WHAT ARE BED BUGS?
Bed Bugs are insects that are usually active at night when people are sleeping. Adult bed bugs have flat, rusty-red-colored oval bodies. About the size of
An apple seed, they are big enough to be easily seen, but often hide in cracks in furniture, floors, or walls. Their bodies are bright red. They can live for several
Months without food or water
ARE BED BUGS DANGEROUS?
Although bed bugs are a nuisance, they are not known to spread disease like other pests such as rats or mosquitos.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY HOME IS INFESTED
WITH BED BUGS?
You may notice itchy skin welts. You may also see the bed bugs themselves, small bloodstains from crushed insects, or dark spots from their droppings.
It is often hard to see them because they hide in or near beds, other furniture, and in cracks.
Where do you find bed bugs?
• Behind your headboard.
• In the seams and tufts of your mattress and inside the box spring.
• Along bedroom baseboard cracks.
• In and around nightstands.
• Other bedroom items, including window and door casings, pictures, moldings, nearby furniture, loose wallpaper, cracks in plaster
HOW CAN I KEEP BED BUGS OUT OF
MY HOME?
• Wash clothing and bedding immediately after returning from a trip.
• Inspect used furniture for bed bugs before bringing it into your home.
• When your away avoid keeping belongs near bed or in dressers
• Never bring discarded bed frames, mattresses, box springs, or upholstered furniture into your home. Keep your home free of clutter and debris.
IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE BED BUGS…
Don’t begin sleeping in another bed, or on the sofa.
Do not go to stay with someone else. The bugs may follow you, and then it will be much harder to get rid of them. Staying outside of your home means the bugs may become dormant. They can live without feeding for up to 18 months. When you come back, they can begin biting you again. So staying in your home during treatment, and sleeping in your usual bed, is the way to kill bed bugs. Once you are being treated, you must remain in the bed–you are the bait, attracting bugs to the poison and their deaths. If you isolate the bed, they need not bite you.
Do save any bed bugs you find. You may need to show them to landlords, pest control professionals, and so on. Pick up with clear packing tape, and tape the specimen(s) to an index card. Don’t assume you’ll see lots of them, most people don’t.
Do rule out other possible conditions, like folliculitis, scabies, and bites from other insects.. Be warned, though, that many of us are told by doctors that we do not have bed bugs, and later find they are wrong. Many of them have never seen bed bug bites, or have seen only some patients with them. Bites can range from large welts to small red bumps, to scabby pimple-type bumps.
Don’t start buying a load of chemicals and treating yourself. Remember, pesticides have different qualities (repellents, contact killers, residual killers, growth regulators, etc.) Bed bugs are probably the most complicated pests you’ve ever encountered at home. If you start spraying pesticides, you may disperse the bugs, and the professionals may have trouble treating them. You may spread them around your home.
Do not, absolutely do not release a fogger or bug bomb. Do not allow your landlord to do so. Do not allow a so-called exterminator to do so. Bug bombs / foggers do not work for bed bugs, and in fact, will spread them. Your problem will be magnified.
Do start dealing with your clothing and linens. Though you should not simply seal your possessions in bags, it is probably a good idea to start working on clothing and bedding, since the PCO is going to tell you to do this, and it takes time. You should take clothing and other items, wash them in a machine on hot 160 degrees, and dry them on hot for 1-2 hours. Remember, driers vary as to their strength and how long they take with what size of load. My personal method is that items should at least be dried on hot for 20 minutes after they appear to be fully dry and very hot. If you want to be cautious, go for two hours on hot. Dry cleaning is okay too. Keep in mind that pillows, comforters, down coats, and other thick items may take longer. Here’s the key: after washing and drying, bag items in sealed, airtight bags, and do not remove them until use.
Don’t assume bed bugs are only in your bed. While bed frames and mattresses and headboards are the most likely location for bed bugs, they can and do often hide out in sofas and other soft furniture, electrical sockets (behind plates), light fixtures, baseboards, floor crevices, and other crevices in the bedroom and living room. Bed bugs are occasionally found in kitchens and bathrooms. This should not make you panic: most cases, especially smaller ones, are quite concentrated, usually 10-20 feet from where people sleep (or where they sit for extended periods). However, if a PCO tells you bed bugs are not found in living rooms, realize that many Bed bugs have infested sofas, computer chairs, and so on. Don’t believe that bed bugs only bite at night. They prefer a sleeping, stationary host who is fast asleep. But if they’re hungry, they’ll take what they can get. You can be bitten while in a chair, awake.
WHAT ARE OTHER PESTS THAT MAY APPEAR IN THE AREA?
Carpenter Bees
3/4 – 1 inch long.
Female faces are black, male faces are yellow.
Bright yellow, orange or white hairs on the thorax.
No hair on abdomen.
