Little they may be but their bite can bring great uneasiness. Severe itching caused by bedbugs causes sleeping discomforts. They feast on warm blooded animals and quench their hunger by feeding on human blood. While the victim sleeps soundly at night, these blood suckers conceal themselves under mattresses, pillows, blankets and nearby furniture. As the night grows deeper they secretly crawl and bite during the hours of 1 to 5 in the morning.

While feeding bedbugs inject their saliva into the host and this in turn causes itching, inflammation of the bitten skin and sleeping discomfort. There are also few cases showing anaphylactic reaction wherein the irritation can lead to asthmatic reaction or skin allergies. Aside from health related problems people exposed to extreme infestation can suffer from several psychological problems. There are those who suffer from paranoia in the most extreme cases. If you can’t get rid of these pests yourself kill bedbugs by hiring professional bedbug exterminators.

The need to hire the right person or company will still you clear of worrying and arm yourself with the most advance treatments. Here is a quick checklist how you can select a bed bug exterminator.

1. Look for bed bug exterminators nearest to your neighborhood. You can do this by searching in local newspapers, telephone directories, online searches or through personal recommendations. Checking of listings will save you from the hassles of waiting long.

2. After finding certain companies to do the job limit your preference by getting bids from companies of your choice. This will help you save and set your expectation for the whole treatment costs. There is no need to always go with the cheapest company. Rather a wise decision would be to compare the market average price per area in order to evaluate the services that the exterminator company will offer alongside your payment.

3. Ask the bed bug exterminator for license and check if they carry professional indemnity as well as public liability insurance. This is to cover any residential damage and to cover any injury that technicians may suffer in case of accidents. Check your local regulatory agency to verify the license or browse the internet by typing “pest control license” on the search engine.

4. Get the details of the treatment and familiarize the process prior to allowing the professional or company to operate. This ensures that the whole termination process follows safe procedures and the pesticides used will not bring you and your family any harm.

5. Ask about the guarantee to make sure that the company stands behind its work. Usually, companies with proven guarantees are those affiliated with pest control association. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is using a free online service called – Networx to Compare Multiple Extermination Companies

This article is dedicated to protecting your bed and stopping bed bug bites. I myself went through the horrifying experience of bed bugs feasting on my flesh all night. It was the worst situation I have ever dealt with. I have decided to share the best way to stop bed bug bites quickly.

4 Easy Steps to Stop Bed Bug Bites

(1) Move your bed at least 6-12 inches from the wall. Bed bugs can’t fly and they can’t jump. One way bed bugs reach your bed is being transferred by clothes or objects. Another way is they climb up the wall and fall onto your bed. They also climb up the legs of your bed and eventually end up on your bed.

(2) Next remove your sheets, wash them with hot water. Now you want to steam clean your mattress and box spring. Heat kills bed bugs really well. You should invest in some type of bed bug steam cleaner to complete this task.

(3) Now the mattress is clean and your bed is away from the wall we want to protect your mattress from new bed bugs. We start by applying climbup interceptors to all 4 legs on your bed. This will stop new bed bugs from accessing your bed.

(4) Now the final step. We want to make sure all bed bugs that survived the steam cleaning are not going to get us. You want to invest in bed bug mattress covers, box spring covers, and pillow covers. These covers trap and kill bed bugs that are hidden. It will not allow any bed bugs to escape.

Make sure you do all of these steps in one day to get the best results. Also be aware of what you set on your bed, you don’t want to transfer new bed bugs onto your sheets. It is okay if you do just make sure you wash and change your sheets daily. The mattress and bed bug box spring covers will not allow any new bed bugs to penetrate.

I hope this helps you get some much needed sleep. Please leave a comment and share your feedback with me!

Don’t Let this Happen to You

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Your first indication will probably be bites; bed bug bites usually come in groups of threes. People react differently to the bites. Some people have the bites swell up badly and others hardly get any kind of reaction.

Bed Bugs don’t like hair so the bites will be in places on your body where there is less hair.

Bed really are nocturnal and you will likely only see them between 2 AM and 4 AM, but if the infestation is large you may see them at other times.

Bed bugs themselves are wingless insects with reddish brown tint, larvae and younger bed bugs are usually translucent becoming white or gold till they feed. (After all bed bugs feed they will have a more reddish appearance).Adults are small in size 4-5 mm in length and 1.5 mm in width and are oval and flat.

However, they are expert at hiding. You are much more likely to see blood smears on the sheets, their fecal matter(looks like a pepper spray) or the bed bug casings and skin that they have shedded. They shed their skin 5 times before reaching full size. Bed bug eggs are pretty much invisible to the human eye but very sticky and help explain why bed bugs spread so efficiently.

The fecal matter spray, shedded skin and blood smears are the signs you must focus on. Peel back the sheets on your bed and look in the crevices of your mattress at the head of bed, specifically the crevice between the box spring and the mattress. This is a primary hiding place as bed bugs like to be close to their food source.

