NYC Bed Bug Registry Infestation Maps, Residential and Hotel

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. As more Americans begin to travel during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, bed bugs are also hitching rides across the country and some cities are seeing a surge in bed bugs more than others.

Orkin, a company that provides essential pest control services, ranked the cities where bed bugs have been most reported. Its list is based on treatment data from the metro areas where Orkin performed the most bed bug treatments from Dec. 1, 2020, through Nov. 30, 2021. The ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.

So where does New York City rank on Orkins 2022 Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List?

New York ranks third, according to the list up nine spots from 2021s list.

Chicago and Philadelphia took the number one and two spots, respectively.

As consumers plan to travel this year, Orkin reminds Americans that bed bugs are still very much a threat. And taking into consideration the staffing shortages in the hospitality industry, its possible that bed bugs are not being monitored as often as desired, which is why diligent examination is key, Orkin says.

Bed bugs are typically 3/16 inch long, red to dark brown in color and are mostly nocturnal insects that come out of hiding to take blood meals from sleeping humans, according to Orkin. They are hematophagous, which means blood is their only food source. They can travel from place to place with ease, clinging to items such as luggage, purses and other personal belongings.

Bed bugs are a concern for everyone because they are master hitchhikers, traveling home with people when they likely dont realize it, said Ben Hottel, an Orkin entomologist. Their nature of hiding in difficult-to-find cracks and crevices can make them hard to control, which is why involving a trained professional at the sight of an introduction is recommended.

The pests are known for rapid population growth as females can deposit one to five eggs a day and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. They can survive for several months while waiting for their next blood meal, so theyre likely to emerge when a food source, like humans, become available.

Here are the top 10 bed bug cities, according to Orkin. The numbers in parentheses indicate if a city has ranked higher or lower than last years list.

Orkin also provided some tips for homeowners and travels to prevent bed bugs.

Inspect your home for signs of bed bugs regularly. Check the places during the day, including mattress tags and seams, and behind baseboards, headboards, electrical outlets and picture frames. Inspect when you move in, after a trip, when a service worker visits or after guests stay overnight, Orkin says.

You should also decrease clutter around your home to make it easier to spot bed bugs on your own or during professional inspections. And examine all secondhand furniture before bringing it inside your home.

During travel, Orkin says to remember the acronym S.L.E.E.P. to inspect for bed bugs.

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Worst cities for bed bugs: Heres where New York City ranks - SILive.com

ATLANTA, Jan. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago settled in for the second year in a row as the #1 city on Orkin's 2022 Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List, with Philadelphia and New York moving into the second and third place spots, respectively. These two Northeast cities saw the largest jumps with Philadelphia moving up 12 spots and New York moving up nine spots. As for newcomers to the list, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, landed at #42 and Lincoln, Nebraska, barely snuck in at #50.

Over the last year, as travel began to resurge in the U.S., restless Americans and bed bugs were hitching rides across the country for a getaway. As consumers plan for travel in 2022 amid the evolving pandemic, it's easy to forget that bed bugs are still very much a threat. Taking into consideration the staffing shortages associated with the hospitality industry, it might be the case that bed bug introductions are not being monitored as often as desired, which is why diligent examination is key.

The list is based on treatment data from the metro areas where Orkin performed the most bed bug treatmentsfrom December 1, 2020 November 30, 2021. The ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.

Typically, bed bugs are 3/16 inch long, red to dark brown in color and are mostly nocturnal insects that come out of hiding to take blood meals from sleeping humans. These pests are hematophagous, which means blood is their only food source. They can travel from place to place with ease, clinging to items such as luggage, purses and other personal belongings.

"Bed bugs are a concern for everyone because they are master hitchhikers, traveling home with people when they likely don't realize it," said Ben Hottel, an Orkin entomologist. "Their nature of hiding in difficult-to-find cracks and crevices can make them hard to control, which is why involving a trained professional at the sight of an introduction is recommended."

Bed bugs are known for rapid population growth. Females can deposit one to five eggs a day and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. They can survive for several months while waiting for their next blood meal, so they're likely to emerge when a food source, e.g., humans, become available.

