North East Bed Bug Forum

If your house, rental property, hotel, or motel becomes infested with bed bugs one of the first precautions from getting bitten by these nasty little parasites is to find a good quality bed bug mattress encasement so that the bugs can’t get to you in your sleep and feed on your blood.  A good quality bed bug mattress encasement should be made of a strong and durable plastic so that it will last for years. This bed bug mattress encasement should also have a zipper with small teeth so that the bed bugs can’s sneak out of it. There are some bed bug mattress encasement’s out in the market that have wide teeth in the zipper and these are almost useless. These mattress encasement’s for bed bugs are a great first defense for bed bug control and also a great way to help make the infestation extermination process much easier.

It is believed that bed bugs thrive in dirty environments, such as, unkempt homes and seedy motel rooms. This is not true. bed bugs can thrive anywhere there is a source of food, meaning your human blood. If you have or think you have a bed bug problem that is coming from your bed this mattress encasement will contain it. If the bed bugs are locked in your mattress, with no way to get out, they will eventually die from lack of food.

Bed bug eggs are very small and a translucent white color, they are extremely hard to spot with the human eye. Once laid in your bed, these eggs will hatch into nymphs. Bed bug nymphs are very small also, being about 1/16th of an inch. These parasitic nymphs look just like adults, but a smaller version, kinda like a mini-me bed bug adult. It takes about 5 weeks for the nymphs to become adults. During this time the nymphs go through 5 molts to reach adult size.   A molt means that the bed bug nymphs shed their old, smaller skin, kind of like a snake does to make room for growth. The bed bug nymphs and adults, for that matter must feed before each molt. Their food is you, human blood. The female bloodsuckers produce about 5 to 7 eggs a week, they can lay up to 500 of these eggs in a lifetime. Bed Bugs can live, without food, for almost a year.

Killing bed bugs, their eggs, and other insects in their entirety is not that hard if you use the most effective procedure, it’s elevated temperature. Temperatures above 120°F will kill most insects, including bed bugs provided they cannot escape to a cooler location. The advantage of steam is that heating is intense and immediate, which kills insects, bed bugs and eggs on contact.

Vapor steamers can be used for bed bug and insect treatment and they tend to be very effective. These vapor steamers are just like those used for sanitizing floor drains except they use less water vapor. When killing insects and bed bugs with heat, the less moisture used the better, especially when treating mattresses and other slow-drying materials. This helps minimize the chance that mold growth will occur.

It is important to have a commercial-grade vapor steamer with a water tank large enough to accommodate extended use between fill-ups. Most machines come with variable steam outputs and multiple attachments. Larger brush heads on the bed bug insect steamer usually work best where as smaller brush heads are less efficient and use too much pressure, causing insects, bed bugs and their eggs to be blown off whatever surface you are trying to elliminate them from. While some of the dislodged insects, bed bugs and their eggs may die, others could survive and be scattered here and there.
Causing the infestation to spread to other areas.

When using steam, it is important that the insects, bed bugs and their eggs be exposed to high enough leathal temperatures for an extended period of time. Ideally the steamer head should be moved directly over the surface being treated. if you hold the vapor steam head too far away from the surface you are trying to treat this will only give the bugs a warm moist bath kinda like a sauna bath. A good way to confirm that lethal temperatures are being achieved is to use a digital infrared thermometer. Instantaneous temperature readings can be had by pointing the device at the area just treated. If you don’t have a infrared thermometor to test the temperature of your insect vapor steamer, you can hold your hand several inches from the steam head and slowly and carefully move it closer. Vapor too hot to touch is what’s needed to kill insects, bed bugs and their eggs on contact. An effective way to further elevate the temperature of emitted vapor is to wrap the brush head of the steamer in a towel. A small hand towel works well and can be secured to the vapor steam head using clips or elastic bands to hold it in place. This technique produces vapor so hot that the steam head can now be moved quickly and efficaciously over infested and suspect areas. Using the towel method, lethal temperatures can be achieved several inches from the steam head, which can be useful when treating hard-to-reach areas (e.g., between cushions of upholstery or the framework of sofas and box springs). Towels that become overly moist can be replaced.

Steam can be used to treat almost any area where insects, bed bugs and their eggs are found or suspected. Places that you may want to use a vapor steam machine to kill the bed bugs and isects include beds, couches and recliners, baseboards and carpet edges, beneath and within nightstands and dressers and floor areas (especially under and around beds). Avoid treating finished wood surfaces or delicate items that might be damaged by high heat. Vacuums and especially steamers are useful when battling bed bugs. Neither, though, affords residual protection against bugs or eggs which may have been missed.

