Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite, If you can Help It

Did your parents or your grandparents use to declare ‘Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite’ when they tucked you up in bed as a youngster? You had almost certainly never seen a bed bug and probably did not even know what they were talking about, but they would have. This is because anybody living prior to the Second World War would almost certainly have been bitten quite often.

Up until the 1940′s or 1950′s, depending upon where your family lived, bed bugs were very common. Practically every street had them and because the houses were not isolated from each other and because people were in and out of each other’s homes more frequently, bed bugs were spread everywhere. When they tell you: ‘Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite’, they are echoing a real wish, even a prayer from previous days.

Bed bugs were a fact of everyday, or rather every night, life for millions of people in the UK for four hundred years. They had been about in warmer countries in Europe and the world for thousands of years before that, but they did not proliferate in the UK until after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

It is thought that they came to the UK with the timber and tradesmen that were brought in to reconstruct London. By 1670, bedbugs had become a plague on the population of the UK, like they were elsewhere in Europe. Fifty years afterward, bedbugs had established themselves in Jamaica and probably the United States of America as well.

Bedbugs like to live in dark cracks near to their source of food, which is blood. Not all bedbugs prefer human blood; some prefer dogs’ blood others prefer chickens’ blood et cetera. However, they will all eat human blood if their preferred host is not about.

There is one bedbug though, Cimex lectularius, that does only eat human blood and this is the little blighter that people are talking about when they say: ;Don’t let the bed bugs bite’.

So, bedbugs, if you have them, will be behind any slack-fitting skirting boards or architraves, loose wall paper or in damaged plaster or lino. Their favourite location of all in in a ripped mattress. They are attracted to their blood donor by CO2 on the breath and body heat.

When they have located a host, they send out a message to all their friends and relatives by the deployment of pheromones. Bed bugs are most lively an hour before dawn and it takes them only five minutes to finish their dinner.

When they bite, bedbugs insert two tubes into you, one squirts saliva containing coagulant and anaesthetic and the other sucks up blood. This is why individuals seldom feel that they are being bitten. Sometimes they do not know for up to nine days and some people never know, because they are not allergic to the saliva.

Those that are allergic, may get an itchy swelling, but it may not itch either. It depends on the person. Often the lumps are in rows of three, like flea bites. They are quite similar to mosquito bites, but they do not have a red dot at the centre. Luckily for us, bedbugs do not transmit human diseases, although many bites can temporarily damage the immune system and can lead to anaemia.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with bed bugs extermination. If you are interested in this, please visit our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for more information.

The Indoor Pest Know As Bed Bugs

Insects are fairly amazing animals and very few species are given the credit that they deserve for sanitizing our planet and acting as food for more conventionally beautiful creatures like birds, However, there are also insects, the existence of which is a problem to be happy with. One such insect is the household pest known as bed bugs.

I cannot believe that the humble bed bug has a friend in the world other that its fellow bed bugs. Bed bugs tend to live in bedrooms, near their normal prey, so they do not have natural enemies except millipedes, but not many bedrooms contain enough millipedes to reduce a population of bed bugs.

In fact, most people would become just as anxious if their bedroom did have hundreds of millipedes as they would be about bed bugs. So, bedbugs tend to just grow in number at an alarming rate as there is nothing to hold their numbers in check.

The bedbug is officially called Cimex lectularius. It is a small, reddish brown, wingless insect that can run very quickly. You might see a small beetle the size, colour and shape of an apple pip running very quickly in the shadows tight to the skirting boards. These are bedbugs.

On the way out to dine, it will move quickly, but on the way hone it will be slower because it will be full of your blood. They find their prey by following exhaled breath and while they arrive, they release pheromones to alert their friends that there is food on the table or on the bed at least.

These household pests live quite near their regular source of food, which means near a bed in a bedroom. They might live in the mattress if it is tattered, in crevices of the bed frame or near-by furniture or behind loose skintings.

Furthermore, they can live fairly cheerfully in furniture or between the pages of books and magazines.. Fractured plaster or curling wallpaper are also favourite hiding places. This is a real problem because they will get their heads down almost anywhere, even in a sunken screw hole.

They tend to sleep in the daytime and most of the night too, but they are most active an hour before dawn when they come out if they need a feed. They can last for months without feeding, so if you are being bitten regularly then you know that you have many bed bugs in your room.

If you have an infestation, you should know about it because of the itchy bites and marks, but you might also see marks of them on your bed sheets. If you see red or brown streaks on your sheets, you almost certainly do have them. The red marks are your blood and the brown marks are faeces or your digested blood. You might also see shed skins as they moult.

Bed bugs are very hard to be rid of, so if you want to do it yourself, find out how to go about it. Spraying insecticide will not do it or call in the professionals.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with bed bugs treatment. If you want to know more, visit our website now at Pest Management at Home.