"Unfortunately, many hospitality businesses are facing staffing shortages, and while the industry remains committed to cleanliness, now more than ever, travelers should be mindful of bed bug sightings and proactive in inspection efforts." said Hottel.

Here are proactive tips Orkin recommends for homeowners and travelers to prevent bed bugs:

At Home:

During travel, remember the acronym S.L.E.E.P. to inspect for bed bugs:

With well over a century of knowledge and experience with bed bugs and state-of-the-art tools and products, Orkin is well-equipped to assess your bed bug problem, offer trainings for short-staffed hospitality teams and mount a strategic response to rid your home of the pest and provide maximum protection.

For more information about bed bug prevention and bed bug control, visit Orkin.com. You can also find additional detection tips in Orkin's video on "How to Check for Bed Bugs in Hotel Rooms."

About Orkin, LLC

Founded in 1901, Atlanta-based Orkin is an industry leader in essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects. The company is committed to excellent service and operates more than 400 locations with more than 8,000 employees. Through Orkin's Points of Service process Investigate, Protect, Fortify, Keep Watch, Report and Follow Up Orkin provides customized services to approximately 1.7 million homeowners and businesses in the United States and has nearly 100 international locations in more than 65 countries. Orkin is committed to studying pest biology and applying scientifically proven methods. The company collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and eight major universities to conduct research and help educate consumers and businesses on pest-related health threats. Learn more about Orkin atOrkin.com. Orkin is a wholly-owned subsidiary ofRollins Inc.(NYSE: ROL). Follow us onFacebook,LinkedIn, YouTubeand Instagram.

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Chicago Takes Another Top Spot for Pests, This Time Ranking #1 on Orkin's Bed Bug Cities List - KPVI News 6

Contrary to what you may think, bed bugs dont have a preference between a spotless space or a filthy environment. As long as they have access to a food source, they can live anywhere, so claims that bed bugs are attracted to dirt and debris are simply unfounded. That being said, clutter does make it easier for these insects to hide, which may fuel the misconceptions. Their ideal environment is warm and provides access to a blood meal. Given those conditions, you may be wondering how fast bed bugs spread? Lets look at some of their travel habits and what you need to know about how quickly they can make themselves at home.THINK YOU HAVE BED BUGS?Use BugID to find out

There's no escaping them. Bed bugs can be found in all 50 states, warns Oregon State University. And the news gets worse: Not only are bed bugs present everywhere, but the university's researchers warn that these pests "are on the rise...and not just in unsanitary locations."

Contrary to what you may think, bed bugs don't have a preference between a spotless space or a filthy environment. As long as they have access to a food source, they can live anywhere! Claims that bed bugs are attracted to dirt and debris are simply unfounded and misleading. That being said, clutter does make it easier for these insects to hide, which may fuel such misconceptions. Their ideal environment is warm and provides them with access to a human blood meal.

Given those conditions, you may be wondering how fast bed bugs spread? Let's look at some of their travel habits and what you need to know about how quickly they can make themselves at home.

Bed bugs spread so easily and so quickly, that the University of Kentucky's entomology department notes that "it often seems that bed bugs arise from nowhere."

Bed bugs don't have wings, but they spread quickly by hitchhiking and are agile and fast-moving once they're in your home. Typically, you pick up one or more of these unwanted hitchhikers when you visit a home or hotel that already has a bed bug infestation. The bed bugs hide themselves in your clothing, luggage, furniture and other items, and you inadvertently introduce them to your own house when you return home.

"Once bed bugs are introduced, they can crawl from room to room, or floor to floor via cracks and openings in walls, floors and ceilings," warns researchers at the University of Kentucky.

Bedare typically only found within about 8 feet of a person's resting space. However, what's more concerning is the distance that bed bugs spread from one infestation site to another. This distance is almost limitless due to the ability of bed bugs to survive without food for extended periods of time.

