How do I know if I have Bed Bugs?

Is there a way to tell for sure if I am being bitten by bed bugs? There are a few options to help you determine and answer this question. New traps on the market like the NightWatch and the CDC 3000 are good bets for a determination, although very expensive, but I wonder if people will balk at the price when being tortured by phantom bites. Then there is the option of hiring a bed bug dog. This is the probably the most effective way to get a negative or positive for the presence of bed bugs. I think that over the next few years we will be seeing alot of new traps and monitors come onto the market, but for now, our choices are limited.

My neighbor has bedbugs...Now what?

If you live in a row home or an apartment and your neighbor has bedbugs then you might as well start preparing to get them yourself. One thing you can do to put the odds in your favor is to hire a pest control company to come out and drill holes in between each stud and inject a good pesticide dust into the wall voids. This should be done upstairs and downstairs. If you have wall to wall carpets then it would be a good idea to also pull the carpets away from the wall and and dust between the tack strip and the wall itself. I would recommend putting a mattress and box spring cover on the mattress and box spring just in case, this will save your bed in the event of an infestation. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors it is a good idea to unite and work together to solve the problem, if not, expect a long battle that you may lose.

Catch a movie, and a bed bug.

Gloom and doom? I think not. Bedbugs like entertainment as much as the next bug, and the fact that you can catch a bedbug at a movie theater is not that far fetched. I am sure that the theaters have pest control measures in place to react to any infestation, but the nature of the bed bug and the fact that they are hard to detect and kill makes them the perfect dark theater predator. Enjoy.

Bedbugs in my Sofa and furniture?

One question I get is can bed bugs live or bite on or in a sofa or other furniture? The short answer is yes they can. Bedbugs will hide and nest in anything. Was that clear enough. Anything. You could be sitting on a couch and bed bugs can be in the crevices of the couch and when your legs press against the bugs they will suck your blood. Same can happen in a movie theater seat and on a bus or air plane seat. It is important to know this because some people think that because bed bugs have the word bed in it , they simply are found on or around the bed. Not true.

Travel and Bed Bugs

Getting ready for a bed bug free vacation? Planning a trip and you don't want to bring bed bugs home with you? Can you really pick up bed bugs while you travel? You should answer yes to all these questions, and in order to have a bed bug free vacation you should be as careful and diligent as possible when traveling. If you are planning on having your luggage stored in a separate compartment like a bus or airplane luggage area, you will want to protect the bags with some kind of barrier. There are some products like Rest Easy Bed Bug Luggage Spray from JT Eatons, or another product called the bug zip that allows you to basically wrap the luggage in a plastic cover to keep bed bugs out. Upon getting to the hotel, be sure to check the head boards and mattress. Look for blood stains, spots, and live bugs. If you are going to unpack for a long stay, consider keeping clothing and shoes in zip lock bags. Crazy? Maybe. Smart. Definitely.

Bedbug Control-Ahead of the eight ball

One of the most important things in the control and ultimate elimination of a bed bug infestation is early detection. Once a bed bug infestation takes hold and establishes itself, the chance of even control becomes almost impossible, but catch the problem early enough, then you have a chance. How do you do this? How do you know? Well if you think you are getting bitten or suspect an infestation, then you should try to contact a pest control company that has a bed bug sniffing dog who will be able to identify the area the bugs are located. At his point you should try to set up treatment as soon as possible. Without the use of a dog or one of the new bed bug detection devices like the Nightwatch, it is almost impossible to find them until the are a problem, unless you are lucky enough to find them out in the open. So be sure to be diligent and remember that early detection is the key.

Bedbugs Bite

Well not really...bedbugs suck. The phenomenon of bedbugs, I fear, will become on of the worst problems of our time by the very virtue of the fact that there is no silver bullet to kill them completely. The problem is , you can do the most thorough treatment, killing off all but one bedbug, and the problem will resurface again. Another problem is the fact that the chemicals are not working on them to kill them. If you spray them directly, you can kill them, but any residual chemical left behind is useless. So how do you protect yourself? You need to research and learn everything you can about the bed bug. You need to raise awareness of this insect. You need to do regular inspections to catch the problem early. That is one thing the experts agree with, if you catch the problem early enough, the possibility of elimination is greater. So crack open those books and hop on the Internet and go back to school. Bedbugs are here to stay.