Category Archives: Bed Bugs American Samoa

In the morning we feel itchy and try to guess what is causing it. Bed bugs may likely be the cause. Some people who experience bites think that they are suffering from some kind of allergic reaction. Incomplete cleaning of bedding is among the leading reasons that infestations grow so quickly. But how do we know where to find them? Are we able to actually see them?

Luckily the good news is that bed bugs are visible. We hardly ever see them because they usually are active in the dark. During the night, they will climb onto a body and feed on human blood. If disturbed, they will normally move quickly to find a dark area. During the day, the bugs can be found in the crevices or folds of a mattress. Their eggs are difficult to spot despite looking like grains of salt. These parasites are about 5 millimeters (1/4 inch) long and are brown in color. They are usually confused with dust mites. Dust mites are not visible to the naked eye. Vacuuming your bedding regularly can reduce the number of these vampire bugs that are living in your bed. Bed bugs can be seen better if viewed under a magnifying lens. Yet, they are hard to see with the naked eye since they avoid well-lit areas. What also makes them hard to see is the fact that bed bugs have flat bodies. Younger ones, called nymphs, are smaller lighter color and very hard to see. If you are familiar with the areas where they hide, odds are you have a better chance of seeing them. If you cant see them, you can also spot their signs such as shed skin, blood spots on bed sheets, and even dark spots of excrement. Perhaps the best time to see these bugs is during the pre-dawn hours while it is still dark. At that time, shine a light near an area where they are believed to be present.

Bed bugs are tiny but they can be exterminated. If you know where they are hiding, then you have a better chance of getting rid of them. While this may not be the permanent solution to the problem, its better to be prepared the next time you discover a bedbug infestation. While exterminator services can be expensive, there are other ways to kill off these bugs such as using various cleaning chemicals such as Lysol or commercially available sprays.

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Are Bed Bugs Visible? - Are Bed Bugs Visible

Bed bugs may be coming to a bed near youtheyre back in the US, spreading throughout the major cities, and stronger than they were half a century ago (when the US lead a successful campaign to eradicate them).

Now, the few surviving colonies and new ones brought in from other countries are DDT (the now banned pesticide used to eradicate them) resistant. Fighting bed bugs isnt just a matter of avoidance, it will be a matter of persistence. How Do You Get Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs can be spread from an unknowing host, or unfortunately acquired in a hotel room. Soon, though, its estimated that the hard-to-kill parasites will again spread throughout the US, so while avoiding the most likely sources may help today, in a few years it will be hard to judge where to find bed bugs.

How do you get bed bugs into your home? They infest your clothes, your suit case, or if youre in an apartment they may choose it to lay their eggs!

What is Bed Bugs Affect On The Body?

Most people are bitten by bed bugs when they sleep (sometimes causing insomnia) although if they get into your clothes, furniture, etc. bites can occur anytime.

Bed bugs affect each person differently, depending on their skin and their immune system (i.e., how much those bites will itch). Some people will wake up covered in red spots, some people wont show symptoms, or else will have delayed symptoms (days to weeks).

Other people might have bad reactions to bed bug bites, getting blisters, or a sever itch. There isnt any severe risk from bed bugs, but if you scratch too much (tearing skin) you can get cellulitis. Cellulitis is a pretty severe skin infection; most people have a hard time getting rid of cellulitis, and theres a risk that it could spread into deeper layers of skin and even the blood stream (causing sepsis).

Where To Find Bed Bugs

In any fabric, from your mattress, to your sheets, to your clothes! Although the infestation can start in one room, where to find bed bugs will end up being your entire house (due to bed bug mating habitsthe wounded female flies to another un-infested area for shelter, and then lays her eggs).

If youre looking for where to find bed bugs to confirm an infestation, try checking under your sheets and your box spring. Bed bugs are parasites, and they use humans as food.

Fighting Back: What Is Bed Bugs Weakness?

At this point, most people are concerned with preventing bed bugs rather than fighting them. Allergen covers (which are plastic) at least on your box spring if not also on your mattress are essential. Being aware of the possibility when visiting other cities or staying in hotel rooms, and watching for hitch-hiking bed bugs when you return home is also important. (You can also check the hotel bed for bed bugs, which are small, flat, and brown-red).

But, what is bed bug weakness? If its not as simple as hiring an exterminator to spray your house, how can you ever get rid of such an awful parasite?

Heat, particularly hot water. Machine wash hot everything that wont be ruined, steam clean carpets, curtains, and furniture (or have professionally cleaned if you arent sure the material will be safe when treated with hot water). Keeping this up ritualistically until a few weeks have passed (long enough to ensure no more eggs have hatched) and there are no signs of bed bugs. (Wrapping things in plastic for the duration can reduce how much you have to clean).