Research shows that adult bed bugs can survive for over a year without food. This means that the pests can hide on furniture, used items, clothing, footwear, luggage and other materials you've brought. They can then wait until they've traveled great distances, only to be unpacked and brought into a new home with a fresh supply of food (i.e., you and your family).

Ultimately, it can take mere minutes to travel from room-to-room, with infestations growing in a matter of weeks or months. Every day, bed bugs can lay between one and 12 eggs, and anywhere from 200 to 500 eggs in a lifetime. Those numbers should speak for themselves if you're wondering how long it takes to get an infestation of bed bugs and how quickly those bed bugs can spread. It doesn't take long for a problem to grow out of control, so the sooner you contact a pest control professional for inspection and treatment, the better off you'll be.

Bed bugs need to take blood meals from warm-blooded hosts preferably humans to survive, and they'll hide near their sources until ready to feed. How fast bed bugs spread from room to room depends partly on how long it takes to move an infested piece of furniture, clothing, luggage and/or another household item from one room to another. They can also move throughout the house in search of other hosts. If the conditions are favorable, they'll continue breeding wherever the item (or items) is moved.

The rate of how quickly bed bugs spread from house-to-house increases the more time you spend traveling or inviting people over to your home. Bed bugs are great hitchhikers, and hotels, hostels, airplanes, cruise ships and public transportation are ideal places to pick up these uninvited guests.

Bed bugs need blood meals to survive as well as to breed, but they don't physically live on human hosts. In fact, how bed bugs spread from person-to-person really doesn't have anything to do with people themselves but rather, the movement of infested items. For example, house guests could unknowingly bring them into your home from their travels and kids could bring them back on their backpacks after attending school.

Bed bugs are opportunistic, hiding and waiting until it's convenient to feed. And if their areas are disturbed, they'll find a way to move to a neighboring location, which can make the situation much more difficult to inspect and treat. Contact a Terminix bed bug control professional to get professional help in stopping the spread of bed bugs in your home.

Stopping the spread of bed bugs is all about slowing and preventing the transmission of these pests as they migrate from location to location.

First, always inspect anything that you're bringing into your home, especially if it's items from another household (e.g., used books, used clothing, used furniture, used children's toys, etc.) or if it's your own items that you used and stored in a hotel room, airplane, train, cruise ship, etc. Signs of bed bugs you should look for include:

If you notice any signs of bed bugs on your possessions, isolate the items and treat them for bed bugs before you bring them into your house.

If you're trying to stop the spread of bed bugs in the midst of an ongoing, current bed bug infestation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the following strategies are the most effective for keeping an infestation from spreading:

A bed bug infestation needs immediate professional treatment and control to keep these resilient pests from spreading throughout your entire home. Even one single missed bed bug can lead to a re-infestation if you are not careful.

At Terminix, we can help provide on-site inspections and put together a bed bug treatment plan tailored to the severity of your problem, the layout of your home and your personal lifestyle needs and preferences. Contact Terminix's bed bug professionals today!

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How Fast Do Bed Bugs Spread | Terminix

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Mount Sinai dealt with a bedbug outbreak that had one staff member comparing the premises to the Rikers Island prison complex.

Some employees were alerted on Sunday to the itchy problem on the second floor of the Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Center on Madison Avenue, sources told The Post.

But it wasnt until Wednesday that pest control workers were seen in the hospital, sources said.

That led one nurse to slam management as completely reckless.

This is a hospital, not Rikers, the nurse said, referring to the chaotic city prison complex.

The bedbugs were found in an area of the hospital where patients rehab from spinal cord injuries, sources said.

Management should be ashamed for waiting until (Wednesday) to call pest control and continuing to put our patients in danger when they come here to heal, one physician told The Post. A worried and upset relative of a patient had alerted him to the presence of the pesky bugs on Sunday afternoon, he said.

But in a statement to The Post, the hospital said the issue was dealt with promptly.

As soon as it was discovered, we brought in environmental management and pest control, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai Health System said. The spokesperson confirmed the bedbugs but didnt offer an exact timeline of when the problem came to the administrations attention.

Earlier this week, bedbugs were identified in and around a staff area, the spokesperson said.

