Don’t let the bedbugs bite? Just try and stop them.
When I was very young I used to play “Ring Around the Rosie.” It was fun for a three-year-old. I played it with my kids. Then when some historical purist told me that the little Nursery Rhyme referenced the Black Plague of 1348 in Europe, it kind of ruined it for me.
The same thing happened with the bedtime rhyme about bedbugs. Bedbugs were a fairy tale when I was a kid. Nobody had seen or heard of one in decades; but then around the turn of the century, they made a dramatic comeback. Like little vampires freed from their coffins they once again slipped between our sheets and sucked our blood leaving us with red marks and itching by morning.
Fear and loathing in the heartland
A recent news article shows the fear level bedbugs have raised among people. A man entered a Salt Lake City courtroom full of apologies for being late. He lifted his pant leg showing visible red marks.
“My home has a bedbug infestation and I didn’t get much sleep,” he stated.
The Judge’s face went ashen. She dismissed the man’s case, cleared the courtroom, then cancelled all sessions for the day until professionals could come in and fumigate the entire room.
Was she being irrational? If you knew how nasty a bedbug infestation can be and how sneaky they are piggy backing from your friend’s house to yours, you would understand her reaction. She had obviously had experience with bedbugs.
What is your best approach?
The Bank of America and a few other large companies sponsor a program called The Savings Experiment. You might have seen it. They may show you the many uses for mayonnaise in your home and garden or how you can replace every cleaner you buy with vinegar and lemon juice, plus you can drink it. Think of the savings. They have 1001 different ways to save money by doing it your self or making something at home.
They had a segment on bedbugs a few months ago. I was curious to see what ingenious solution they would have for bedbugs. Their honesty was amazingly refreshing, especially for a program sponsored by a bank notorious for nefarious practices.
After presenting several options like vacuuming, steaming, and buying poisons from Home Depot, they stopped and looked at the camera and stated, “None of these work and they are a big waste of time. Your best option is to call a professional bedbug exterminator. It will save you time and money.”
Boy was I glad they didn’t recommend slathering mayonnaise over my mattress because that would have been pushing the mayonnaise segment too far.
So, there you have it, from a respected program on how to save money and still get the job done. You really needn’t waste any more time on the subject. If you wake up with a small itchy blotch or rash on your face or other body part, call Interstate Pest Control now. You don’t want to show up to work with bedbug bites. They might shut your office down.