Bed Bugs On The Rampage
Bed Bugs On The Rampage (Ken Chadwick)
Bed Bugs On The Rampage – One of the most feared and misunderstood pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us 
have dozed off to sleep at night as children with the words of our parents in our ears ‘sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite’?
Bed bugs probably started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our ancesters started dwelling in bat infested caves.
Until the advent of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common non-paying guests in most poor quality housing.
The later part of the 20th century saw pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely confined to cheap holiday camps and student accomodation etc.
Many people confuse dust mites, which are not visible to the naked eye, with bed bugs which certainly are.
Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and decidely swollen after a feed of human blood.
They have an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the young are just smaller versions of the adult, they do not have a pupal stage like a flea or a fly.
Bed bugs typically feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, coming out in the hours before dawn and sensing their prey by detecting the exhaled CO2 from respiration and when nearing in on their target, body heat.
In the absence of a convenient human to feed on they can lay dormant for periods of up to 18 months.
Signs of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the underside of mattresses and some people can react badly to their bites.
The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers explode across the globe, the cheap availability of global travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.
What is certain is that thet are now making a major comeback not only in poor quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.
One London borough reported a doubling of bed bug infestations every single year from 1995 – 2001.
A single night away in an infested hotel is all it takes, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting instances of transport related bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple journey to work on an infested tube or train can be enough to spread the infestation to your home.
They are an expensive pest to eradictate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and eradication is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on grossly over-weight people.
They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly be needed.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Chadwick
Ken Chadwick B.A. (Hons) is a Pest Controller and author on pest control issues. For further information please visit http://www.waspgo.co.uk
That concludes this article entitled – Bed Bugs On The Rampage
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The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives
The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives
The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives – The rat population of Britain is currently at an all time high, fortnightly waste collections, lack of sewer baiting and the late night takeaway are all cited as culprits in this rodent explosion, but what do we really know about the humble creatures that thrive in our sewers and induce almost universal fear and loathing in all who encounter them.
Rats are not native to Europe or North America but originate in Asia and almost certainly arrived in Europe as stowaways on trading ships, indeed the common name for Rattus rattus is the ship or black rat.
Brown Rat
In Asian folklore the rat is a prominent character, in Hindu mythology the elephant-headed god Ganesh is accompanied by a rat wherever he travels. An offering to Ganesh and his companion Vahana the rat is therefore an important part of Hindu worship.
To the Romans the sighting of a white rat was considered to be lucky but if you found that rats had chewed your belongings then you should postpone any business affairs that you were planning that day or they would surely fail.
Reviled in the west, the rat is revered in Chinese mythology, being part of the Chinese zodiac and respected for its quick wit and resourcefulness. The rat is considered good luck in China & Japan where it is credited with bringing the gift of rice to the world.
To the Polynesians rats were an easily bred and transportable source of food
In 1347 the Mongols laying siege to the Crimean city of Caffa began to succumb to a mysterious illness that killed swiftly and mercilessly. In order to weaken the city the Mongols catapulted the bodies of their own dead over the city walls and within days the inhabitants of Caffa also fell prey to the disease.
However, a group of Italian merchants were allowed to leave the city and return to Italy, and probably unknowingly took with them the Black Death, Yersinia pestis.
Black or Ship Rat
The ensuing plague raged throughout the continent reaching Britain in 1348 with up to 90% mortality in some areas and it reappeared in Europe in every generation for over four hundred years.
We now know of course that the rat was a carrier, or to be more precise the fleas that the rats carried on their bodies were the agents of plague transmission.
Indeed whilst being in no way established in fact, it is possible that the children’s story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn is an allegory of the plague, it certainly indicates that the rat population was booming at the time.
Every cloud however has a silver lining and the survivors of the 14th century plagues found that they could now demand higher wages and better conditions as the shortage of workers in the wake of plague deaths created a seller’s market for labour. The rise of the Yeoman Farmer and the British class system could be argued to be attributed to the humble rat.
Into modern times and the Black Rat is now almost extinct in the British Isles, having been replaced from the 18th century onwards by the Brown or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) and it is this creature that now thrives in our sewers, on our streets and in our homes and it is when we encounter it there that it creates most revulsion.