Many parasites, including bed bugs, are often repelled by plants that humans enjoy. Mint and lavender planted around the house can help deter many parasitic pests and bugs, and heating scented oil may help deter bed bugs from spreading into other rooms of the house.

Eucalyptus oil may also not only deter bed bugs, but be harmful to them. If youre losing sleep because of bed bug bites, using eucalyptus oil or lotion before bed may help deter bites, or add a few drops to your washer when doing your sheets (it will also kill mites!).

Keep the air in your bed room fresh and circulating. Bed bugs are attracted to body warmth as well as CO2 (the air you exhale), so reduce their attraction by keeping the air circulating.

And if you choose to use pesticides, higher a professional. At least one woman has died and several other have been poisoned in their attempts to use pesticides against bed bugs!

Have there been bed bug reports in your city? Share how far they have spread through the US in the comments below:

Tagged as: Cellulitis, Infection, Parasites, Sleep

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What Is Bed Bugs Weakness? Colloids For Life Blog

By Admin, Posted February 6th 2012

Many people have concerns as to whether bed bug bites are painful in any way. The simple answer to this question is a no, but like many things in life, reality is far from simple.

Most people do find that bed bug bites are not actually painful. Instead, they are annoying, irritating, and bothersome. When bed bugs bite people, it can lead to a small amount of swelling around the bitten area. In some cases a slight lump or bump will also develop directly on the bite area. If you have ever experienced a flea bit or mosquito bite, then you will find that a bed bug bite is roughly the same experience.

The swelling, slight redness, and tiny lump may be a source of irritation. You may find that you have an urge to scratch. Giving in to this urge can actually cause the bite to become painful when it wasnt in the first place, because irritating the bite site and possibly breaking the skin with vigorous scratching is simply not a good idea.

What can make bed bug bites even more annoying is the fact that the nature of a bed bug infestation will bring the victim into the bugs vicinity over and over. This means that the bugs will have a frequent opportunity to inflict even more bites, and over time the sum total of all of these can be quite bothersome for people, even if it never reaches to the level of actual pain.

Some people find that while the bites are not causing them any physical pain, they are more than sufficient to inflict great psychological distress. Since the bites are unsightly, people who suffer them may feel self-conscious.

Even worse, they may begin to feel ashamed of being a bed bug bite victim. This is due to a common but completely false impression that bed bugs are a sign of poverty. This is simply not the case. Bed bug problems are the sign of a bed bug infestation and nothing more. Bed bugs do not hunt out the poorer areas in town and then decide to take up residence there. They can, in fact, be found in middle-class and even rich neighborhoods as well.

In addition to psychological distress, bed bug bites can in rare cases be responsible for an extreme physical reaction. If you happen to be allergic to the substances a bed bug injects into the bite to make the blood flow more easily, then you can experience a severe reaction known as anaphylactic shock. This is quite rare, but if it happens to you or a loved one, it may require the intervention of trained medical personnel or even a visit to the local emergency room.

The possibility of an allergic reaction is just one more reason, as if anyone needed more, to take steps today to eradicate bedbugs from your home.

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Do Bed Bug Bites Hurt? - BEDBUGS.NET | The best source for ...

By Admin, Posted May 2nd 2012

People who wake up with bed bug bites often assume that the insects causing them such discomfort must be considerably large. This, however, is not the case. Bed bugs in fact are smaller than mosquitos, even though many people find that bed bug bites are the more bothersome of the two.

The average bed bug is no larger than about one quarter of an inch in length, though of course the juveniles of the species will be quite a bit smaller. Bed bugs are also almost completely flat, which can make them difficult to spot. These figures, however, only relate to the size of the adult bed bug that has not yet fed. After feeding from the blood of a host, the bed bug will swell up a little bit, becoming bloated; at this point it can no longer be called flat at all. Its length does not change appreciably as a part of this bloating, however.

More precise measurements of adult bed bugs suggest that they range from 4-5 mm in terms of length. They are usually from 1.5 to 3 mm in width.

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How Big are Bed Bugs? - BEDBUGS.NET | The best source for ...