Also check around the head board, it cannot be repeated enough how adept they are a hiding in notches of the head board and bed frame. You almost have to conclude that to find them you will need to disassemble the head board and frame as they almost intrinsically know what needs to be unscrewed to see them.

Bed Bugs can hide almost anywhere under baseboards and carpets, behind the plastic of electrical outlets and picture frames, underneath loose wall paper, inside clocks, phones, televisions.

Also don’t assume you have only one colony.

It is highly recommended that you get bed bug certified mattress and box spring covers which prevent the bed bugs from getting out or in of your mattress and box spring, thus saving your bed and protecting you.

The best way to find them is with a highly trained bed bug dog. A properly trained dog and their superb sense of smell can detect bed bug eggs which the human eye can barely see and bed bugs.

Defining the scope and location of the bed bug infestation quickly will save you time, money and mental trauma. Bed bug trained detection dogs do this better than anything else.

Another great way to expose bed bugs is the Bed Bug Beacon Active CO2 Monitor And Trap. The beacon is popular for individuals and pest control operators wanting to know if bed bugs are present.

We also highly recommend bed bug interceptors. These are the first line of defense from bed bugs getting to your bed. This can be a great way to stop bed bug bites, or just a way to detect the bed bugs.

Get quotes from local beg bug exterminators – 100% safe and confidential.

Search for their waste

Bed Bug blood smears on bed sheet

Search yourself for bites

Bed Bug Bites Rash

Search for their lairs

If there are bugs, then they must be hiding somewhere. Their hiding places include crevices in the mattress, holes, the folds in the linens, nearby carpets and furniture, curtains and many more. Seeing a live one may be unlikely but seeing a dead one is a first sign that bed bugs are really present in the area.

Catch them red handed

If you still want solid proof that there are bed bugs around, then you may want to stay up late and see them for yourself. Bed bugs are nocturnal creatures, so have a flashlight with you in your sleep. Turn the lights off and wake up at around dawn. With the flashlight, watch the bedbugs slowly creep through your sheets. This, however, does not guarantee a 100% sighting especially if you only have a few.

Climb Up Detectors

If you really want solid evidence that there are bed bugs around then you may want to try the climb up interceptors/detectors.   Deceptively simple these devices with their two capture areas can protect you but in some ways more importantly will give you samples to confirm that you have bed bugs.   And secondly determine if the bed bugs are coming from areas away from or off the bed or on the bed and attempting to leave the bed.  One capture area is for bed bugs coming from a nest off the bed and the other  capture receptacle from bed bugs on the bed.  This will  givie valuable information to find their lair and if they are off the bed protect you at night as  you weight the decision to opt for pest extermination. These climb up interceptors are a good investment.

Bed Bug Dogs

Dogs ability to smell is 10,000 times superior to humans.  Specially trained dogs that have completed a 6 month course are the best  way to determine if you have bed bugs and where they are hiding.  These dogs can also smell and detect bed bug eggs.  They are in the high 90% of accuracy.  Many pest control companies have them available and although they are expensive; the peace of mind if they do not find them is often worth it and conversely the pest control companies will frequently apply at least a portion of the dog inspection charge against the cost of treatment.   I have seen pest control dog handlers come in first and do a visual inspection themselves and not charge you for the dog inspection in cases where the bed bug infestation is obvious.  Find local pest control companies with bed bug dogs.

Killing bed bugs yourself can be a daunting task. They can hide under base boards, the back of dresser drawers, behind light switches… just about anywhere. The adult bed bug is about the size of an apple seed and flat, until they feed that is. While bed bugs are not a heath danger (do not carry or transmit diseases), they are enough to keep you awake at night just thinking about them. A single bed bug bite can easily be mistaken for a mosquito bite and written off as such giving them time to multiply. Once you find one you can be assured that there are hundreds if not thousands more.

In the long run, a full blown infestation might require a professional exterminator. After all, how many is to many? Before you decide to take action, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Bed bugs can live a year without feeding on a hosts blood (usually you). An adult female can lay 200 – 500 eggs in her lifetime. It generally takes an egg 50 days to mature. So whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer or hire a pro, it will take several treatments and constant observation. With that said… If the problem has not gotten to far out of control there are several ways to win the fight against bedbugs. The first 3 listed here are required no matter what you do next…

1* Wash everything in site in the hottest water you can find. Begbugs start dying off at around 114 degrees F. Then use a dryer on its hottest setting. Not out on the line to air dry. Temperature is key. In hot, dry climates (Phoenix for example) it is just as effective to out your bedding and cloths in a black garbage bag and set it out in the sun for an afternoon.

2* Vacuum. Vacuum every corner, crook and cranny. Vacuum the drapes, the box springs, the furniture, etc. Vacuum like your life depended on it. Bed bugs are not dirty critters. They don’t care about crumbs or old food like cockroaches. But they need vacuumed up and then take the whole vacuum cleaner outside to change bags… Vacuum again.