As per hospital protocol, environmental services and pest control were notified. The area was cleared of personal belongings, closed, treated and disinfected.

A dog trained in pest inspection sniffed around the second floor with a little black vest with the words Working Dog emblazoned on it.

Some workers were wearing extra PPE amid the infestation, with a physician claiming to have seen one nurse in head to toe PPE gear.

One former patient also told The Post that bedbugs were found in the hospitals ER about a month ago, and he had to hire an inspection company to check his Upper West Side home to make sure none came home with him.

That was confirmed by John Brickman, a partner at NYC Bed Bug Inspections but he stressed that Mount Sinai was not a particular problem area, with other hospitals also having issues.

We get calls from everywhere hotels, department stores, airports and, yeah, hospitals, he said, stressing that they are normally just isolated incidents that are treated and quickly cleared.

It never stops. Anywhere theres human traffic you run the risk of catching bedbugs, he warned.

Hospitals are particularly vulnerable because they cant deny people at the door so they end up taking whatever they have, he said.

Some hospitals also deal with more homeless people than others, and thats why you have some that are more infested than others because of the type of people coming in and out.

But generally theres a protocol in place at each one to help remediate anything thats happening, he said.

The company was not called in for service in this weeks problem.

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Mount Sinai contends with bedbug outbreak in rehab area - New York Post

"Ahoy, mateys!" said the bed bugs. Courtesy the motherfucking Navy

Well! The Seattle Times Editorial Board and the Stranger Election Control Board agree. Vote Sarah Perry for King County Council.

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Yesterday in Slog PM, Charles overviewed the racist mailer from Councilmember Kathy Lambert that targeted her colleague Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Lambert seems to have stuck to her indignation. She told KING 5 it was "preposterous" that her actions were racist, saying, "I do a lot of work in Africa so if I had something against him because of his color I wouldn't be doing the work I do in Africa. She's had plenty of time to learn from her mistakes.

Gay City has a new home: They hope to move into the Pine Bellevue office building at 400 E Pine by the end of the year, reports Capitol Hill Seattle blog.

Sub flub: A Bremerton-based submarine called the USS Connecticut, described as "one of the U.S. Navy's most advanced and secretive submarines," hit an "object" while submerged in the South China Sea on October 2, the Navy announced today. 11 sailors were injured, although none of the injuries are life-threatening. Here's the Navy:

The submarine remains in a safe and stable condition. USS Connecticuts nuclear propulsion plant and spaces were not affected and remain fully operational. The extent of damage to the remainder of the submarine is being assessed. The U.S. Navy has not requested assistance. The incident will be investigated.

Maybe we can blame... bed bugs? The USS Connecticut has a history of nasty bed bugs. This is from March of this year:

It got so bad that some crew members took to sleeping in chairs or on the floor of the crews mess to escape the elusive bloodsuckers during their deployment, said one petty officer.

People were getting eaten alive in their racks, said the petty officer, who alleges that the infestation spread to several enlisted berthing spaces and at least one officer state room.

[...]

If someones sleep deprived because theyre in the rack getting eaten alive by bedbugs, he could fall asleep at (the controls) and run us into an underwater mountain, the petty officer said.

Just saying.

A new Senate Judiciary Committee report details the extraordinary lengths Trump went to in his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, pushing GOP leaders across the country to declare massive voter fraud, and using intimidation tactics against the Justice Department to the point where there were almost mass resignations. Please, no Trump 2024.

Meanwhile Trump and his lawyers are advising his former aidesincluding Mark Meadows, Kash Patel, Dan Scavino, and Stephen Bannonto ignore subpoenas to appear before Congress and answer questions about the former president's involvement with the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the capitol. (Good! We'd love to see all these guys in jail.)

Pfizer pharmaceutical is asking the FDA for emergency approval of their COVID vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, and an FDA advisory committee has agreed to consider it at a meeting later this month.

Good luck trying to go to the San Juans: Crew shortages are leading to lots of cancellations.

Today in "things we don't talk about enough": "Artist puts coffin on Trump's Hollywood star to highlight preventable COVID-19 deaths."