Looking on kijiji I came accross a 1 BR apartment for $470/month which was right around my budget. My boyfriend and I went on a Sunday to go and view it while the current occupant was still there. After going to take a look I specifically asked the caretaker if they had ever had any issues with bed bugs in the building and he replied with a very insured "no". I was approved for this apartment owned by D7 Property management. A week after I was approved the previous occupant moved out (dec.1st 2012)and any day I was able to move in and would receive my keys as soon as I payed my first months rent ( December) which was paid on the 1st. My boyfriend and I went to the apartment with intentions to clean before moving in. I had brought my 6 month old son along.He got hungry so I then made him a bottle and sat on the living room floor and observed the baseboards which I then noticed that there were little insects crawling on them. I went and took a closer look and then realized they were bed bugs! I called my boyfriend over and immediately took everything off the carpet in the living room. I showed my boyfriend what I had seen and we then called the caretaker to come and take a look for himself! The caretaker had said that he had never seen them before and he insured me that he would contact the property management and have them call the exterminator (low-cost). I then went ahead and called the health inspector the next day just to make sure all necessary actions were taken and the problem was being properly taken care of. The bed bug hotline, which contacts the health inspector, informed me to document everything that's been going on and to take pictures as proof. They also let me know that if I wanted to, I was allowed to even go as far as knocking on other occupants doors and ask them myself if they've ever had any problems. I went to the apartment after speaking with them and took a couple photos. When I was leaving a lady from down the hall on the same floor was leaving her apartment. I said "excuse me, I was just wondering if you know if they've ever had any issues with bed bugs in the building?" She then told me that the girl that lived in the apartment that I was moving into had her place sprayed for them and she had hers sprayed too just in case. I thought it was kinda funny becaus the caretaker told me no, they've never had any issues. I made sure I was able to talk to the exterminator himself and ask what I was to do to maintain the apartment and prevent them from coming back. I also wanted to make sure they actually had someone there to spray. He informed me that I had to go to the apartment 24 hrs later and vacuum. I asked him if hes ever been to these apartments before and he said no but has been to the building. I later confronted the caretaker via telephone about what i had found out from a tenant on the same floor and his story than changed. The next day when i went back to the apartment to vacuum the caretaker informed me they had a 2 BR available now next door and it was only $540/month. My thought at that time was my son could have a bedroom and my boyfriend and I could have one as well for just $70 more a month. The caretaker allowed us to go and take a look at it and in the bathroom inside the bathtub, there, was a bed bug. I let him know I was definitely interested in this apartment but wanted it sprayed as well. Again I made sure that I was there for when they sprayed so I knew they actually did. When the exterminator was there they were spraying the apartment across the hall as well. The tenants in that suit were still sleeping when they showed up. I commented to the caretaker that its people like that that are the reason why stuff like this is an ongoing issue. Because I had to go back and vacuum the next day I traded the caretaker keys and gave him the keys for the 1 BR I was originally going to rent and he gave me the keys for the 2 BR. I let him know that by that weekend Saturday we would have the $111 difference and at the time I give him the money i will sign the lease. The following week, Wednesday, I received a call from the health inspector who asked me what happened with the situation and I informed him that they sprayed and the caretaker was taking care of the situation immediately. The health inspector let me know he was going to call the caretaker and make sure he was doing everything he was suppose to. I gave him the caretakers name and phone number. Around 3 pm that same day I also received a call from D7 property management. They immediately informed me that the caretaker received a phone call from the health inspector and suggested to me that I find somewhere else to move. They then told me that I didn't seem happy and i insisted that I appreciated everything the caretakers doing and that the exterminators are there the same day that the phone call is made.They then told me that if I was happy then they'd hate to see me mad. I had informed them that they cannot under any conditions evict me from the building for calling a health inspector and again they "suggested" that I find somewhere else to move and that there were Alot of sour faces in the office. I assured them that the tenancy board would be notified. Later that evening my boyfriend and I went to the building to pay the difference of $111 for the 2 bedroom and sign the 1 year lease. I tried knocking on the caretakers door, no answer. Tried calling, no answer. We decided we would go to the apartment and wait a few mins and try again. When we got to the door to the apartment, the lock had been changed. Cleaning products inside, no key that would unlock the door, I was furious and so was my boyfriend. We took a quick look outside and noticed that the caretakers lights were off, but were on when we arrived. We stood outside his door and called his house phone from both my phone and my boyfriends and still no answer. When we were trying to call we could hear the phone ringing inside and also heard the floor creaking as the caretaker was in the apartment but ignored our calls and the knocks on the door. I then tried calling police non emergency as to how to go about retrieving my belongings. They suggested I contact tenancy board as they could not do anything unless there was a dispute. I contacted the tenancy board the next day and explained the situation and told them I wanted all my money back. D7 was more than happy to but than gave me a hard time when I showed up for my money. Not only was I labeled "one of the assholes that come in" by an older lady working in one of the rooms in the back, but she also wanted me to wait or come back in a couple hours. I refused and demanded it immediately as I have better things to do than play along with their games and f*** around all day. After all this hassle I contacted a friend that works for the city and arranges inspections. My friend informed me that 242 Machray St. has had 15 + complaints about bed bugs in the past year. Lets just say next time I apply for an apartment i'm going to do my research and make sure there is no bad history with the property management and I get all info I need prior to applying. Also, I will NEVER rent from D7 and I will make sure that building gets inspected by higher authority as well as future and present residents are aware of the on goings that have happened.

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