 1940's and 1950's. While bed bugs may not have been so common in the United States and other industrialized countries, they continued to be a rampant problem in regions like Africa, South America and Asia.

Increasing overseas travel and as immigration increased bed bugs were able to become established once again. Also, concerns over chemical risks from 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, dormartories and even on buses.

Though they are most active at night, bed bugs don't only live in beds. Chairs and sofas can also be happy home for bed bugs. These bugs feed on the blood of animals and humans, and look similar to 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.

So if you think you may be sufferering from a bed bug infestation, you can find a lot more information about these pesky critters online. It's very easy to search for professionals to remove bed bugs from your home. You really must attack the problem as soon as possible, before it gets out of control. Like many things though, prevention is better than the cure.

We have a lot of information on this website about bedbugs and we hope you find it useful. There are links to videos about bedbugs and you can find a picture of bedbug bites from the menu on the right hand side.

Banish Bed Bugs

Bed Bug News:

Diatect To Launch Integrated Marketing Campaign - Businesswire.com
The editorial campaign, launched earlier this year has already generated impressive results, reaching nearly two million consumers across the country. During the last three months, 60 newspapers recommended RESULTS pest control products, in states ...

Technorati Tags: bed bugs, insects