Pests are some of the most common household problems. They are also some of those that are very hard to eliminate. And among many types of pests, insect pests are probably the worse.

Insect Pests

All sorts of insects attack and prey upon human beings. Most common of those that attack the body directly are the lice and the itch mites. Less frequent are bedbugs and spiders. In the woods and in tropical areas chiggers and mosquitoes, ticks and the biting flies annoy mankind.

Chiggers

Chiggers are known scientifically as Trombicula irritans. They hook themselves on to the skin. The skin becomes irritated, and an intolerable itching begins. Red blotches appear, and blisters form. The chiggers do not burrow into the skin, but they inject a substance which dissolves and softens the tissue, and this causes the itching.

Infestation with chiggers can be prevented by putting flour of sulphur or sulphur powder into the stockings or underclothing when going into tall grass or weeds. Protection can be had by wearing leggings and by closing off the bottom of the trousers.

If you have been seriously bitten by chiggers, wash the skin thoroughly with soap and water and allow the lather to remain on the skin ten minutes before removing. Then any of the anti-itch preparations can be applied to keep the itching under control until healing has occurred.

Insect repellents such as DDT, freon with pyrethrum, and similar preparations can be used to remove chiggers from infested areas, as well as mosquitoes, moths, and other insects.

Lice

The louse is an annoying inhabitant on the human body. Head lice are such a frequent annoyance among children in schools that health departments usually give special instructions for their control. Several specialized mixtures have been developed for getting rid of head lice, body lice, and pubic lice.

To kill head lice, ordinary crude petroleum or kerosene mixed with sweet oil or olive oil, half and half, is rubbed well into the scalp. Then cover the hair with a piece of muslin for at least two hours or, better, overnight. Petroleum is poisonous and inflammable. Never let the hair get close to any open flame, such as a gas jet or a lighted match. When the muslin is removed wash the hair and scalp with soap and hot water and rinse well with clear water. Repeat this process as long as live vermin are found in the hair. Nits may be removed by wetting the hair thoroughly with hot vinegar, then combing with a fine-toothed comb. Dry the hair completely after such treatments before going out. For body lice, the body, all clothing, and all bedding may be thoroughly dusted with a suitable DDT powder.

Pubic lice are commonly called “crabs.” Specialized ointments including the old-fashioned “blue ointment” and “Gammexane” ointment, are used, rubbed thoroughly into the infested areas. If such lice get into the eyelashes, they should be picked off, with their nits, by a forceps. Itching from the bites of lice or other insects is controllable by ointments or lotions containing small amounts of phenol or menthol or camphor, such as 1 per cent phenol or menthol in calamine lotion or phenolated camphor in mineral oil.

Spider Bites

The only venomous spider in the Western Hemisphere is the black widow. When a person is bitten by a spider the first step is to stop the absorption of the poison into the circulation. The wound can be disinfected with tincture of iodine or any other good antiseptic. If any considerable amount of poison has been taken into the body, the area of the bite can be put under suction.

Following the bite of the black widow spider, one feels a sharp pain. Then comes swelling and redness at the bitten spot, and the whole body reacts with dizziness and weakness, tremor of the legs, and even abdominal cramps. Small children may have difficulty in breathing and even stupor or convulsions. A serum or antitoxin has been developed, but has to be secured in most cases from the health department or directly from the manufacturer.

Bedbugs And Fleas

A bedbug bite usually appears as a raised blister with a red spot in the center. It itches and sometimes has a burning sensation. Bedbugs do not live on the human body but they do infest beds, bedding, upholstered furniture, walls, woodwork, and draperies. They usually come out at night, drawn by the odor of the human body. When crushed, the bedbug gives off a foul odor.

Because the bedbug bite itches, the bitten area may be masked by the results of scratching and secondary infection. People who wear pajamas, if bitten, are usually affected in the areas around the ankles, the wrists, and the neck. The only treatment usually required for a bedbug bite is application

Bites of insect pests can cause a lot of problems. Allergies and irritations are among them. If you want to protect yourself away from those bitings, you have to eliminate the pests themselves.