People are eating up the news that William Shatner is headed to space, thanks to Jeff Bezos's Kent-headquartered Blue Origin: "Bezos reaches for a star," reads one New York Times headline out today, featuring snazzy lines, like: "The billionaire space race is happening, whether we choose to pay attention or not. Of course, the billionaires would prefer that we did."

We're no Musk fanboys, but we've been thinking about this exchange all week:

What do you call the neighborhood around the Seattle Center: Lower Queen Anne? Uptown? West Seattle Center? The question came up today because we mentioned there's a new record shop opening up in Queen Anne, and someone on Reddit complained we should've said Uptown.

The City calls it Uptown: Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis proposed a resolution earlier this year to officially call that area Uptown. It passed 8-0 (Strauss didn't vote), and Google followed suit by updating its map. But culturally... the name doesn't seem to stick.

Nathalie Graham texted Councilmember Lewis about his resolution back in April: Here's what he said.

What do you say to people who think the change is dumb?

Lewis: "Uptown is in the process of forging its own unique identity separate from Queen Anne. They asked me to put forward a resolution affirming the Uptown name for the neighborhood. People are free to call it what they want, but its clear Uptowners want that to be the official name."

We're sticking with Lower Queen Anne: But we're open-minded about Uptown. That said, we don't have skin in this game; most of us live on Capitol Hill

Wait, wait, one last thing: Is Shaq in Uptown?

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Slog PM: The Seattle Times Backs Sarah Perry, Bed-Bug Submarine Hits Object but Who Knows Why, and Where Is That Record Shop Opening? -...

The New York subway system saw a spike in filthy train cars last month, after five months of an overall decline in truly gross rides, according to internal reports from the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

The New York Post reports that May 2021 saw 132 isolated incidents of soiled train car interiors, up from 118 in May 2020, when high Covid rates in New York City decreased ridership.

It includes 27 reports of trains covered in poop, 26 trains with vomit inside, 21 soaked in urine and six cars with blood, according to MTA records.

There were, of course, previously fewer people on the subway in 2020, but as New Yorkers and tourists make their way back, the trains are likely to experience turbulence as people readjust to the daily commute.

Last month, soiled cars resulted in more than 25 hours of delays, per the internal documents.

Beyond human waste, trashed cars and Covid-19 cleaning amounts for the pulled trains. At least 19 of the 132 reports on cars also mentioned either homeless of unruly subway riders, according to the Post.

One train had needles scattered across the floor, while another had an apparent bed bug infestation.

Workers recorded a total of 1,090 soiled cars in 2021 through June 14, the MTA said.

New York saw a sharp increase in homelessness during its heightened pandemic year, and the reality facing many without shelter continues, even as the city returns to form around it. Increased presence of unhoused people on the subway, which provides shelter for many, is thought to be a symptom of this wave.

The unruly behavior is also troubling, and something to address, according to a statement from MTA spokesman Andrei Berman.

Incidents like this are unfortunate. Theyre unsanitary for our customers and deeply unfair and disturbing for transit cleaners, he said. Theyre also a reminder of the need for more mental health outreach and social service support in the city and throughout the system.

The rest is here:
Poop, blood, bedbugs and needles: Report reveals how filthy NYC subway is - indy100

NEW YORK CITY Even the bed bugs left New York City in 2021.

As the COVID-19 pandemic raged and thousands fled the city for Long Island, Florida and other less-affected areas, the insects hitched rides out of town too, according to experts at the pest control company Orkin.

In January 2020, NYC was the sixth most infested city in the nation for the pests. This year, it doesn't even make the top 10. The ranking places the city in 12th place.

The list is based on treatment data from the metro areas where the company performed the most residential and commercial bed bug treatments between Dec. 1, 2019, and Nov. 30, 2020, the company said.

Most infested was Chicago, with Washington D.C. and Los Angeles making the top 10 too.

See the full list of top cities for bed bugs.

The human exodus from NYC might well have caused the drop. Bed bugs are widely associated with travel, hitching rides with people. But they could also just be lying in wait in empty city homes.

