Do You Have Bedbugs?

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We all need to think about this. I was always careful with my bed, always have it covered in plasic to protect it. I just came across this article in my local newspaper. Note: (This is not a link to a money making site). This article is important to everyones health & well being. Bed bug cases on the rise in Saratoga Springs NY Published: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Lucian McCarty Special to The Record SARATOGA SPRINGS — Warning: The following story may make your skin crawl. According to Spa City exterminators, bedbugs are here and their numbers are growing. “It is going to get worse before it gets better,” said Luis Pabon, the technical director for Catseye Pest Control in Saratoga Springs. He said three years ago when he came to the Saratoga Springs office he asked if they had a bedbug problem. “They laughed at me. Now our phones are ringing off the hook.” The creatures are about the size and shape of an apple seed — that is, when they are engorged on human blood. “They bite during the night when you sleep, not during the day,” said James Wang, owner of Able Pest Control. He said they are attracted to the carbon dioxide people exhale. “They can smell a person.” Wang said there seem to be as many calls about bedbugs this year as last, but the call volume had been steadily increasing every year before that. “Four or five years ago I would only get the occasional call about bedbugs,” he said. “Now we get calls every week.” They can be found in mattresses, inside walls, in couch cushions, joints of bed frames, and other crevices. “Bedbugs are found in every location from movie theaters, department stores, houses,” Pabon said. “Wherever there are people there is potential for bedbugs.” Wang said the pests are particularly bad in more populated areas and buildings where numerous people live — apartment complexes, dorms, houses carved up into apartments. “There are much fewer in single-family homes,” Wang said, but that isn’t to say he has not treated them. “If someone travels it is really easy for them to bring them back,” he said. “I have even treated five star hotels,” he said, but refused to give out names of locations he has treated for bedbugs. “People go and stay at a friend’s house or a hotel and can bring them back,” Wang said adding the critters are more of a problem in more densely populated areas — particularly New York City. But that is all changing. “It took some time to get up here,” Pabon said, “but they’re here and it’s only the beginning.” There are a few indications a person might have a bed bug infestation, according to Pabon. One is blood spots on a bed or couch where a person sleeps. “People can roll over in their sleep and they may pop one or two of these bugs,” he described, explaining that they will leave blood behind if they had just feasted. Another way to tell is to take off the sheets of the bed and look for what looks like black pepper, but is in actuality the bugs’ excrement. Pabon warned that if you think you may have bedbugs, do not try to deal with the problem on your own. Foggers and other over-the-counter sprays, chemicals and tools that claim to take care of them may do more harm than good and will often drive them deeper into hiding and disperse them throughout the area. So when you go to bed tonight, sleep tight and try not to let the bedbugs bite. So lets hear some thoughts on this discussion everyone.