Bed bugs have become a concern for people who travel, not just in Southern California but around the world. Bed Bugs are found in many hotel and motel room beds-even in upscale resorts! It may happen to you--so make sure that you are not bringing the bugs back home with you.

BED BUG PREVENTION

If you have been bitten by some insect while traveling and staying in hotels/motels, or even campsites, consider it a possibility that you have been infected by bed bugs. Don't bring them into your house and bedroom. Following the instructions below may save you from having to call someone (like us) out for help.

First, you must consider that your clothing is infected, including those you are wearing. Empty your suitcase in the garage and put the clothes directly into the laundry machine or place them in a plastic bag and seal it until you can wash the clothes. Get items requiring dry cleaning taken care of right away, also placing them in a plastic bag and sealing it to bring to the cleaners. Then place your suitcase in a plastic bag until you can get to the store and find an approved aerosol labeled for bed bugs. Spray the suitcase both inside and out and seal it in a plastic bag until the next use. By then it should be completely free of infestation.

If you don't do this, you risk having to go inch-by-inch through all the cracks and crevices, behind picture frames and headboards, box springs and mattresses, drawers and closets-a very intensive and expensive process that you won't enjoy! We will do it for our customers if necessary, but we would rather have you prevent it by not allowing the bed bugs into your house in the first place.

If you do already have a bed bug infestation, call Corky's for an individualized service plan to get rid of the bed bugs. Control of bed bugs is usually done by fumigation. Some hotels in badly infected areas will place the feet of beds in pans of kerosene or oil to keep bed bugs from crawling up, but they will still get onto a bed by falling from the ceiling. You can find sprays that control bed bugs at many stores, but make sure the label states they are approved for use on bed bugs. All hiding places must be searched out, mattresses and bedding must be treated, and any infected clothing and storage areas taken care of properly. Mattresses require careful treatment-only a light spray at the seams, folds, and buttons-NEVER soak the mattress with spray. Allow to completely dry before using again. If the spray used is pyrethrum-based, several applications at one-week intervals will be necessary to control the bed bugs.

WHAT ARE BED BUGS?

Bed Bugs have been a problem for man since the beginning of civilization. Signs of bed bug infestation go beyond the actual small bite marks on skin. Sheets may show tiny blood spots, and the molted skins of the insects may be found in cracks and crevices of the bed frame. They aren't just found in beds, either. Contaminated clothing may bring the bugs into dressers, suitcases, laundry hampers, furniture, etc. They can even be found behind picture frames, wallpaper, in cracks of floorboards-they are adept at finding hiding places.

Bed bugs are very temperature sensitive, and the optimum temperature they are looking for is about that of human skin-hence the problem for man. A very infested room will have a distinct "buggy" smell, an obnoxious sweet odor. In addition to the small blood stains from the bites themselves, the bugs leave small droppings containing blood that are colored either brown, yellow, or black. The adults may survive for long periods of time, up to a year, in empty houses, waiting for their favorite meal-man. If they are desperate, they may take a meal from birds or rodents.

The bugs themselves are small, usually just 1/6th to 1/5th inch in size-about the size of a pencil lead. They are reddish-brown in color, but as they feed they become brighter red. Small claws are used to attach themselves to the victim. Adults will feed off the host for 10-15 minutes before becoming engorged. Most people will not feel the bite-afterwards the painful itching and large inflamed spot make the bed bugs presence known. Never try to identify a bed bug infestation by looking at the bite alone, however.

LIFE CYCLE OF BED BUGS

Female bed bugs may lay 10-50 eggs per day until they produce about 200 eggs. The eggs may hatch in 6-10 days in warm weather or heated buildings. Nymphs emerge, and try to find a blood meal. When they do, they will go through five nymphal molt stages and become adults. This usually takes about 35-48 days, again depending greatly upon temperature. The adults may survive for long periods of time in empty houses, waiting for their favorite meal-man. If they are desperate, they may take a meal from birds or rodents. Well-fed adults may live up to a year and a half, and at least 3-4 generations are produced every year.

Over the years, many have tried to link bed bugs with disease. Recent studies have only shown a slight link as a possible spreader of type B hepatitis but this has not been conclusive. Bed bugs remain a pest, but stories of their psychological effect on people do hold some weight. Even in the gold rush days, tales of people going crazy from a bed bug infestation were not all that uncommon.