To correctly identify if the bites you have are from bed bugs, check out this video.

Prevention Of Insect – Borne Disease is a post from: Bed Bugs

The use of bed bug spray is one of the easiest and most convenient means to kill bed bugs. Unfortunately, many fail to achieve the best results it can give. So for our readers who are trying to uncover the secret of a completely effective application of bed bug spray, read on and you will know what that secret is.

Choosing your bedbug spray is one of the most important aspects of getting rid of bedbugs.  I encourage people who plan to buy bed bug spray spend some time researching their options before making a final decision on what to do.  The biggest thing that people forget to consider when buying spray is how to apply the spray.  It is important that the spray you buy is applied correctly to achieve the best results.

Bedbug spray should be applied in every single nook and cranny in the room.  Before you even use the spray, you need to take apart your entire room including your bed.  Your bed is the center of the infestation in your room.  Treat the underside of your box springs for the infestation.  Do not treat your mattress with bug spray as this is where you live sleep every night.

Make sure you treat all of the baseboards in the room.  Treat all of the baseboards and cracks and crevices.  Bedbugs can literally hide under the floor and behind the walls.  You need to treat under carpets too.  Bedbugs are famous for hiding under carpets and waiting for dinner to arrive when you go to sleep at night.

You also need to treat the walls and electrical outlets as well as the windows.  You also need to treat the light fixtures, take down the curtains and blinds and treat those too.  To treat your clothing, you need to clean all of your laundry in hot water.  If you don’t treat every aspect of the room that is infested, the room will still have bedbugs.

Bedbug spray application is extremely important to get rid of bedbugs.  I encourage you to get all of the help and information you can to get rid of them.

Pair your use of bed bugs spray to an efficient bed bug inspection and you are on for a truly effective pest elimination process. Here’s a video of a bed bug inspection that can help.

What You Need to Know Before You Buy Your Bed Bug Spray is a post from: Bed Bugs

You can kill bed bugs in a lot of ways. Some of those ways you can do yourself and some needs to be implemented by the professionals in the pest control business. One of our readers however shared how he got rid of the blood-sucking pests using on his means. Read on and you might just be able to do it yourself and save some expenses.

Of all of the beasties I’ve had to deal with, Bedbugs have got to be the most sickening. I detest the tiny blighters! There are several species of Bedbug but this article is going to deal with the Common Bedbug ( Cimex lectularius ), as it’s the most abundant, being found in most temperate climates around the planet.

The Common Bedbug feeds off human blood and doesn’t discriminate between blood groups. The adult has a flat reddish-brown oval body and measures approximately 4-5mm in length. During feeding, their stomach fills up with blood and expands leaving the bug resembling an apple seed with legs.

Bedbugs are even less widespread than they used to be but have been making a little bit of a comeback lately. While gigantic infestations may still happen, it is more customary to cope with infestations of tiny numbers of bugs. Bedbugs can enter the home through used beds, settees and curtains and can even be transferred in luggage after visiting hostels, guesthouses, and so on.

The Bedbug doesn’t actually bite, as it does not posses biting mouthparts, more exactly it uses two hollowed tubes and injects its victim with an analgesic and an anticoagulant. This means that the victim is blind to the bite until sometime later with the start of significant inflamation. Bites often happen in a tiny row. Some will have a hard sore, white in colour with a reddish swelling and secondary infection is always a risk with people scratching the itch. Revealing indications of Bedbug activity are little spots of blood on your sheets.

Regular vacuuming of these locations can remove the little suckers. An inexpensive anti-bug barrier can be built by wrapping double-sided sticky tape around each leg of the bed.

Remove all bedding and clean up it by washing on a hot wash ( 50 Centigrade or 120 Fahrenheit ). If you have got a divan bed, be certain to go over the base utterly with the steamer. A stiff brush is handy for dislodging any eggs and shed skins from seams. If you can dismantle your bed frame, do so, as this can show up any hiding bugs. So use this as an excuse to carry out a grim spring-cleaning of your room.