Choosing Home Decorating Fabric

If you want to redecorate, you should be thinking about the fabrics that you will use in your redecorating scheme. There are quite a lot of fabrics that can play a function in a redecoration project, such as carpets, some wall papers, such as flock, furnishings, cushions, lamp shades and wall hangings like tapestries and embroideries.

You can use the fabrics in these items to create a decoration theme more than any other set of items. You can purchase old furniture, but it is costly, you can buy old paintings, but they are expensive, but fabrics can be new yet still convey different atmospheres for little cost. Think of the fabrics and colours that you would require to express primitive, Eastern, Hispanic, Victorian or contemporary themes.

Let’s say that you want to decorate your home in a Victorian style. It is true that it would be good to have some old furniture, but what will definitely make the style scream ‘Victorian’ is the textiles. You have to think of Victorian houses: they were fairly large (unless you want to live in a hovel), and they were drafty.

This meant that the fabrics were weighty to hold back drafts. You could hang flock wallpaper, have heavy, lined curtains, lamp shades with tassels and heavy bedding with a real eiderdown or patchwork quilt.

The funny thing is that although Victorian textiles were very weighty, they tried to make them look very feminine, or maybe that was why they tried to make them look more feminine. However, men provided the money and women ran the home in those days, so that may be why too.

Therefore, there were lace edgings, lace trims, tassels, beading, velvet and brocade. Embroidery exam pieces can occasionally be picked up quite cheaply , but they are often handed down through families as well.

A modern style or theme would have lots of bright and frequently contrasting colours. An extreme variation of contemporary style is minimalist with plenty of black and white but with maybe one splash of yellow in a corner somewhere. This style can be hard to achieve, can be unsettling, but can be dazzling as well. It is suggestive of the Sixties.

Some people try to recreate an Eastern or Oriental style, but you have to be careful because otherwise you will end up with something that no Easterner would recognize. A bit like Charlie Chan and western style curries. You will be told to use pictures and figurines of elephants, tigers, dragons, carp and geese or ducks. This is all very well if you want to persuade your Western friends that you have an Oriental theme of decoration, but not many Orientals would recognize it.

It is very problematic to get this theme looking authentic unless you are from the Far East or you get an Easterner in to assist you. Jades and silks could form a part of this styles along with some figurines. Be very cautious of trying to imitate a style you know nothing of.

If you are searching for more ideas on Stylish Home Decor, then you ought to go along to our website for more free ideas on Interior Design Ideas and more.

Beware Hotel Bed Bugs

Most dwellings are still free of bed bugs, particularly outside the cities. However, in the cities the story is marginally different, because most houses are still clear, but bed bugs are moving into new homes each day. Therefore, as time goes by, the chances of bed bugs moving into your home are increasing.

So, what can you do to stop that happening? Well, the solution is a bleak one. There is no barrier that you can lay down as you can to avert termites because most insecticides do not have much effect on healthy bed bugs and the one that does, DDT, is illegal. This means that your only real defence is vigilance.

However, it does help to know where you run the most risks of picking up bed bugs and taking them home. This is how the majority of bugs get into your home, you carry them there yourself. Bed bugs are fantastic hitch-hikers, so if you do get them, it will most likely be because you carried it into your household.

The easiest location to pick them up (although you just have to have one pregnant female) is in a hotel. This means that you ought to just unpack what you need and take all used clothing home in sealed plastic bags. It makes sense to pack your garments into plastic bags before you leave home as well.

Roughly all you can do is inspect the bed for tell-tale red or brown streaks on the sheets, but there is one trick that catches them occasionally.. Fill the sink an inch deep with water and let the soap stand in it. Go lie on the bed and read a book for thirty minutes, then jump up, grab the soap and rip the sheets back. Dab up any bugs for proof. You body heat will have attracted them.

Use a suitcase that has a waterproof seal or a zip and keep it closed at all times it is not in use.Store your suit in a plastic bag too. When you return from your trip, wash your soiled clothing in very hot water or dry clean them.

The next easiest place to get bed bugs is on any form of public transport: buses, taxis, trains and even planes. In other words you are nearly as likely to pick up a bed bug on your way to or from the hotel as whilst you are lodging there.

You may not be able to tell where they will be, but all it takes is for one to pop up from under a seat and crawl into your pocket or under your collar and you are in trouble.

This is a very difficult thing to cope with unless you hang your coat up in a plastic dust jacket and inspect it when you have the time or blast it with steam, which is not that simple. You could place the coat in the tumble dryer on hot if you have one. Bed bugs and their eggs die at above 46 degrees centigrade (115 degrees Fahrenheit).

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with Bed Bug Covers For Mattress. If you want to know more, visit our website now at Pest Management at Home.

