Ottawa ON – Ottawa has been under attack for most of this summer. Usually the battles being fought in the national capital take place in the House of Commons. However this fight has been taking place in thousands of bedrooms across the city as bed bug cases are being reported in record numbers. Local pest control companies have stated that cases of bed bugs have risen by 600 per cent during the past year.
A common belief with these insects is that they are attracted to dirty places. But bed bugs have been found in high end New York stores such as Victoria’s Secret and Hollister’s forcing them to temporarily close their doors. Pest control specialists are quick to point the flaws in this cleanliness myth explaining that bed bugs have no preference whether it is a 5 star hotel or no star. The bed bugs are blood feeders with a particular taste for human blood and they will turn up in any location they can feed.
These uninvited guests can hide out in various locations throughout the household. Here a few places one can start looking:
- cracks in the bed frame and headboard
- under chairs, couches, beds and dust covers
- between the cushions of couches and chairs
- under area rugs and the edges of carpets
- between the folds of curtains
- in drawers
- behind baseboards and around window and door casings
- behind electrical plates and under loose wallpaper, paintings and posters
- in cracks in plaster
- in telephones, radios and clocks
Not only are bed bugs small enough that they can hide almost anywhere, but dealing with them is no treat either. There are only two options when it comes to dealing with this problem. One can either hire a pest control company to come in and spray every corner of the house including the furniture. Which can be a long and grueling process as well as expensive.
Or if one believes that the problem is isolated to just the mattress, there is a special bed cover available. However this does not solve the problem it just works as a secure area the bugs cannot vacate. An adult bed bug can live for six months without feeding. This means that for half a year while waiting for the remaining bugs to die, one will have to sleep on top of the blood starved insects.
For more information on bed bugs and how to deal with them you can go to the City of Ottawa website where they have outlined the problem in great detail.
I can be contacted by email at markus.noe@live.com
Toronto is the same thing, it’s become a very serious problem.
Cock roaches people, If you have cock roaches you never have bed bugs *l* truth look it up
New York as well–see today’s NY Times.
DDT works good on them too