Bed bug bite
The return of the bedbug to North America is causing some people to call for a return to the use of DDT as an antidote. Because there are some people who might be interested in a non-chemical answer to the bedbug invasion I have decided to post information about my own battle with those loathsome creatures, which are coming to a home or apartment near you sometime soon.
Bedbugs: coming soon to a single-family home near you "The shelters have bedbugs," homeless Torontonian Gary LeBouthillier informed a visiting reporter. "They're disgusting." ... the University of Toronto released a research bulletin by urban entomologist Tim Myles confirming that local homeless shelters are infested with bedbugs -- and reminding those who had forgotten or never knew anything about these "wingless, blood-sucking parasites" that they are, indeed, disgusting. "We are at the bottom end of an exponential growth curve," the scientist told The Globe and Mail, adding that it is only a matter of time before the pest escapes from its shelter-based "reservoir" to infest nursing homes, hospitals, hotels, apartment buildings and "eventually detached single-family homes." You don't need a Bible to comprehend the morality of this latest plague. "Psychological torment" is its major medical consequence, according to the eye-opening bulletin. And social torment is as good as any other explanation for its "phenomenal resurgence" in 21st-century North American cities. "Bedbugs may be a biological indicator of changing social conditions," the bulletin notes dryly, going on to predict that further "ectoparasite" plagues could also be brought back as part of the surprising plague-haunted medievalism of the emerging global city. Maybe they're biblical after all, with Toronto's outcasts bearing open sores and enduring nightly torture as a sign of divine displeasure with our Sodom-like social sins, their suffering the precursor of a plague that will ravage us all, including the saintly elite in their "detached single-family homes...the plague is on, with major outbreaks occurring all over the United States, from five-star hotels in New York City to hospital operating rooms in New Mexico and around the world. "This isn't just a Toronto problem," Mr. Myles said. "This is a worldwide resurgence in bedbugs."..."I've been the urban entomologist here for 13 years and have never received a call on bedbugs until two months ago," he said."...The church officer in charge of the large Maxwell Meighen shelter on Sherbourne Street has spent close to $20,000 on pesticides over the past two years to curb a persistent bedbug infestation.."Unfortunately some of the poor souls who come to us for aid may carry bedbugs," Capt. Percy said..In years to come we may credit bedbugs.. for the return of such toxic chemicals as DDT.
Poor conditions in shelters for the homeless in North American are one of the contributing factors for the resurgence of the bed bug on the continent. I can speak from personal experience since I am in the process of battling those filthy and disgusting creatures myself. I live in a high rise apartment building, which is one of the danger zones, although I have heard reports of dozens of single dwelling housing units being infested in my city. A city in Britain, I have heard, has a terrible infestation rate of 60 percent. The bed bug is back. I have my bedroom sealed off, and after having not slept at all or slept on the living room floor for a few days, today is the first day I have not felt that burning sensation because of those dreadful bed bug bites.
I have experienced a lot of unexplained itching recently, but never having experienced a bed bug in my life, such a thought never occurred to me. I work a late shift and for that reason I sleep during the daylight hours. It is said that bedbugs are nocturnal creatures, and that they prefer to do their biting at about five in the morning when people are in the deepest REM sleep, but I can testify that this is not true. My bedbugs have adapted to my unusual sleep schedule and have timed their biting to my schedule, which is during the daylight hours. I know this because I set the alarm for an early wake up this week, and when I woke up I saw bed bugs running for cover since when a human wakes up they scatter and hide in cracks and crevices. I also saw what I thought was a weird looking cockroach on my bed which I also swatted along with those bed bugs. A search on the internet revealed that where you have bed bugs you also have the enemy of bed bugs, the masked bandit, which kills bedbugs. The juvenile masked bandit can be confused with a cockroach. A masked bandit is like a bee. If you leave it alone, it will leave you alone, but if disturbed, it can inflict a painful bite that feels like a bee sting. I am very sorry that I swatted that masked bandit, since it is an ally in the fight against bed bugs.
Invasion of the bedbugs They're small, round and flat. They have six stubby legs. They feed on human blood and constantly search for their next meal. And they sleep next to you at night. They're bedbugs. And they're no myth. Bedbugs are real, and they've invaded Halifax, according to two exterminators. Bedbug infestations have been happening all across North America. New York was essentially bedbug free until 2005. Since then there has been a bedbug explosion in that city. "If you've been in a place where there are some there, you could easily transfer the bugs. All you have to do is pick up two, a male and a female," says Hebda...I the past two years, there has been a "significant" bedbug increase, says John Zinck, the district manager of Orkin Pest Control.."
