Tuesday, September 23, 2008
KEEPING UNWANTED VISITORS AWAY
Sometimes old quilts, pillows, and upholstered pieces bring unwanted visitors to your home--bedbugs. Once inside your house, they will nest in walls, in cracks in wooden furniture and floors, and even in light fixtures. There is a worldwide epidemic. If your house is invaded, hire an exterminator to spray. Then wash all fabrics you can in hot water (over 120 degrees) and keep doing that for at least 20 weeks--since bedbugs keep laying eggs that keep hatching. In the early 1900s, there were many new ideas about health. One group suggested using iron, not wooden, beds to stay healthy. We wonder if they suspected it helped ward off bedbugs and fleas.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Of course old folks knew that bedbugs were in old wood beds. I remember my mother taking a bed down and burning the whole bed and feathertick mattress and she scalded the metal bedsprings and used them on a metal bed. We never had any more bedbugs. And to this day, this house is free of termite invasion or any other bug except spiders. Just can't keep them away.
Bed bugs were nearly eradicated in the 1950s, thanks to DDT. Today, with DDT out and safer controls in, they are returning to an unprepared world. Until I started my new job with a pest control company, I thought bedbugs were just any bug in your bed!
Keep in mind, though, that they are not limited to you bed. In fact, they can live in many places, and commute to your bed for their evening feast. If you find bed bugs, get a professional in as fast as you can. They can live in other rooms, electrical outlets, lamp shades, and any other place a tiny critter can fit. Even a metal bed is not a guarantee, as they can and will live in any crack or crevice they find.
Fortunately, there are other options now than burning your bed and bedding. But, better smart and clean that bedding before you let it into your home.
"Then wash all fabrics you can in hot water (over 120 degrees) and keep doing that for at least 20 weeks--since bedbugs keep laying eggs that keep hatching."
I was told that isolating the textiles in a freezer would also work to kill off ANY bugs of any kind. Will this work on bugs & eggs? jss
I know freezing does not kill bugs because I put a little Steiff bear in my freezer once because he had moths, and I wanted time to research how to treat it. A couple years later I took it out and the poor thing was pretty much just wire and glass.
another reason to stay home...
bed bugs are epidemic in hotels, motels,etc.
a friend who is an exterminator recently bought two $10,000 dogs( beagles) that can sniff out bed bugs. He is becoming wealthy through hotels who want his service.
guess the hotel lobby has been able to keep the situation off the news.
Post a Comment