Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don"t Let the Bed Bugs Bite!
'Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite' is something that people used to say often to their children in the first half of the 20th Century.
Some parents still say it even now, but before they really meant it, because there were bed bugs - everywhere.
Western cities were severely stricken with them and had been for three hundred years or longer.
Bed bugs were wiped out in the Forties and Fifties by the widespread use of DDT, which has since been banned.
In 1995, reported cases of bed bug infestations rose sharply for the first time in fifty years.
The number of bed bug incidents has been increasing ever since.
Therefore, the saying 'Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite' has become apt again.
The trouble is that it is very, very hard to prevent them biting and it is almost as difficult to eradicate them, because modern bedbugs have become almost totally resistant to the pesticides that we have on hand to us today.
Scientists in several companies are working on chemicals to kill bedbugs, but as of yet, there has not been a lot of advancement.
Pharaoh ant venom is lethal to bedbugs, but it is proving difficult to manufacture in suitable quantities.
If you think that you have bed bugs, you will probably have seen a few bugs, have had a few bites or have seen bedbug droppings.
Bedbugs are small, brown, wingless insects about three-sixteenths of an inch long and a little rounded on top although their general look is flattish.
Bedbug bites often result in bumps, which may come up up to nine days after you were bitten.
Sometimes they are in rows of three like flea bites.
They are usually itchy.
Bedbug faeces are brown.
They often look like brown streaks on a sheet.
If you have bedbugs, there is not a lot you can do on your own.
Bedbugs do not inevitably live in squalid conditions.
However, they do like untidiness, because it provides more hiding places.
If you have had books, magazines or clothes lying in the same spot for weeks, move them to see if bedbugs come out.
If you are in rented accommodation, get in contact with your landlord.
If you own your own home, you have a big problem.
The first move should be to check with your local heath authorities for the phone number of a reputable, experienced, professional pest controller.
While you are waiting for them to come round, tidy away all your clutter and strip your beds.
Bedbugs, in all their guises, are killed by temperatures above 46C (120F), so either put your clothes on a boil wash or put them in the clothes dryer on a hot temperature.
A good pest controller will inspect your property thoroughly and give you a detailed report and a price tag.
The report will include an action plan of how to prepare for treatment and prevent further infestation.
The price of the de-infestation should be based on this report, it should not be a flat fee.
Some parents still say it even now, but before they really meant it, because there were bed bugs - everywhere.
Western cities were severely stricken with them and had been for three hundred years or longer.
Bed bugs were wiped out in the Forties and Fifties by the widespread use of DDT, which has since been banned.
In 1995, reported cases of bed bug infestations rose sharply for the first time in fifty years.
The number of bed bug incidents has been increasing ever since.
Therefore, the saying 'Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite' has become apt again.
The trouble is that it is very, very hard to prevent them biting and it is almost as difficult to eradicate them, because modern bedbugs have become almost totally resistant to the pesticides that we have on hand to us today.
Scientists in several companies are working on chemicals to kill bedbugs, but as of yet, there has not been a lot of advancement.
Pharaoh ant venom is lethal to bedbugs, but it is proving difficult to manufacture in suitable quantities.
If you think that you have bed bugs, you will probably have seen a few bugs, have had a few bites or have seen bedbug droppings.
Bedbugs are small, brown, wingless insects about three-sixteenths of an inch long and a little rounded on top although their general look is flattish.
Bedbug bites often result in bumps, which may come up up to nine days after you were bitten.
Sometimes they are in rows of three like flea bites.
They are usually itchy.
Bedbug faeces are brown.
They often look like brown streaks on a sheet.
If you have bedbugs, there is not a lot you can do on your own.
Bedbugs do not inevitably live in squalid conditions.
However, they do like untidiness, because it provides more hiding places.
If you have had books, magazines or clothes lying in the same spot for weeks, move them to see if bedbugs come out.
If you are in rented accommodation, get in contact with your landlord.
If you own your own home, you have a big problem.
The first move should be to check with your local heath authorities for the phone number of a reputable, experienced, professional pest controller.
While you are waiting for them to come round, tidy away all your clutter and strip your beds.
Bedbugs, in all their guises, are killed by temperatures above 46C (120F), so either put your clothes on a boil wash or put them in the clothes dryer on a hot temperature.
A good pest controller will inspect your property thoroughly and give you a detailed report and a price tag.
The report will include an action plan of how to prepare for treatment and prevent further infestation.
The price of the de-infestation should be based on this report, it should not be a flat fee.