"Bed bugs can survive for several months without a blood meal and could be hungry if they have survived unnoticed after decreased travel amid the pandemic," Cindy Mannes, executive director of the Professional Pest Management Alliance, said.

The insects are tiny just under a quarter-inch long, according to Orkin. They're usually dark brown or red in color and are hematophagous, meaning blood is their only food source. Bed bugs take blood meals from sleeping humans and can travel from place to place with ease, stowing away in things such as luggage, purses and other personal belongings.

If you plan to travel this summer, there are a few things you can do to prevent bed bugs from coming home with you. Orkin recommends people follow the "SLEEP" method to crack down on possible bed bug infestations:

If you need more guidance on eliminating bed bugs from your home, the Environmental Protection Agency has a step-by-step guide for evaluating and treating the infestation.

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Even Bed Bugs Fled NYC In The Past Year - Patch.com

This is one superlative no one wants their city to win. Pest control company Orkin recently released its Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list, compiled with data of the places where Orkin performed the most treatments for bed bugs from December 2019 through November 2020. The reality is that bed bugs have shown up in cities and towns all across America, from mansions to cramped apartments. Theyve been increasing in number in the United States since the turn of the century due to increased travel and limitations on certain insecticides, but numbers have been especially high in these cities. Theres not too much you can do to stop them; early detection is critical because there is no foolproof way to keep them out of your home. Here are the warning signs youre about to have a bed bug problem.

Taking first place on the list was Chicago. Clearly, bed bugs love the Windy City. Rounding out the top (bottom?) five, in order, were Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Detroit; and Columbus, Ohio. Chicago moved up from being third on the list last year and swapped with Washington, D.C., which took the top spot in 2020. Chicago also took the top spot for the most rat-infested city. Yuck!

Cities six through ten were Cleveland; Indianapolis; Cincinnati; Los Angeles; and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Grand Rapids, at spot ten in 2021, jumped a whopping eight spots from last year. Los Angeles moved down five spots from last year and New York, a city you think would come in much higher on the list, moved down six spots from last year, coming in at number 12. No matter where you are, beds arent the only places youll find these peststhis is how to spot bed bugs in your airplane seat.

So if you live in or are visiting any of these cities, its wise to be a little more vigilant about your susceptibility to bed bugs and maybe stock up on a bed bug killer like this. According to the CDC, bed bugs often come into contact with people by way of luggage, bags, clothes, bedding, furniture, or anywhere they can easily hide and hitch a ride. Always inspect hotel rooms or any place you might be stayingheres a guide to how to do so properly.

Sources:

The post This City Has the Worst Bed Bug Infestation in America appeared first on Reader's Digest.

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This City Has the Worst Bed Bug Infestation in America - AOL

And prevent their return

Maybe I was an entomologist or insect in a past life. Ants, spiders, and bees, and more, fascinate me. I release spiders to their outdoor space or leave them alone when theyre inside my house. Though I love most of them, there are a few exceptions. Im not a fan of roaches in my home. They're common in the New Mexico desert, where we used to live. I'd sweep them out to live the rest of their days in my yard instead of the kitchen.

And then there were bedbugs.

Theyve altered my relationship with insects forever. Im itching just thinking about them. For those who are allergic (Im one of them), they leave rows or clusters of itchy bites overnight.

If you suspect you have bedbugs anywhere in your home, youll have to be relentless in eliminating them.

Heres how you can (hopefully) get rid of bedbugs:

Bedbugs are round, brownish-red, and somewhat flat before they feed. Theyre about the size of a flea. Like me, you might not see them often or at all. The first one I found was as filled with my blood. It didnt even look like a bug at first. They look like the tip of a candlewick when full.

Midway through my professional treatment, I didnt expect bites after he sprayed. They bit me eleven times in one night. Seriously, these bugs are no joke. It mightve taken only one of them to dine on my forearm, neck, and thighs.

Theyre more likely if you live in a rental. Ive always rented apartments as an adult. Even with flea-carrying cats, Ive never been subject to this many bites from an insect. They got my attention.