McGill University students battle bed bugs ... Rez bedbug infestation not new:
Hotels and Motels are being infested with bed bugs... Bed bug symposium stresses preparedness
The bed bugger website
Wikipedia on the bed bug
The San Jose Mercury-News reports that Maya Rudolph of Saturday Night Live is suing because she moved into a $13,500 a month SOHO loft rental that was infested with bed bugs.
People in shelters cannot tolerate living with bedbugs and March on Governors office
You Tube - Bed bugs attack
An open letter to bed bugs on Craigslist
Bite me ... a New York girl's pictures and diary of her fight with bed bugs
Ralph Lauren's New York office infested with bed bugs
For the benefit of those who would like some information about how one might go about fighting back against those little red monsters I post some information about my own battle with those little red vermin. Today is the first day I have not felt that odd burning sensation and all that itching since I have sealed off my bedroom and have slept (if you can call it sleep) on the living room floor for the past several days. Today, after doing research on the internet, I have just spent about 250 dollars in my war against those bed bugs. My strategy is to ‘isolate' my bed.
What I have done is purchased mattress covers. There are some small tears in my mattress and thus it is certain that bed bugs are breeding both inside the mattress and the box spring. I have also bought stainless steel bowls. The legs of my bed posts go into the stainless steel bowls which are then filled with water and some insecticide. The idea is that bed bugs will come out from cracks in the walls and the try to climb the slippery slope of those stainless steel bowls only to wind up swimming in that insecticide polluted water in the bowls. If they manage to make to the bed posts, they will then find the bed post lubed with slippery vaseline, and if they manage to navigate that obstacle, they will then encounter the barrier of the sticky double sided carpet tape on the bed posts. The bed bugs inside the mattress and box spring will slowly starve to death, since they won't be able to get out. The bed bugs in the bed room will still be there, but they will not be able to navigate the obstacle course to get up onto the bed. Everything stored in the closet is wrapped in multiple garbage bags which once again will trap and starve to death any bed bugs in there. This does not mean that bed bugs are gone, just that they will be frustrated and no longer will have a free meal. I told the landlord of the building that even they spray I am still going to isolate my bed, because those things are hard to kill, and they will come back. Isolating the bed seems like a common sense strategy to me, and so I share the information with any one who might need some info in the future. I have also decided not to be so quick to kill a masked bandit if I see another one, since those things are allies in the fight against bed bugs.
Bedbugs: coming soon to a single-family home near you "The shelters have bedbugs," homeless Torontonian Gary LeBouthillier informed a visiting reporter. "They're disgusting." ... the University of Toronto released a research bulletin by urban entomologist Tim Myles confirming that local homeless shelters are infested with bedbugs -- and reminding those who had forgotten or never knew anything about these "wingless, blood-sucking parasites" that they are, indeed, disgusting. "We are at the bottom end of an exponential growth curve," the scientist told The Globe and Mail, adding that it is only a matter of time before the pest escapes from its shelter-based "reservoir" to infest nursing homes, hospitals, hotels, apartment buildings and "eventually detached single-family homes." You don't need a Bible to comprehend the morality of this latest plague. "Psychological torment" is its major medical consequence, according to the eye-opening bulletin. And social torment is as good as any other explanation for its "phenomenal resurgence" in 21st-century North American cities. "Bedbugs may be a biological indicator of changing social conditions," the bulletin notes dryly, going on to predict that further "ectoparasite" plagues could also be brought back as part of the surprising plague-haunted medievalism of the emerging global city. Maybe they're biblical after all, with Toronto's outcasts bearing open sores and enduring nightly torture as a sign of divine displeasure with our Sodom-like social sins, their suffering the precursor of a plague that will ravage us all, including the saintly elite in their "detached single-family homes...the plague is on, with major outbreaks occurring all over the United States, from five-star hotels in New York City to hospital operating rooms in New Mexico and around the world. "This isn't just a Toronto problem," Mr. Myles said. "This is a worldwide resurgence in bedbugs."..."I've been the urban entomologist here for 13 years and have never received a call on bedbugs until two months ago," he said."...The church officer in charge of the large Maxwell Meighen shelter on Sherbourne Street has spent close to $20,000 on pesticides over the past two years to curb a persistent bedbug infestation.."Unfortunately some of the poor souls who come to us for aid may carry bedbugs," Capt. Percy said..In years to come we may credit bedbugs.. for the return of such toxic chemicals as DDT.