Dozens of foreign insects, including bed bugs, and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 9/11, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation’s well being, safety, and  food supply.

At the time, hundreds of agricultural scientists responsible for stopping invasive species, such as bed bugs at the border were reassigned to anti-terrorism duties in the newly formed Homeland Security Department – a move that scientists say cost billions of dollars in retail damage, hospitality damage,  crop damage and eradication efforts from New york hotelier’s and clothing retailers to California vineyards to Florida citrus groves.

The consequences come home to Americans with this form of biological/ecological terrorism and the risk of environmental damage from chemicals needed to combat the pests.

If terrorist could slip a virus into an insects system that can pass on to humans the results would be catastrophic.

An Associated Press analysis of inspection records found that border-protection officials were so engrossed in stopping terrorists that they all but ignored the country’s exposure to destructive new insects and infections – a quietly growing menace that has been attacking, Americans, cattle,  fruits and vegetables and even prized forests ever since.

“Whether they know it or not, every person in the country is affected by this, whether by the quality or cost of their food, the pesticide residue on food or not being able to enjoy the outdoors because beetles are killing off the trees,” said Mark Hoddle, an entomologist specializing in invasive species at the University of California, Riverside.

Homeland Security officials acknowledge making mistakes and say they are now working to step up agricultural inspections at border checkpoints, airports and seaports.

This is a real threat, just look at West Nile Virus and Equine Encephalitis past on by insects and birds.  A virus given enough backing by money and time to manufacture by terrorists could be delivered by a mere mosquito or bed bug.

Many invasive species are carried into the U.S. by people who are either unaware of the laws or are purposely trying to skirt quarantine regulations. The hardest to stop are fruits, vegetables and spices carried by international travelers or shipped by mail. If tainted with insects or infections, they could carry contagions capable of devastating crops.

Plants and cut flowers can harbor larvae, as can bags of bulk commodities such as rice. Beetles have been found hitchhiking on the bottom of tiles from Italy, and boring insects have burrowed into the wooden pallets commonly used in cargo shipments.

Invasive species have been sneaking into North America since Europeans arrived on the continent, and many got established long before 9/11. But the abrupt shift in focus that followed the attacks caused a steep decline in agricultural inspections that allowed more pests to invade American farms and forests.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the AP obtained data on border inspections covering the period from 2001 to 2010. The analysis showed that the number of inspections, along with the number of foreign species that were stopped, fell dramatically in the years after the Homeland Security Department was formed.

Over much of the same period, the number of crop-threatening pests that got into the U.S spiked, from eight in 1999 to at least 30 last year.

The bugs targeted some of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions, particularly California and Florida, with their warm year-round climates that make it easy for foreign species to survive the journey and reproduce in their new home.

A look at the damage:

No fewer than 19 Mediterranean fruit fly infestations took hold in California, and the European grapevine moth triggered spraying and quarantines across wine country.
The Asian citrus psyllid, which can carry a disease that has ecimated Florida orange groves, crossed the border from Mexico, threatening California’s $1.8 billion citrus industry.
New Zealand’s light brown apple moth also emerged in California, prompting the government in 2008 to bombard the Monterey Bay area with 1,600 pounds of pesticides. The spraying drew complaints that it caused respiratory problems and killed birds. Officials spent $110 million to eradicate the moth, but it didn’t work.
The sweet orange scab, a fungal disease that infects citrus, appeared in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, which all imposed quarantines.
Chili thrips, rice cutworms and the plant disease gladiolus rust also got into Florida, which saw a 27 percent increase in new pests and pathogens between 2003 and 2007.
The erythrina gall wasp decimated Hawaii’s wiliwili trees, which bear seeds used to make leis.
Forests from Minnesota to the Northeast were also affected by beetles such as the emerald ash borer, many of which arrived in Chinese shipping pallets because regulations weren’t enforced.

In all, the number of pest cases intercepted at U.S. ports of entry fell from more than 81,200 in 2002 to fewer than 58,500 in 2006, before creeping back up in 2007, when the farm industry and members of Congress began complaining.

Once the pests get established, costs can quickly spiral out of control. The most widely quoted economic analysis, conducted in 2004 by Cornell University, puts the total annual cost of all invasive species in the U.S. at $120 billion. Much of that burden is borne by consumers in the form of higher food costs and by taxpayers who pay for government eradication programs.

For instance, if the destructive infection known as citrus canker were to become established in California, which produces most of the nation’s fresh oranges, consumers would pay up to $130 million more a year for the fruit, according to an ongoing study by scientists at the University of California at Davis.