So what about the pros ‘ should you simply take the simple route and pay for them to clear up your problem? Well if you do, they are going to come along and tell you to strip the bed so they can begin using isopropyl alcohol for bed bugs to the mattress and bed frame / divan base. If they are radical and know their business, they should also look for possible harbourage across the room and treat these areas too. You’re still going to require to deal with sanitizing your bedding, so you must weigh up whether you would like to pay for the spray or the cost of a steam cleaner.

If you want to kill bed bugs with alcohol, you might find this video helpful:

How To Exterminate Bed Bugs Using Isopropyl Alcohol is a post from: Bed Bugs

The cases of reported bed bug infestation is continuously increasing. That just simply means that they are wider spreading and causing more and more problems.

What Are Bed Bugs

Bedbugs (bed bugs) or Cimex Lectularius Linnaeus, are small, flat, wingless insects that feed on warm blooded animals, mostly humans. They range in color from nearly white just after molting to tan or dark brown. After feeding, they become bright red and swollen resembling an entirely different insect. The skin lesion produced by the bedbug bite resembles that of a mosquito bite, therefore the bites alone do not identify the culprit. Bedbugs have not been found to carry or transmit diseases to their host, however, scratching the bug bite may lead to a secondary infection. Usually no treatment is required for bedbug bites but if itching is severe enough then steroid creams or oral antihistamines can provide some relief.

Where Can You Find Them

During the day, bedbugs hide in cracks or crevices near beds or places where people sleep. The majority of bedbugs are found in mattresses and foundations/boxsprings or within fifteen feet of the bed.  At night they emerge from their hiding spots to feed – however if they are hungry enough they will venture out during the day to find a host. These parasites can live more than a year without food, surviving in infrequently used hotel rooms and apartment buildings until their next victim arrives.

Bedbugs do not just appear out of nowhere in a home or apartment. They cannot fly, therefore most of the time bedbugs are transported by people from place to place. The most common ways bedbugs are transported is on luggage, clothing, pillows, boxes and other objects when they are moved between apartments, homes, and hotels. Used furniture has the greatest risk of being infested by bedbugs or their eggs. Bedbugs can also wander between adjoining apartments.

How Do You Control A Bed Bug Infestation

If you suspect you have bedbugs then you should inspect the bedroom and other sleeping areas for bedbug activity. It is advised that you check the following places around the sleeping area for bedbugs and their eggs: folds and creases in bed linens, seams and tufts of mattresses and boxsprings. Other locations within the room include: curtain pleats, beneath loose wall paper, corners of desks and dressers, within spaces of wicker furniture, behind electrical switch plates, pictures on walls, and wall posters.  Electrical appliances like radios, telephones, and televisions can also be a source of activity. Tack strips under wall-to-wall carpeting, behind baseboards, in laundry and other clutter round out the main list of places to check. Sometimes dark brown or reddish, rusty spots are left on bedding or in hiding spaces from the liquid feces bedbugs produce. In heavily infested areas you can detect a musty, sweet smell from the oily secretions of the bedbugs.

If you have an infestation, do not immediately throw out your furniture. You must take careful steps to stop the infestation in your home and outside of your home. First, limit hiding places for bed bugs by reducing clutter. Dismantle bed frames to uncover more hiding spots. Next, thoroughly clean infested rooms as well as others in the house. Use a stiff brush to scrub infested surfaces in order to dislodge eggs.

Use a powerful vacuum to remove bugs from cracks and crevices, along baseboards, etc. Personal items such as stuffed animals, blankets, soft toys, and electronic equipment should also be vacuumed and bagged with special non residual insecticide strips.  Discard the vacuum cleaner bag in a sealed plastic bag. Garments and bed linens should be laundered in water that is 120 degrees Fahrenheit or greater.

