Revenge of the Bed Bug

My boyfriend was FREAKING OUT the other day because he found the remains of a bug on the mattress and he was positive that it was a bed bug. He was so sure (I say the bed bugs don't have a chance against the black widows, but that's just me.) that he saved the pieces-of-bug in a sandwich bag and left them on the bathroom counter. Ew. After a couple of days of obsessive internet research, he declared that it wasn't a bed bug after all. It was too big. Whew! Another close call. Can I throw these bug pieces out now? Thank you.

After World War II, DDT almost eradicated bed bugs. However... because DDT eradicated just about everything else in its path, it was banned. This, a recent increase in international travel, and - some say - our new love of second-hand shopping have brought bed bugs back with a vengeance.

Bed bugs are reddish-brown, oval and flat. They become redder and fatter after their first blood meal. Yuck. My first wedding reception included pig's blood. I did not partake. I'm just sayin'.

"But I'm not nasty and haven't stayed in pay-by-the-hour motel in ages. No, really!" you say. That doesn't matter. These bugs are on the move, care more about blood than dirt, and have more than one way of getting around:

• To move from one place to another, they stowaway on mattresses or stored clothes.
• Their sticky and hard-to-see eggs attach to pant legs, shoes, etc.... and go wherever those pant legs, shoes, etc...go.
• They congregate in the tufts & folds of mattresses.
• They know when you're asleep by your breathing patterns and wait until you're sleeping before emerging for a blood meal

Oh, that is just....creepy. Why they're not called stalker bugs is beyond me.

Bite symptoms:

• Red bump with a dark red spot in the middle.
• Bites are aligned in a rough line or cluster.
• Bites are on face, neck, arms and hands.

Treatment at home: Vacuum, wash clothes with hot water, dry items in clothes dryer or place in a freezer. Heat items (example: bag up clothes & place in a car on a hot summer day). Hey, that reminds me of boyfriend's tick killing method. Death by fire, he likes to say. I'll leave it at that.

Home Pest Control bed bug service includes:

• Free Inspection
• Steamer treatment (w/pesticide)
• Vacuum treatment
• Dog service available for bed bug identification and location.

So, nighty night, sleep tight, and if the bed bugs bite, don't freak out. Give us a call instead. 615-874-8600

post author - Emily Barker

The weather's warmin' and the termites are swarmin'. What to do?

termite shelter tube - yikes!

I live in a little old house in the woods and I'm always worried that the termites will tire of eating all the fallen oaks and march - or, I guess, swarm - over to my house for a nibble... or a feast. So I call my pest control guy who comes out and for FREE, inspects my little old house. Looks like everything's cool now, but termites were here before. Someone must've stopped 'em. Lucky me. It's kind of like learning the Manson Family lived in your shed for a while [shudder].

Every now and then, my boyfriend makes me watch Holmes Inspection while he goes on and on about how "Water is the enemy!" He's right, you know. Termites love some moisture. It's one of the main ingredients they use when making their creepy-looking shelter tubes. Anyway...Mike Holmes finds all this termite damage under a new-looking and just purchased home (episode 21, if you go to his site). He has to gut the entire basement and rebuild everything for these people. Hundreds of thousands of dollars later, their house is as good as new.

Termites can do thousands or even millions of dollars in damage, but inspections are free. Call us at 615-874-8600 or click here to send us an email to make an appointment.

Did you know...?

-Spray swarming termites (also known as swarmers) with any available aerosol - bug spray, hair spray, whatever - to stop them in mid-flight.

-Just because you don't see swarms doesn't mean you don't have termites and just because you do see swarms doesn't mean you do.

-If you find a hole (such as in a wall or a light fixture) where termites are coming into your house, cover it up to stop their progress then call the authorities (a reputable pest management service).

-Termites may be as close as a layer of paint. They can eat the paper between paint and plaster and never break the paint.



More information on termites, other pests, and pest management.

National Pest Management Association website


All the information you might ever need about termites from the UT extension service. Great pictures and illustrations as well.

post author - Emily Barker