“It’s all about early detection, and it wasn’t their priority at the time,” said A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture from 2003 through 2010, who was sharply criticized for the spraying in Monterey Bay.

And it’s not just humans who pay the cost. Wildlife and beneficial insects die when fields are sprayed.

The problems began when the Homeland Security Department absorbed inspectors who worked for the Department of Agriculture. The move put plant and insect scientists alongside gun-toting agents from Customs and Border Protection and resulted in a bitter culture clash.

Agriculture supervisors were replaced in the chain of command by officials unfamiliar with crop science. Hundreds of inspectors resigned, retired or transferred to other agencies. Some of the inspectors who remained on the job lost their offices and desks and were forced to work out of the trunks of their cars.

It took authorities years “to learn there’s an important mission there,” said Joe Cavey, head of pest identification for a USDA inspection service. “Yeah, maybe a radioactive bomb is more important, but you have to do both things.”

At the time of the merger, at least 339 of 1,800 inspector positions were vacant. By 2008, vacancies had increased to 500, or more than a quarter of the original workforce.

The effect of the exodus was profound. One East Coast port director told a congressional investigator that she was left without a single agriculture inspector. An airport technician in Bangor, Maine, said there wasn’t one within 50 miles for two years.

One agriculture inspector who defied authority was demoted, despite being credited with saving California’s citrus industry from the potentially devastating effects of canker.

While working at an international mail center outside San Francisco, the inspector found a package destined for Ventura labeled “books and chocolates.” Inside were 350 citrus cuttings from Japan that were infested with canker, which has killed more than 2 million trees across Florida but does not exist in California.

He showed it to a supervisor, who, according to the Congressional Record, replied: “Look, we are here to protect the country from acts of terrorism. What do you expect me to do?”

The inspector sidestepped the supervisor and called the USDA. The resulting investigation ended with arrests and the incineration of 4,000 potentially infected trees that had been growing at an unregistered nursery in a prime citrus region.

But within a month, the whistleblower was demoted to search through the dirty laundry of passengers returning from foreign trips.

Government officials now acknowledge the problems and say they began taking corrective steps after Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California threatened in 2008 to propose a bill that would move inspectors back to the USDA and increase their numbers.

“That was a huge moment for everybody,” said Kevin Harriger, Custom and Border Protection’s acting executive director of agriculture programs. “We took it on the chin and said, `You’re right. We heard you. We’ve been remiss in several key areas.”‘

Critics in Congress say serious damage has already been done. Sen. Daniel Akaka, a Hawaii Democrat and member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said the improvements aren’t happening fast enough. He’s asked the Government Accountability Office to reopen an investigation.

“When change like this happens, you hope people get it right the first time,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat who also investigated the problems. “But if they don’t, it’s not them who pay the price. It’s society that does.”

It’s brilliant, actually. The resurgence of bed bugs is insidious. Bed bugs cause anxiety and paranoia, inflict pain and suffering, disrupt travel and make us question our American values (“domestic tranquility,” “general welfare” and “inalienable right to … the pursuit of happiness,” etc.).

Bed bugs are the perfect al-Qaida soldiers: They don’t care who they bite, they’re so hardy they can survive more than a year between feedings (a “feeding” being “sucking human blood while the victim sleeps”) and they can travel unmolested on the nation’s airlines via our luggage. Standard pesticides have no effect; Agent Orange-level poison only affects our own fertility and DNA integrity.

The terrorists apparently thought the TSA-inflicted torture to smoke them out was too tame: It wasn’t enough to cause us to stand in long queues, remove our shoes, belts and jackets in public, pack toiletries in sizes of 3 ounces or less (or go without mousse and hairspray), and subject us to uncomfortable questioning regarding the origin of our computers, shoes and chocolates. Oh no, when the terrorists said “there will be blood,” they weren’t kidding.

The government’s response? Stoking the fear mongering fire: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called the bed bug invasion ”an alarming resurgence.”

“Alarming”? Indeed. Imagine if the Homeland Security Advisory System listed threat levels for hotels:

Code Red: “Stay home or risk having to be fed upon by blood-sucking pests for the rest of your natural life.”
Code Orange: “High probability of having to burn all the bedding, beds, pajamas and baby blankets in your ZIP code in a conflagration for the ages.”
Code Yellow: “Elevated risk for having to destroy all your luggage, clothing and expensive shoes.”
Code Blue: “Be guarded about who you shake hands with, sit next to and dine with. You don’t know who you can trust.”
Code Green: “Yeah, like we’re even going to be ‘green for go’ again. In your dreams, you capitalist American with a predilection for caviar, porn and sleeping in on Sundays.”