Poor conditions in shelters for the homeless in North American are one of the contributing factors for the resurgence of the bed bug on the continent. I can speak from personal experience since I am in the process of battling those filthy and disgusting creatures myself. I live in a high rise apartment building, which is one of the danger zones, although I have heard reports of dozens of single dwelling housing units being infested in my city. A city in Britain, I have heard, has a terrible infestation rate of 60 percent. The bed bug is back. I have my bedroom sealed off, and after having not slept at all or slept on the living room floor for a few days, today is the first day I have not felt that burning sensation because of those dreadful bed bug bites.
I have experienced a lot of unexplained itching recently, but never having experienced a bed bug in my life, such a thought never occurred to me. I work a late shift and for that reason I sleep during the daylight hours. It is said that bedbugs are nocturnal creatures, and that they prefer to do their biting at about five in the morning when people are in the deepest REM sleep, but I can testify that this is not true. My bedbugs have adapted to my unusual sleep schedule and have timed their biting to my schedule, which is during the daylight hours. I know this because I set the alarm for an early wake up this week, and when I woke up I saw bed bugs running for cover since when a human wakes up they scatter and hide in cracks and crevices. I also saw what I thought was a weird looking cockroach on my bed which I also swatted along with those bed bugs. A search on the internet revealed that where you have bed bugs you also have the enemy of bed bugs, the masked bandit, which kills bedbugs. The juvenile masked bandit can be confused with a cockroach. A masked bandit is like a bee. If you leave it alone, it will leave you alone, but if disturbed, it can inflict a painful bite that feels like a bee sting. I am very sorry that I swatted that masked bandit, since it is an ally in the fight against bed bugs.
Invasion of the bedbugs They're small, round and flat. They have six stubby legs. They feed on human blood and constantly search for their next meal. And they sleep next to you at night. They're bedbugs. And they're no myth. Bedbugs are real, and they've invaded Halifax, according to two exterminators. Bedbug infestations have been happening all across North America. New York was essentially bedbug free until 2005. Since then there has been a bedbug explosion in that city. "If you've been in a place where there are some there, you could easily transfer the bugs. All you have to do is pick up two, a male and a female," says Hebda...I the past two years, there has been a "significant" bedbug increase, says John Zinck, the district manager of Orkin Pest Control.."
McGill University students battle bed bugs ... Rez bedbug infestation not new:
Hotels and Motels are being infested with bed bugs... Bed bug symposium stresses preparedness
The bed bugger website
Wikipedia on the bed bug
The San Jose Mercury-News reports that Maya Rudolph of Saturday Night Live is suing because she moved into a $13,500 a month SOHO loft rental that was infested with bed bugs.
People in shelters cannot tolerate living with bedbugs and March on Governors office
You Tube - Bed bugs attack
An open letter to bed bugs on Craigslist
Bite me ... a New York girl's pictures and diary of her fight with bed bugs
Ralph Lauren's New York office infested with bed bugs
For the benefit of those who would like some information about how one might go about fighting back against those little red monsters I post some information about my own battle with those little red vermin. Today is the first day I have not felt that odd burning sensation and all that itching since I have sealed off my bedroom and have slept (if you can call it sleep) on the living room floor for the past several days. Today, after doing research on the internet, I have just spent about 250 dollars in my war against those bed bugs. My strategy is to ‘isolate' my bed.
What I have done is purchased mattress covers. There are some small tears in my mattress and thus it is certain that bed bugs are breeding both inside the mattress and the box spring. I have also bought stainless steel bowls. The legs of my bed posts go into the stainless steel bowls which are then filled with water and some insecticide. The idea is that bed bugs will come out from cracks in the walls and the try to climb the slippery slope of those stainless steel bowls only to wind up swimming in that insecticide polluted water in the bowls. If they manage to make to the bed posts, they will then find the bed post lubed with slippery vaseline, and if they manage to navigate that obstacle, they will then encounter the barrier of the sticky double sided carpet tape on the bed posts. The bed bugs inside the mattress and box spring will slowly starve to death, since they won't be able to get out. The bed bugs in the bed room will still be there, but they will not be able to navigate the obstacle course to get up onto the bed. Everything stored in the closet is wrapped in multiple garbage bags which once again will trap and starve to death any bed bugs in there. This does not mean that bed bugs are gone, just that they will be frustrated and no longer will have a free meal. I told the landlord of the building that even they spray I am still going to isolate my bed, because those things are hard to kill, and they will come back. Isolating the bed seems like a common sense strategy to me, and so I share the information with any one who might need some info in the future. I have also decided not to be so quick to kill a masked bandit if I see another one, since those things are allies in the fight against bed bugs.
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