Has anyone ever said "Don’t let the bedbugs bite!" to you before you’ve gone to bed?
My grandparents used to say it to me when I used to sleep over at their house as a kid. I always thought that they were being cute and bedbugs, like the boogieman, lived in the land of make-believe. Today I find bedbugs very real—I’m sitting at a friend’s apartment while the exterminators spray my place for bedbugs.
It seems my neighbors had some bedbugs stowaway in their luggage on an overseas trip and my apartment complex is spraying to ensure they don’t take over the building. Bedbugs are nasty creatures. During the day they live under your bed and/or floor board and at night they come out to feast on your blood.
These pests were thought to have been eradicated with the use of DDT in the 1940’s, but during the the last decade bedbugs made a comeback. The most likely cause of their resurgence is today’s pest-control methods get rid of other pests but don’t kill bedbugs.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the bugs are not known to spread disease and the best way to treat a bedbug infestation is to contact your local exterminator. I had to move my furniture 3 feet away from the wall, take everything off the floor and remove my cats from the apartment for the exterminator. I consider that a small price to pay to keep bedbug infestation in the land of make-believe.
Have you ever had a bedbug problem?