3* Steam Clean. Now that you have their attention, combine #1 and #2. Put hot, HOT water in the steam cleaner and go over the room again.

4* Just as effective as heat is, cold works also. Problem is that it needs to stay below freezing for 2 weeks to work.

5* Biological warfare. Prior to WWII beg bugs were all but eliminated. Around that time the government outlawed DDTs. Sense then there numbers have been rising and forced tamer chemicals and traps. There are numerous chemicals on the market but nearly all of them are not intended to touch the skin. These are best meant for non-traffic areas, box springs, drapes, etc.

6* Mattress Bags. Depending on the level of bedbug infestation, your best bet may be to discard the mattress all together. For milder cases, the chemicals from #5 can be sprinkled on and injected into the mattress before you seal it in a waterproof mattress bag. They start at about $60 and go up depending on the size needed.

7* Diatomaceous Earth. This is the alternative to harsh chemicals. It is an all natural powder ground up from little tiny fossils of single-celled algae. They even put it in dog food as a preservative. On a microscopic level it has jagged edges that cut and kill the bedbugs as they crawl across it. Basically it is just dirt.

8* Traps and Tape. This is more for monitoring but flypaper, roach traps and the like will allow you to keep tabs on how effective your efforts have been so far. And then from any shipping supply store you can pickup double sided sticky tape to wrap around the sides of the mattress. Yet another way to trap and monitor bed bug traffic.

9* Thyme and tree leaf oil. These are a repellent more then anything else. It does not kill them. They get a whiff of it and head the other way. But remember that bed bugs can live a year without feeding so they are still reproducing.

10* Neem. Neem oil and neem extract. If you find that you have been attacked by bed bugs, this will sooth the itching and moisturize the skin. Matter of fact it is good for the skin whether you have bed bugs or not. Bonus is that it keeps the bedbugs off of you while sleeping.

There we have 7 ways to kill bed bugs and a few ways to monitor your progress in controlling bed bugs. The more you combine the above recommendations the better luck you will have before the need for an exterminator. Just a work of warning though… if you do break down and need to hire an exterminator, they will ask you to clean up anyway before they even show up. Get rid of clutter. ‘ ziplock ‘ bag all cloths, bedding, sheets, and so on. Vacuum and basically do everything mentioned above in 1 though 3.

In closing, know that before you begin, it will take weeks and months of constant cleaning, washing, monitoring, vacuuming over and over again to successfully kill the bed bugs throughout there whole life cycle. And hopefully you can catch it before it spreads through out the house. All it takes is a couple of stowaways in the laundry, luggage, sleeping bags or any fabric that you tote around to bring bed bugs into your home.

If you want to find a local bed bug inspector or exterminator visit here.

Bed Bug Feeding on Human Being

A flat, oval reddish brown, wingless bug covered in microscopic hair is what the average adult bed bug looks like. They grow from 4 to 5 mm in length. While the bug itself is visible their eggs are whitish and merely specs that are not always visible to the human eye without the aid of a magnifying device. Newly hatched or nymphs are more translucent in appearance and grow darker once they age. You can trap these nymphs from ever growing or feeding by using a Bed Bug Mattress Cover. They are not strictly nocturnal though they are much more active at night with a peak attack period an hour or two before dawn. Their bites catch you off guard as the marks, bumps or welts are are not necessarily apparent immediately. Different people have different reactions to bites, indeed, some people have a negligible reaction while others flare up. These are just some bed bug signs.

Allergic reactions to bites have been apparent in most people as the repeated bites have caused the skin to be sensitized to their saliva. The bite signs are misleading and can resemble the appearance of other blood seeking insects like fleas and mosquitoes. People bitten the first time sometimes even mistake the bites as poison ivy or spider bites. The distinguishing characteristic is the small red dot in the center of each bed bug bite.

Bed Bugs, Fecal Matter and Casings on Mattress

Initially they will usually be close to their meal, you, so the nest may start out in the crevices of the the mattress, box spring or behind the head board. Don’t let this happen and protect the spreading of bedbugs by using a mattress cover to lock in these nests. Look for little black spots. The black spots are their fecal matter. As the colony grows in size they will branch out to multiple nests. The best method to determine if you have them or not for certain is specially trained bed bug sniffer dogs.

Do not delay you have to learn how to deal with bed bugs before the problem explodes totally out of control. For example people often retreat to their couches to escape the bed bugs, but they will follow their food by your heat and carbon dioxide so you will soon have bites on your couch too.

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Bed bugs are “blood sucking parasites that attack in the dead of night”.

Dr. Oz reported all 50 states have infestations some of epic proportions including every major area.

Dr. Oz said the incidence of bed bugs gone up 500% over the last 5 years

He said they are in schools, hotels, movie theaters, hospitals and homes.

Some people can get bit up to 500 times a night.

What do bed bugs look like