You know how the modern world has added new meaning to harmless prayers like “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take”? Well, I leave you with this “harmless” wish for sweet dreams:

The new Al Qaeda motto may be:  “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

Bed Bugs are very hard insects to get rid of in your home or business once they have a foothold.  You may find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, itching, and wondering where these bedbugs that are biting you are coming from and how the heck do you get rid of them.

The best option for getting rid of bed bugs that are biting you and causing you to itch is to call a professional bed bug management company.  If you can’t do that or are stubburn, thinking you will handle this bed bug infestation on your own, there are a couple of home remedies that might work.

A very good home remedy for trying to get rid of bed bugs is to use heat in killing them.  Heat is an effective maneuver to use in exterminating bed bugs, their eggs, and any other pesky insect for that matter. Any insect, including bed bugs, do not survive extreme heat. The cooking or thermal death temperature for bed bugs, there eggs, and other pesky insects is 120 degrees Fahrenheit, so washing bedding, including your pillows, and clothes in the dryer with a high heat setting will generally kill all bed bugs.
for bed bug infested stuff that is too big to put in a dryer like your mattress, using a hot steam machine that is designed to kill bed bugs can be used effectively to kill both bed bugs, their eggs, and other insects quickly, even if they are hiding deep in the mattress or box-spring. To be an effective bed bug steamer, experts recommended that the steam coming out from the tip of the cleaner needs to be above 200 °F (as compared to 120 °F of heat that will only kill bed bugs, their eggs, and other insects on contact but not those that are hidden deep inside the mattress or sofa.)

According to many reports, diatomaceous earth has been proven to be an effective bed bug killer for the home. Make from the fossilized remains of hard-shelled algae, this insecticide is both environmentally friendly and non-toxic. The diatomaceous earth fine powder contains razor sharp particles that abrades the waxy cuticle that covers the bed bugs’ exoskeleton, causing them to die with contact.

Apply diatomaceous earth along the base boards and rub it in the carpets after each vacuuming to eliminate and prevent the spread of bed bugs.

We hope these home remedies for killing bed bugs, their eggs, and other pesky insects help but, the best possible solution to a bed bug problem causing you to itch during the night is to call in the Calvary.

How can I check for and get rid of bed bugs in my bedroom?

First 0ff if you have an idea or think that you may have bed bugs hiding in your, bedroom  there are some things you can look for as signs of a bed bug infestation.

Use a bright flashlight to look for bed bugs or their fecal matter, which looks like dark droppings in you bedroom furniture.  You may use a hair dryer set on high in order to try and force out the bed bugs from any hiding places, cracks, or crevices they may be hiding in.

Some good places you may look for in your bedroom for bed bugs hiding are behind your headboard, in the tufts and seems of your mattress, pull back some of the fabric on your box spring and look inside it, this is an infamous hiding spot for bed bugs, look along the bedroom baseboards where there are any cracks or crevices, in and around your nightstands, any books that you may have in your bedroom, window and door casings, pictures hanging on the walls, molding, furniture, wallpaper and any cracks you may have in the plaster.

These are all places in your bedroom you may find bed bugs residing in.

If you find any bed bugs in your bedroom or not is irrelevant.  You should also take a proactive approach in getting rid of bed bugs in your bed room by cleaning all the areas bed bugs are likely to reside, like the bedding, linens, curtains, drugs, carpets, clothes etc…

To get rid of bed bugs in your bedroom items you should first off wash all your items in hot water and dry them in the hottest setting on your dryer you can use.  To help get rid of bed bugs in your mattress and box spring you should scrub them with a stiff brush, this will help dislodge any bed bugs and/or their eggs.

Also to help get rid of bed bugs in your bedroom you should vacuum your mattress, box spring, bed frame, any furniture in the bedroom, floor and the carpets.  After you are done with your bed bug vacuuming you should take the vacuum bag out of the vacuum, put it in a zip-lock bag, and throw it in a dumpster or garbage can that is located outside.

If you found bed bugs in your bedroom residing in your mattress or bed spring you should consider buying a zippered, bed bug or dust mite mattress encasement and put them on both the mattress and bed spring.  This will keep any bed bugs you missed in your thorough cleaning from wandering out and re-infesting your bedroom.

You should also repair any loose wallpaper, cracks in plaster, and seal all the cracks and crevices in your molding and baseboard.

In closing this is a good start for checking for and getting rid of bed bugs in your bedroom but, if you found any evidence or are getting bitten by bed bugs in your bedroom you should consider calling a licensed bed bug inspection and control expert.