Females have a stinger, males do not.
Lifecycle
Tunnel into wood to lay eggs.
Life cycle from egg – larva – pupa – adult takes approximately seven weeks.
Larva is large and noisy.
New adults emerge from the nest late August.
Habits
Sting – Only sting if provoked.
Visibility – Late-spring to mid-October.
Nesting – Bare, untreated softwoods are preferred, including redwood, cedar, cypress and pine. Old nests are used year after year.
Location – Nests can be found in eaves, window trims, facia boards, siding, decks and outdoor furniture.
Feeding – flowers that contain pollen, eg Bradfords, Daffodils, Pansies. Pollen stored in abandoned tunnels for overwintering.
Carpenter Ant
Camponotus pennsylvanicus
Carpenter Ants Image
Appearance
Workers – 1/4″ long.
Queen – 1/2″ long.
Blackish color most common but can also be black and red.
6 legs.
Lifecycle
Swarms appear in the Spring.
The colonies of carpenter ants can live from 3-6 years.
Habits
Locations – both moist and dry wood, but prefer moist, eg wood dampened by water leaks.
Internally – excavate galleries in wood with a smooth appearance.
Externally – sometimes hollow out sections of trees.
Visibility – hunt for food mainly at night but also during the day in early spring / summer. Signs include sawdust, wet wood, or unusual noises coming from the walls.
Feeding – primary food is honeydew, also eat plant secretions, fruit juices and insect remains. They do not eat wood. In homes they are attracted to sweet substances, fats, grease and meats.
Contact – rarely come into contact with people, but if they do will try to escape. They cannot sting.
House Mice
Color:
Light brown to black
Size:
2 inches not including tail
Habits:
Nibblers. May feed on several different foods in one night. Can live without water but will drink if water available. Males and females territorial. Very curious and will investigate traps even if no food is on the trap.
Habitat:
Lives indoors and out. Will burrow outdoors. May spend entire life in a pallet of food.
Threat:
Foul food. Urine may cause allergies. Can bring fleas, mites ticks and lice indoors.
Prevention:
Seal all openings larger than a dime.
Rats
Color:
Gray, brown or black
Size:
10 to 12 inches including tail
Habits:
This is our common sewer or brown rat. It lives in burrows but may nest in buildings. Forms colonies with interconnecting burrows. They can climb well.
Habitat:
Lives in areas with cover such as wood piles, compost piles, trash storage, etc. They can enter buildings through a hole the size of a quarter.
Threat:
They can chew through wiring and cause fires. They can spread numerous diseases. They foul food with droppings and urine.
Prevention:
Close openings larger than a quarter. Make sure doors fit tightly at the bottom. Keep food and garbage out of reach. Remove moisture sources such as dripping faucets. Remove debris which may serve as a harborage. Pick up fallen fruit in yards. Do not permit pet food to sit out overnight.
Roof Rats
Color:
Black
Size:
16 inches including very long tail
Habits:
Not common in New Jersey but may be found in port areas. More common in sub-tropical areas. Tend to live above ground in trees and upper portions of buildings. Larger ears and eyes than those of the Norway rat. Prefers fruit.
Habitat:
Tend to live in the upper portions of buildings and in trees. Seldom burrow
Threat:
Can spread disease can gained notoriety in the spread of bubonic plague (black death) in Europe in centuries past. Foul food with droppings and urine.
Prevention:
Close openings larger than a quarter. Remove sources of moisture and food.
Roaches
American Cockroach
Periplaneta americana
American Cockroach
Appearance
1″-1 7/8″ long.
Shining red–brown in color.
Wings longer than the body in male; only just overlap abdomen in female.
Runs (may fly at very high temperatures).
Also sometimes known as ‘Waterbug’
Lifecycle
The ootheca (egg case) containing 6 – 28 eggs is carried by the female for several days before being deposited. Sometimes cemented down and tend to be grouped.
Hatch in 1 – 2 months.
Nymphs usually develop in 5 months, but it can take up to 15 months.
Habits
Principally inside buildings, drains, basements, pipe ducts and risers.
Nocturnal.
Omnivorous.
Termites
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After we have determined that the problem is termites!
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White-Footed/Deer Mice
Color:
Light brown to black, white underbelly.
Size:
Slightly larger than the house mouse with big ears and eyes
Habits:
Territorial. Live independently. Feed on seeds primarily.
Habitat:
Normally live outdoors in hollow logs, stumps or shallow burrows. Active at night. More common in forested areas.
Threat:
Transmits Hantavirus through urine droplets. An intermediate host for the Black-Legged (Deer) tick which transmits Lyme disease. Control of White footed mice reduces tick infestations.
Prevention:
Close entries in buildings larger than a dime. Remove moisture sources. Remove wood piles and debris which may serve as nesting sites.