A typical rat weighs around 200 – 300 grams or half to three quarters of a pound, and has a tail around the same length as its body, often making it appear bigger than it really is.
One of the primary functions of a rat’s tail is thermo-regulation; it uses its tail to dissipate body heat. When a rat’s temperature falls it restricts blood flow into its tail.
Rats are rodents, the word comes from the Latin ‘Rodere’ meaning ‘to gnaw or eat away’, aptly named as their teeth never stop growing and they gnaw on hard objects to keep them sharp, unfortunately this can often include electrical wiring and water pipes. A rat’s teeth can penetrate mild steel.
Often a rat will move into a loft or roof void looking for somewhere safe to give birth, being excellent climbers the interior of the cavity wall of the building is a common route, especially if there is an underground breach in the drainage system.
They are sexually mature at around 13 weeks and have a gestation period of about 20 –22 days giving birth typically to 7 – 10 young per litter.
They are naturally shy and nocturnal creatures said to suffer from ‘neophobia’ a fear of anything new in their environment.
Often the first signs that a house is infested will be the patter of tiny feet on the upstairs plasterboard ceilings, although with the modern trend for roof insulation an infestation can often go undetected for quite some time. In homes with floorboards gnawing will often be heard in the sub-floor area.
Their need to eat will often betray their presence, food stored in cupboards will be taken, cereal packets chewed, chocolate and crisps are favourites, although a rat often has a diet that we would find somewhat strange.
The rat has no ability to taste ‘bitter’ foods so it can quite happily munch away on a bar of soap for the fat content. Pest controllers use this as a safety feature and all rat poison is coated in a bitter substance that the rats can’t taste but which would make it totally unpalatable to a dog or a child.
Although the rat is no longer a plague carrier it does come with a number of unwelcome traits. It is a carrier of a number of diseases including Murine Typhus, Salmonella and Weil’s Disease, spread from rats’ urine, which unfortunately usually claims at least one life in Britain each year.
If you have a rat infestation then you have a legal duty to remedy it and in extreme circumstances forced entry to your property can be made against your will.
As a final sting in the tail, many household insurance policies specifically exclude damage by vermin so if a rat chews your wiring and the house burns down you may find yourself without insurance cover.
Hated, despised and unloved the humble rat continues to share and shape our environment in ways that we do not see or appreciate and despite our best effort the rat and man will always co-exist.
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Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford
Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford
Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford – Stretford Pest Control deal with wasps’ nests in the Stretford, Manchester area seven days a week and our fixed price for destroying wasps’ nests in 2009 is just £29.50. We do not charge extra for destroying wasps’ nests in the evening, Saturdays or Sundays and Bank Holidays. We work on Sundays 12 – 6 pm.
The stinging wasp season is almost with us once more, what would summer be without our friends the wasps to pester and annoy us as we enjoy our evening barbeques?
The biology of the wasp means they are rarely seen much sooner than July as until then only the queen wasp is in the nest.
In early spring the over-wintering queens leave their hibernating quarters to seek nesting sites which could be in a hole in the ground, a bush or artificial structures such as chimneys eaves, lofts and attics, garden sheds etc.
The young queen starts to make her nest with a papery material that she makes by chewing small fragments of wood mixed with saliva; this is known as Wasp paper.
She will raise the first few workers by herself and those workers will then carry on the enlargement of the nest and caring for the immature Wasps to follow.
Nest construction starts in earnest in June and will reach its maximum in size in September, when 5 – 30,000 workers may be in the nest. These workers will collect food up to 400 metres from the nest. The size of wasps’ nests will vary from year to year, the severity of the previous winter is probably the key factor.
In the mid-September the young queens mate and leave the nest to find hibernation sites, the rest of the nest dies out and the nest is never reused.
Individuals react differently to being stung by wasps; some are hardly affected, others suffer considerable pain and discomfort and a few become seriously allergic to being stung, which in some cases results in sudden death due to anaphylactic shock.
Control
It is adviseable to let a professional Pest Control Officer deal with a Wasps’ nest for the reasons given above. An insecticide will be used to cover the entrance to the nest. Returning wasps will carry the insecticide into the heart of the nest and within a few hours all wasps should be dead.
