Stumbled on an old (March 2007) San Francisco Gate article featuring some pretty good advice from the Bugman, who I mentioned in a previous post.
Here's an excerpt:
Q:I have a pest control company spray our house every month, and we don't see any bugs. They claim they can kill all crawling insects. Is anything wrong with this?
A: Besides spraying pesticides without having a target pest, there are a number of other reasons why I would never recommend such a service.
First, any insect, spider or other arthropod can occasionally wander into your home. It happens to everyone and shouldn't be a concern. You can dispose of the occasional invader however you like. However, occasionally you may see a few insects of the same species, and it may be important to know what they are. Never hire a pest control company that "kills all crawling insects"; hire one that can identify all crawling and flying insects and will make recommendations and treat accordingly.
I checked out his web site and found these bizarre bed bug facts:
Crushed bed bugs, mixed with salt and human milk make a fine eye ointment. In powdered form they were thought to cure all fevers and for hysteria they were given internally, and just the smell of them was considered sufficient to relieve those under hysterical suffocation. In some parts of Ohio, eating seven bed bugs mixed with beans is considered a cure for chills and fever.
And check out this tidbit on the "insectxuality" of bed bugs.
Bed bugs also have an interesting sex life. The males have large, sex organs with which they pierce the females body wall not bothering to use her sex organs. They fill the female's body with semen, some it which makes it to her reproductive organs. The rest is absorbed as protein by the female and used as nourishment. When feeding, bed bugs have been observed climbing on top of another bed bug which is feeding on a human and piercing that bed bug with its beak and sucking the blood from it, thus getting the blood second hand. This body piercing of the females by males while feeding seems to have no effect on the bed bug getting pierced.Doesn't make me feel any better that two bed bugs may be getting it on while perched on my body sucking my blood. These creatures certainly are multi-taskers.
I highly recommend the Bugman's interesting website, which I should add, advocates the treatment of insect infestations without the use of chemicals or pesticides.
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1 comment:
Hi, I'm new to your blog. We travelled to South America and NYC this summer and lo and behold, we have bedbugs. We've only found 2 dead ones and one live one after tearing the bedroom apart. Wife gets bit more than I do. I sleep on the uncovered matress alone and she sleeps on the livingroom floor. It's a nightmare situation because we've just bought all new stuff for the first time (tempurpedic mattress that I refuse to throw out) new bed, new clothes, new sheets, new comforters, new custom curtains. I can't follow the "throw it out" advice with anything. The worst part is that I mentioned the problem to a friend on Thursday, and he called me Friday saying he couldn't come to my party that night because he wasn't "feeling good." Ugh. I want my life back!
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