If you live in an apartment, check with your neighbors. My next-door neighbor had more bedbugs than I do, and we share a common wall. Theyre likely hiding there, then sneak in to suck my blood in my sleep. Ive never been so motivated to rid my room of bugs.

I had bedbugs in my room for months. I noticed several tiny bites on my knee and wrist once or twice in late June. I recalled a similar pattern on my youngest daughter last year, so I had a feeling they were here. We went to visit my parents for a month, and they returned with a vengeance. I suddenly had up to a dozen bites every night.

We probably had an infestation when we lived in Oregon, but never pursued treatment because we were about to move. A variety of insects thrive in New Mexico, and we get plenty coming inside. Bedbugs take it to a new level. They can survive without a host for up to 18 months, even in a sealed trash bag.

There are several steps. First, wash and dry all clothing, pillows, and bedding on hot. Put everything else in sealed plastic bags. Include books and picture frames. Discard whatever might be a good hiding place, as finances allow.

Vacuum throughly, then empty out the canister or dispose of the bag in the outside trash bin. Continue to vacuum before, during, and after treatment.

Heres the deal with bagging your things. You have to look through every item since they dont all die in there. I suggest going outside, far from your door. Inspect for holes, rips, or tears. Flip through books and notebooks. Shake out baskets. I found a few in a wicker basket Id kept by my bed. No wonder they were after me so often. I threw it in the garbage.

Having a bedbug invasion isnt about overall cleanliness. Anyone can bring them in. But knowing youve cleared what you can of any chance meeting is the best way to keep them at bay. Contrary to what some people believe, you won't only find bedbugs in dirty dwellings. They're parasites, which means they search for humans to feed on. If you're warm-blooded, bedbugs will try to find you. But cleaning your space will help you find and eliminate them.

3.Use essential oils

I dropped and rolled all the essential oils before going to bed. I used a combo of lavender, cedarwood on my neck, wrists, and chest. I tried a homemade concoction of peppermint, rosemary, tea tree, and cedarwood to spray around the perimeter and on my sheets.

I used bug repellent with catnip, lemongrass, rosemary, and geranium oil. Badger Bug Balm works well and smells delicious. The catnip spray is called Life Stings. Theyre both organic and dont contain DEET.

I have to get honest about my use of essential oils. They do help, dont get me wrong. Theyre effective to an extent. But theyre not reliable to completely repel these bedbugs. They deter them for a time until you have to reapply. They dont like the scent, but they want you more.

Thats why oils are only a part of the picture. The most important thing to do is to call an exterminator.

Brian, my bedbug guy, as I affectionately call him, has the poison to kill bedbugs in every life stage. He sprays the carpet, mattress, and baseboards. Then he shakes dust thats similar to diatomaceous earth around the perimeter. It cuts the bedbugs, and they die from their injuries.

After the first treatment, we checked in about sightings and bites. When I reported seeing them and getting bites, he applied a second dose a week later. They remained until after we left that apartment. Bedbugs dont give up that easily.

I recommend you maintain a working relationship with your bedbug exterminator. Stay in contact with them to report your observations. We rent, so all I have to do is text or call him. Youll have to research costs, but it seems he has a flat rate, regardless of how many visits.

As a nature lover, I initially wanted to live harmoniously with bedbugs. When I realized no harmony comes from bugs biting me every night, I had to do something about it.

Since humans have interfered with the cycle of nature too many times, we need to take measures we might not have had to worry about in the past. Im sure bedbugs are on the rise due to our imbalanced ecosystem. Unfortunately, it came down to Us vs.Them. If you have bedbugs, youll need to take action right away. They want to survive, and theyll do anything they can to stay in your home.

Clear out your belongings, clean thoroughly, apply essential oils, and call a professional exterminator. Communicate with neighbors if you live in an apartment, condo, or duplex. Theyll likely need treatment, too. Dont give up until theyre gone. Keep the faith, even if it takes years. I hope my experience and newfound expertise will help someone else stay out of bedbug hell.

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4 Ways to Get Rid of Bed Bugs | News Break