It is foolish to allow a wasps’ nest to remain untreated as the new queens produced by the nest will invariably nest nearby in the following spring resulting in many more nests the following year. For this reason several nests are often found close together in a neighbourhood a locality.
Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford
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Ways to Get Rid of Fleas
Fleas are parasites, feeding directly on humans or other warm blooded animals. Usually you or your pet serves as these hosts. A flea can jump 7 to 8 inches vertically and 14 to 16 inches horizontally. A skin reaction to a flea bite appears as a slightly raised and red itchy spot. Sometimes these sores bleed. Fleas usually require warm and humid conditions to develop.
The first step in ridding the home and yard of fleas is to apply a flea and tick preventative to all the dogs and cats in the home. If ticks are not a problem in your area then you can get by with flea preventative only, but if you live in an area with a lot of ticks then consider using a flea and tick combo preventative.
Clean pet bedding thoroughly. Wash it in hot water to kill the fleas and their eggs and dry it in full sunshine if possible or in the dryer on the hottest setting possible. The secret to killing the fleas is not really the temperature of the water, but how long it stays in the suds. A minimum of 15-20 minutes are needed for the detergent to break down their waxy coating so that they will dehydrate and die. Also sweep and mop the pet’s sleeping and resting area thoroughly. The pet’s area should be kept clean regularly, at least once a week.
Essential Herbal Oils are nature’s repellants: they ward off unwanted hitchhikers. Most common ingredients are citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and lavender. Essential Oils are specially formulated to repel fleas and ticks without using insecticides. They are great for misting your dog’s legs (and your own) any time that you go out where fleas would be likely to be found.. They are repellants, not insecticides. They can be found at most good health food stores.
Watch your pet for signs of flea trouble: excessive scratching and biting, especially around the tail and lower back, and possibly raw patches where the animal has been biting and scratching himself. Also watch for ‘flea debris’ (black, granular dried blood) and fleas themselves on your pet’s skin.
Vacuum your entire house paying particular attention to corners, dark crevices, under furniture, under beds, pet beds, rugs and especially around skirting boards. Put the nozzle attachment on your vacuum cleaner and thoroughly vacuum around all skirting boards and edges of fixtures.
The vibrations from vacuuming also stimulates the fleas to emerge from their cocoons and thus they will be exposed to the insecticide that will be used
The remaining larvae can be dealt with by having the carpets professionally steam-cleaned (the steam will kill every stage of flea except eggs). Make sure you warn the cleaners about the fleas and remove infested animals.
Alternatively, you can shampoo the carpet with insecticidal carpet shampoo or have a pest control professional apply an infrared heat treatment to the carpet, which kills all stages of flea.
Combing out fleas is a temporary measure. Your best bet is to kill the fleas that are present on your pet and kill those that hop aboard later. I know of two great products, Frontline and Advantage that not only get rid of fleas but keep them from coming back for at least three weeks. However, once the flea infestation in your home is under control, it might take a couple more treatments to kill the remaining fleas and those that hatch.
Take a box of 20 Mule Team Borax (found in the laundry soap section at the supermarket), poke holes in the top of the box, sprinkle on the carpets as you would any carpet powder. Take a broom and brush the powder down into the carpet. Borax will kill the fleas by dehydrating them.
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What Precisely Are Generally The Particular Symptoms Connected With Bed Bug Bites?
Bugs really are virtually all on the go overnight they usually sneak ” up ” your bed not to mention bite almost any exposed regions of your skin layer while you are sleeping. The facial skin, neck area, hands along with arms are the most common locations on which bedbugs like to bite most of the time. Most of the time it’s not even hurtful to be bitten by a Bed Bug and you simply ultimately probably would not find out before the bite is usually painful. Probably the most common signs or symptoms of bed bug bites is going to be inflammation not to mention puffiness. The red bites quite often have a darker reddish colored region in the centre. This is because of the actual bacterium belonging to the bed bugs saliva. Preferably, stay away from scratching the infected bite to stop it from becoming infected. One unexpected matter with regards to bug bites is usually their particular chance to be lined together in a row or even a they may be arranged in a rough line or maybe in a bunch. Disease specialists call this “breakfast, lunch and dinner” sign that shows you of the chronological feeding that will transpires right from one site to one more.
