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Bed bugs forced a hospital to temporarily close a waiting room. It happened at Cox South in Springfield. An exterminator treated the waiting room today.
We wondered how common bed bugs are, and how to deal with them. It turns out bed bugs are making more appearances around this area recently. Exterminators tell us what we need to be aware of if these creatures pay our homes a visit.
"They're parasitic insects they feed on blood," says David Blake with Ortex Pest Management Professional. Blake says bed bugs are bittng more of us lately. "Three to four years ago I'd get one to two calls a week. Now I'm getting five to ten calls a week and we're just one of many companies," says Blake.
Many don't realize bed bugs are visible. "They're the size of Lincon's head on a penny," says Blake.
Plus, bed bugs leave a mark. "Bites on skin is the number one thing. Or the stains they leave behind are rusty brown," explains Blake.
Travel increases the spread of bed bugs. "Springfield's a big college town so you've got kids coming in from all over. You've got Branson right down the road, so people coming to travel to go to Branson," explains Blake.
Bed bugs are attracted to our body heat, and the carbon dioxide we exhale. "So as you're laying in bed at night, you're warm, you're exhaling a lot," adds Blake.
Joel Z. Williams created a youtube video of a homemade method of exterminating bed bugs on a budget called "Create a Co2 Bedbug Trap using The "Missouri Method." Williams says, "I will teach you how to put together a long lasting, non-toxic, bed bug trap that relies on CO2."
There are also other methods. "There's a lot of circumstances with pests where it's okay to use homemade stuff but with something as severe as bed bugs, I wouldn't use anything like that. I'd call a professional who knows what they're talking about and knows how to apply the chemicals directly," says Blake.
Exterminators use a B&G gun to kill bed bugs. If they need to use this in your house, be prepared to leave for about five hours. "And it is expensive to get rid of," adds Blake. Blake says the minimum cost is about three to four hundred dollars. "But it can go up from there into the thousand dollar range," adds Blake.
Read more:
Bed Bugs Are Biting