Remove drawers from desks and dressers and turn furniture upside down to find and clean hiding spots. Finally, mattresses and boxsprings can be encased in special mattress bags and still be used, sometimes, depending on the severity of the infestation. Make sure there are no openings or punctures in the bag and the trapped bugs will eventually die.

To prevent future infestations, caulk and seal holes where pipes and wires penetrate walls and floors and fill in cracks around baseboards and cove moldings. To prevent bedbugs from crawling onto a bed, pull the bed frame away from the wall. Tuck in sheets and blankets so that they do not touch the floor and place the frame legs into dishes or cups of mineral oil. When traveling or staying at a hotel, never place luggage near the bed and vacuum your luggage and garments as soon as you return home.

Green Is Safer

It pays to be cautious of bed bugs. However, to get yourself completely protected from their negative effects, you will need the help of a green bed bug killer. Apart from the problems the pests bring, with it, you can also avoid the toxins from chemical-based bed bug spray.

Know More About Bed Bugs With This Video

Bedbugs – Education, Elimination & Prevention is a post from: Bed Bugs

I was going through the store the other day and was looking at some pesticides.
Boy was I in for a surprise, when I saw the labels of home and garden pesticides. So I read thru the labels and thought I would post my opinion on some of the stats on pesticides in the U.S.

 Home & garden pesticides continue to seek perfect mix of safety, effectiveness

The $1.4 billion US home and garden pesticide market is expected to register growth, despite the overall maturity of the market. Volume sales are expected to recover somewhat from a poor performance in 2008, in which growth was weak in volume terms. Consumer concerns about lawn appearance, protecting food and ornamental garden plants, and household pest control remain strong forces behind demand for home and garden pesticides. Homeowners have also become more aware of the effect that attractive landscaping, a well-maintained lawn and a clean, pest-free house can have on property resale values. Additionally, heightened consumer attention to environmental issues has driven demand for biopesticides and other alternative products based on such materials as essential oils and botanical extracts, especially for use in food-producing gardens.

Market maturity presents supplier challenges
In volume terms, the US pesticide market, including the consumer segment, is essentially mature. Active ingredient usage in the consumer market is expected to continue to grow modestly, more or less on par with growth of population and household formulation.

Moreover, the number of new active ingredients to gain approval by the US EPA is small, and most of the active ingredients in home and garden pesticides have been on the market for decades. As a result, suppliers focus on developing improved versions of extant formulations, such as multi-active products designed for broader effectiveness, or improving packaging formats to allow the introduction of formulated consumer pesticides that are safer to handle and easier to use, such as ROUNDUP PUMP ‘N GO SPRAYER, that features an extendable wand that can spray continuously for five minutes.

Additionally, the number of biopesticide products available to the home and garden market has continued to grow. These biopesticides include products based on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which has become widely used in agriculture but is only beginning to establish a market presence in the home and garden segment; and natural pesticides and repellents based on such products as neem oil, garlic oil and putrescent egg solids, in addition to better-known products such as citronellabased repellents.

“New” target organisms create new opportunities

Despite the relative maturity of the overall market, new target organisms emerge, or in some cases, re-emerge — creating market opportunities for home and garden pesticides. Among the widely reported such opportunities has been created by the re-emergence of bedbugs. Essentially eradicated via the use of the notorious insecticide DDT, bedbug infestations have occurred more frequently, especially in urban areas. In the Southern US, red imported fire ants have spread throughout the region over the past few decades. Despite these new challenges, established products are available to address them. Overall, however, suppliers are expected to move to a greater regional focus, with products geared to address target organisms in specific areas, along with marketing efforts tailored to each region.

Video On Pesticides:

My  Thoughts

At BedBugBully.com, we were receiving a ton of questions regarding bed bugs and pesticides. Which pesticides would be best to use if they were looking for a natural solution. From my recommendations, I recommend a good solution to kill bed bugs, called bed bug bully.

What Is Going On With Home and Garden Pesticides? is a post from: Bed Bugs