Inflammed skin is usually among the list of warning signs related with bed bug bites. A lot of people can possibly not display just about any kind of reaction in the slightest however for many others, they’ll go through some sort of allergic response together with awful itching, bruises or possibly hives. There are some things that you can do to lessen any itchiness and even inflammation such as making use of topical creams which include hydrocortisone. This will not necessarily help reduce the inflammation however it will definitely eliminate the itchiness. Should you find it hard to find hydrocortisone in the nearest pharmacy, you can easlily simply select iphenhydramine (intended for itching), pramoxine (designed for painfulness) as well as benzyl alcohol (with respect to itchiness coupled with pain) alternatively. Each and every one of the three have been shown to be quite effective. For anyone getting signs and symptoms associated with bed bug bites and natural home remedies do not work, you will need to head out and see your personal doctor so that she or she can provide you with a more powerful medicated creams or perhaps otc antihistamine.
Bed Bug bites may perhaps be unnoticed or perhaps be wrongly diagnosed as being a simple bug bite just like that of a mosquito’s as a consequence of their similarity in looks. Bed Bugs have got glands whose secretions can result in distinct smells plus they typically leave darkish fecal blotches attached to bed covers. If you need to check for signs most typically associated with bed bug bites, look meticulously for those who have raised reddish bumps. Yet another thing is always that they are itchier as compared to mosquito bites and they are a lot inflamed or even red-looking. Breakouts coming from bed bugs should typically present soon after an hour or so though for some patients, the actual rash shows up only a few days or maybe weeks later on. This is often in essence recognized as a result of your body’s response to the chemical compounds produced by way of the bedbugs. Along the lines of exactly what I talked about earlier, folks are inclined to get various reactions
Bed Bugs will most certainly be almost all on the go during the nighttime and in addition they sneak ” up ” your bed and additionally bite any uncovered regions of your skin layer as you are sleeping. The facial skin, neck, hands and wrists as well as arms are the most common sites at which bedbugs adore to bite you. It’s really not really hurtful to get bitten by a Bedbug additionally you actually would not realize until the bite is probably inflamed. One of the most the most common signs and symptoms of bed bug attacks is going to be inflammation in addition to puffiness. The reddish bites almost always contain a darker red blemish in the centre. Which is the result of the bacterium belonging to the bed bugs saliva. Preferably, put an end to scratching the affected areas to stop it from becoming infected. One particular odd matter with regards to bug bites is usually their possibility to always be lined up in a line or even might be arranged in some rough line or in a cluster. Disease professionals know this as “breakfast, lunch and dinner” sign of which shows us of the chronological feeding that will takes place right from a single site to one more.
Itching is additionally on the list of warning signs involved with bed bug bites. A number of people do not show any kind of kind of response in the slightest but for some others, they can be subjected to an allergic reaction together with intense scratching, sore spots and / or hives. There are several things you can also to scale back the itchiness in addition to swelling like applying skin medications as in hydrocortisone. This may not necessarily help cut down the inflammation but it surely will surely get rid of the itching. Should you can’t find hydrocortisone inside of your community drug store, one can simply just opt for iphenhydramine (designed for itching), pramoxine (meant for painfulness) or perhaps benzyl alcohol (with regard to itchiness together with discomfort) as an alternative. Each and every one of the three have been shown to be quite effective. When you’re developing symptoms connected with bed bug bites and home cures fail to work, it’s important to choose and see your doctor so he can ensure that you get a more powerful medicated salve or perhaps over-the-counter antihistamine.
Bed Bug bites could possibly be undetected or be incorrectly recognized for a simple bug bite such as that to a mosquito’s as a consequence of their similarity in physical appearance. Bedbugs possess glands whose secretions may very well result in distinctive smells and typically leave dark fecal blotches on bed bedding. If you need to look for signs associated with bed bug bites, take a look carefully if you have raised reddish colored bumps. Another thing is always that they are itchier as compared to mosquito bites plus they are considerably more puffy or swollen. Breakouts due to bed bugs could typically show just after an hour however in some respect, the actual skin blemmish presents itself several days and also weeks afterwards. It’s generally distinguished by means of ones body’s reaction towards the chemical substances produced by the Bed Bugs. Just like just what I mentioned before, most people are likely to get many reactions. Manhattan NY Bed Bug Removal Service
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