The Best Way To Get Free Quilt Patterns

Throughout history, ladies who quilted have shared patterns, designs, tips and experience to others within their group. It was a tactic for women to get together in a social group without risking being accused of wasting time. Not only did they use their ‘social time’ to make goods, quilts, which could be used or sold, but they made them out of scrap material: small off-cuts of cloth which other people might call rags.

Women still do this today, especially in the mid-west. If you want to get into quilting, you could do a lot worse than become a member of a quilting club or group. Look in your local yellow pages or ask at a hobbyist shop.

If you have no source of free quilting patterns from a local club, try the Internet. If you use the search term ‘free quilting patterns’ in Google or Yahoo, you will see hundreds of choices. Some will be very suitable and others will be worthless and you will have to dig down to work out which are which.

If you are wondering why anyone must offer free quilting patterns, the reason is that they will want you to visit their web site to request it and your email address to deliver it. This gives them all they need to send you promotional emails until you unsubscribe.

Keep an eye on the emails they send you and if you do not like them, do not feel guilty about unsubscribing instantly, even if the free quilting patterns were pretty helpful. You will not be hurting anyone’s feelings, no-one will even know who you are. It is all done automatically with programs called autoresponders.

Patterns that you will be offered in your quest for free quilting patterns are usually the traditional ones that have passed into the public domain like the Lone Star, the Log Cabin and other traditional American patterns.

If you like the traditional quilting patterns this is all very well, but if you want something more contemporary and less well-known you will probably have to pay for it. The average price of a quilting pattern is somewhere around $25, but it can also be $10 more or less. EBay can be a good source of cheap quilting patterns.

However, do not give up on your task for free quilting patterns too quickly because there really is a large amount of free quilting patterns on the Internet, you merely have to continue searching. Before you begin, it would be worth creating a folder called Quilt Patterns in your Favorites Folder. Then you can save any functional web sites in there so that you can come back to them easily again.

Browsing for free quilt patterns, whether on the intent or asking friends, is an enjoyable aspect of the hobby of quilting, one that is sure to keep you engrossed for many hours.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with king size duvets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Modern Throw Pillows For Sale.

New York And Its Bed Bug Problem

This citizens of New York used to worry about the growing number of rats that was pestering their city, but these days they have something else to be concerned about. Bed bugs have invaded New York in a big way, a very big way. In 2004, there were 82 reported accounts of bed bugs in New York, in 2009, there were 10,985. That is a huge rise by anyone’s standards.

It used to be alleged that bed bugs were a poor family’s problem because they lived in filth. This is not true, they like all classes of people and all kinds of homes. Recently, part of a hospital was shut down in Brooklyn because of bed bugs and before that two trendy clothing stores owned by Abercrombie had to be fumigated in Manhattan.

These insects really do not care where they live. Bed bugs move from one place to the next by a process widely known as hitch-hiking. If you bought clothing from an infested shop, there may be a bed bug in the lining or there may be a few eggs in a pocket, when you have taken your new garment home, you will start a new infestation there.

Or you could be seated in a bus and one will crawl up your back and under your collar where it can sleep or lay eggs. When you get home, you will hang your coat up and the bug will go looking for food within five days. If it was a pregnant female, then you could have eggs hatching out withing ten days. Females can lay a couple of eggs a day for months on end.

It is a rule of thumb, that if you are able to spot bed bugs, you have an infestation, because we are not normally on the look out for them, they are very timid and they usually only come out in the twilight before dawn, while you are sleeping.

Joel Roodman, the film-maker and his wife, Ms Taft, a past top fashion model, were ‘shocked and horrified’ that their $18,000 holiday rental was ‘crawling’ with bed bugs. One New York pest control company said that they are being more and more frequently being called to commercial buildings such as ‘… banks, grocery stores, cinemas, judges’ chambers, schools, dentists’ offices – everywhere’.

Needless to say, hotels are also being affected. One complainant reported finding a gorged bed bug. When he spoke to the receptionist, he was told: ‘Welcome to New York’. In an incident map of the top ten cities affected by bed bugs, New York came in second. Columbus, Ohio was first and Toronto, Canada was third.

Fortunately, bed bugs do not convey diseases, but they are fairly horrifying creatures. They insert two tubes into their victims, one squirts in saliva which contains anticoagulant and anaesthetic and the other draws blood.

They like to attack an hour before dawn and they have usually sated themselves within five minutes. The red marks and itchiness that most people experience is an allergic reaction to the bed bug’s saliva.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with getting rid of bedbugs. If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for more details.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present involved with getting rid of bedbugs? If you are interested in this, please visit our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further information.

Bitten By The Bug

Bed bugs are not a new social issue by any means. People have been complaining about them for centuries, although they were not active in every country at the same time. There were bed bugs around the Mediterranean Sea thousands of years ago, but they did not get to Britain until the Seventeenth Century and to America until slightly after that.

