Identifying and eradicating bed bugs

Written by Forest on May 2nd, 2008

Apparently Bed Bugs are back in North America in full force. I knew practically nothing about them so thought I would find out and share the information

What is a bed bug?

Originally from caves and feeding on the blood of animals and our ancestors these insects now live in our houses. They get into our houses through almost any sized gap as they have small flat bodies. They are attracted to our carbon dioxide emissions and hide in the darkest smallest places until late at night. They then come out, suck our blood and go back into hiding for the day.

How to detect Bed Bugs?

Firstly you may see bites. They can very from minor bites to severe outbreaks of bites sometimes in groups of 3.

Aparently they last longer than mosquito bites and often cause more itching.

They are most likely hiding in your bed, maybe deep in the mattress or wooden crevices or even in surrounding furniture. They have been known to travel up to 100 ft for feeding but this isn’t normal.

Some places suggest checking your room with a flashlight an hour or so before dawn, when they are all fed, slow and most importantly awake.

You could try and set an insect glue trap or use double sided carpet tape around your bed to catch them as they scuttle past. You should be able to identify if the trapped bug is a bed bug as there are plenty of pictures on the web.

Prevention of Bed Bugs

They can get into your clothes and luggage so if you are at a hotel, check your bed, headboard, furniture and the room very carefully for signs of bugs. Be careful about setting your cases down, you don’t want them getting inside! Be vigilant at home. If you suspect bed bugs investigate immediately and treat them before they become an infestation. If you hear of a problem in your local area then there are safe sprays that you can get to try and stop them settling in your home. Sprays can also be used in your hotel room, luggage and clothes.

There is a coupon discount for an eco-friendly spray available on line at the end of this post.

Bed Bug treatment

DDT in North American pretty much eradicated bed bugs but since the banning of DDT bed beg treatment has been a more difficult job.

Try and cut them off by washing all linen and night clothing in hot water to kill the eggs and any bugs contained in those areas. You can try to cut them off by moving your bed away from the wall, putting sticky carpet tape around the legs or, resting each leg on a plastic tray containing water. In some cases bugs can feed off other vermin, such as mice or household pets, so be aware about these situations.

You can also encase your mattress in a specially purchased product to stop the bugs getting out. I would not spend the money until I was sure that was where they were.

You can also either rub Neem oil on surfaces and some of your clothes or a natural bed bug pesticide to spray everything and try and kill them off before an infestation.

Bed bugs are hard to kill so you may have to persist or go to extreme measures such as hiring Terminators to spray your home and possibly take away furniture for deep freezing.

This is by no means a complete guide as there is too much to tell about these bugs in one article. I have provided a few more information resources at the very end of this post.

If you are looking to purchase bed bug products I suggest looking on ebay for Neem Oil or Bed Bugs to find a whole lot of products.

I also have a special discount code on K4 natural completely eco-friendly bed bug sprays. Simple enter the code Wanda20 during check out to receive a 20% discount of your next purchase.

Further sources:
Wikipedia Bed Bug Article
www.bed-bug.org/