Bed bugs were practically cleared out in Europe and America after the Second World War, but they flourished elsewhere, Now we have them back again all around the world, but it took them nearly 50 years to come back. People are inclined to become more appalled by bed bugs than by mosquitoes, despite the fact that they do the same sort of thing.

Bed bug bites may or may not itch and are very unlikely to transmit disease, unlike mosquito bites. Yet still we hate them and still we are ashamed of having them in our dwellings. This is a bizarre phenomenon, because bed bugs cannot eat filth, because they do not have a real mouth. However,the rumour was spread a hundred years ago that just poor people living in ghettos suffered from bed bugs.

It was a falsehood, but it stuck. In fact, people with money tend to travel more than poorer people, so they are more prone to pick up bed bugs and take them home to create their very own infestation. An infestation might cause some aenemia, but the real problems are psychological, because people might not sleep for fear of being bitten and this may lead to paranoia..

Bed bug bites are normally in a line, but not necessarily in a straight line. They can appear like red spots a quarter of an inch in diameter. People react in various ways: some individuals react straight away, others have a delayed reaction. Some marks may last four or five days, some may not show at all. Some may itch or swell up, others will not.

Your first treatment should be to shower as normal and wash with mild soap, but the number one rule is not to scratch the bite as that might cause an infection from dirty finger nails. If you have to treat the bite further, you can|could try these herbs and plants:

Plantain: some people claim that they obtained relief from itching by rubbing the leaves of plantain onto the bites.

Wet poultice: traditional remedies include covering the bites with wet clay; mashed potato; bread and milk; wet arrow root; pulverized rice and water or ground grain and water. Make a pasty sauce of one of these, slop it onto the bites and tie a bandage about it until it is completely dry. This should draw out any irritants that the bed bug administered to help your blood flow liberally.

Fresh herbs may be used too, but you either have to chew them into a mulch (traditional) or you could crush them in a pestle and mortar with some water or spittle. Traditional herbs to use are::wild geranium (Geranium maculatum); comfrey (Symphytum uplandica x); yellow dock (Rumex species); wild mallow (Malva neglecta) or chickweed (Stellaria media).

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present involved with Bed Bugs Treatment. If you want to know more, please go over to our website now at Pest Management at Home.

how To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are almost certainly the most ghastly of household pests in many peoples’ eyes. Cockroaches are bad enough, but they do not suck on you. Mosquitoes suck blood and are maddening, but we accept them more than bed bugs. But bed bugs suck your blood while you are asleep and then mess in your bed as a thank you note.

Luckily, these bugs do not carry any human diseases that we are conscious of, so they are quite ‘safe’ in that way, whereas there are quite a few deadly diseases that you can get from mosquitoes such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever amongst others. Still, most of us would rather mosquitoes to bed bugs.

If your home is infested with these pests, you will surely want to eradicate them, so you will need to know something concerning the habits of these creatures. Bed bugs like to conceal themselves during the day time in cracks, crevices, torn wallpaper and linoleum, broken plaster, a ripped mattress and stacked clothing, books, magazines etc..

The common belief common until a few decades ago was that bed bugs only liked dirty households, but this is not the case. Cockroaches like to search for dropped food as do ants, but bed bugs only consume blood and do not even have mouth-parts to eat dropped food if they were famished.

Therefore, bed bugs do not have to live in a messy house, merely in one that is run-down, poorly taken care of or cluttered. If you would like to clear up an infestation of bed bugs, the first thing to do is wash all your clothing in hot water or dry-cleaning fluid and then store them in sealed plastic bags.

The next step is to repair anywhere they could be hiding. Stick back or replace any tattered wallpaper and seal off any loose woodwork such as skirting boards and architraves with a line of mastic or filler. Seal the woodwork top and bottom, so that any bed bugs hiding in there will not be able to get out again. This saves attempting to kill them.

Put away all books, piles of newspapers, toys and general clutter and inspect your furniture for wobbly joints. For instance, if a chair or table is a bit ricketty, tighten the screws or mastic the joints together. Plug nail and screw holes with filler or mastic.

Roll up your carpets and check the floor boards. Cork the joints, fill screw holes and check the bead of mastic at the bottom of the skirting boards.

Check the framework of your bed and repair as mentioned above. Are there red or brown smears on your mattress? if so, they could be hiding in your mattress. Sew up any tears and put the mattress in a mattress cover which can be zipped closed in order to trap any bugs inside. Otherwise, perhaps it is time to replace it.

Standard pesticides do not have much effect on bed bugs, so be careful what you purchase. You need something that has an abrasive element in it. Some use finely ground up glass, which may pose a health hazard to you or your pets.

Diatomaceous Earth is far less risky. Sprinkle or spray it under your carpets and around the base of the skirtings, where bed bugs like to run. Relay your carpets and steam clean them.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is now involved with pictures of bed bugs. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Picture of Bed Bugs.