This is not the first time I’ve said it, but it is not a great time to equate the word “bedbug” with cute and cuddly creatures or children’s bedtime fun.

See: The BEDBUG Blog: Bedbug is COMING! (which appears to be marketing both a charming fuzzy creature and a book entitled, “The Bed Bug Who Wouldn’t Bite”).

This bedbug says “cute” things like,

The way things are going, I’ll just bet I’m snuggled up in lots of Christmas stockings. Hey! Maybe I’ll even be able to get SOME SLEEP!

You and me both, buddy!

No one who knew about the resurgence of blood-sucking bed bugs would find bed bugs in Christmas stockings to be a charming idea.

Compare this Bed Bug Blog, with this Bed Bug Blog.Similar Posts:

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If the new “Bed Bugs” game for iPhone/iPod Touch actually had you blasting away graphics of bed bugs, instead of nebulous blobby creatures with one eye, it might be kind of cool.

As is, it’s just more sad evidence that people do not know what bed bugs are.

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Blogger Maud Newton notes that writer John Cheever was no stranger to Sneaky Simes, the bed bug. She directs our attention to this biography of Cheever, and notes that

At the end of 1939, Cheever returned from a summer job to the “‘grey light of New York apartments.’” Soon he was living on Bank Street “despite having to sleep in the bathtub to avoid bedbugs.”

When not in the tub, he passed the time “lying in bed between stories, smoking and scratching his bedbug bites,” and indulging “in idle reveries about the kind of bon vivant he saw himself becoming.” By September 1940, “the bedbugs had become ‘ravening’ and carpenters descended on the place and began ‘pulling things apart.’” So he set off to join his wife-to-be in New Hampshire.

Nor was this Cheever’s last experience with the plague, which was prevalent in Manhattan even after the war.

Read the rest at Maud Newton: Blog.Similar Posts:

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Pest Management Professional’s articles are often so good, but in the past, you had to know to look for them. (Thank goodness they added an RSS feed so we can subscribe.)

Mark Sheperdigian brings the bed bug information in three “new to us” articles: the first is on what consumers need to know about bed bugs.

In short:

• They’re not microscopic. (Lou Sorkin always helpfully reminds us, and the authors of run-of-the-mill newspaper stories that bed bugs come in a range of sizes and colors depending on life stage and whether they’ve eaten or not (lovely, yes?)
• You can’t get an infestation from a single egg (though you can get one from a single pregnant female).
• You can’t clean them away.
• And you can’t prevent them.  (You can reduce the risk, but never 100%.)

You’ll want to read the rest of this article here.

The next article is about choosing pesticides, and is really for the bed bug pros among us, but is enlightening to us laypeople too.  In particular, the beginners’ guide to pyrethroids.  And neonicotinoids? New to me.

The choicest nugget here, though, was the suggestion that PCOs test a bed bug population as to its pyrethroid-resistance.  Simple, not foolproof by any means, but really smart:

If the bed bugs are resistant to pyrethroids, you should either know this going in or ensure that pyrethroids are not your main line of defense. How can you know if your bed bug population is resistant without having to send them to a researcher somewhere? You could try this procedure, which has been suggested from a number of sources:

At least a day before the treatment, collect some bed bugs and hold them overnight in a jar on a cloth or paper towel that has been treated (and dried) with your pyrethroid of choice. If all of the bed bugs are dead in the morning, you may fire when ready. If half the bed bugs are dead, be sure to incorporate other non-pyrethroid materials into your program. If the bed bugs are all alive, you should rethink your strategy — leaving pyrethroids out of the mix altogether.

This is not real science and will not lead to dramatic headlines that rock the pest management world, but it may help you avoid a follow-up treatment or two…or three.

Up until now, this might have only worked in large infestations, where “collecting a sample of bed bugs” is simple.  However, new bed bug monitors like the CDC 3000 will mean that even smaller infestations can be tested in this way.

Cool, huh?

(As always, I do not recommend you self-treat for bed bugs.  I am not a PCO but I think a good one is going to get rid of your problem more quickly and more fully than you ever will.  A good PCO will be able to do so safely and will know how to avoid making the problem worse.)

Finally, I found this PMP article enlightening.  In it, Sheperdigian pokes some holes in common theories about bed bug resurgence.

His point appears to be not so much that an end to baseboard spraying or the survival of bed bugs in chicken houses (for example) did not contribute to the resurgence of bed bugs, but that no one theory alone fully accounts for bed bugs’ reappearance, in such numbers, at this time, and their degree of pyrethroid resistance.

Read this one for the sub-headings alone.  (”Harlan hears a who?”  Priceless.) 

And know just how indebted we are to Dr. Harold Harlan, who kept his bed bug colony all those years before there seemed an obvious need for one.  And boy, do we ever need them as research subjects now.

Thanks to Renee for article suggestions!Similar Posts:

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If all else has failed, or things just aren’t working as quickly as you’d like, obviously make sure you have an experienced professional who knows bed bugs working on your case.

And then, try Itchy-Scratchy’s Ancient Hungarian Bed Bug Curse.Similar Posts:

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bugbattler did us all a huge favor and found the episode of the King of Queens featuring a bed bug infestation. It came out in February of 2006 as hopelessnomo pointed out here.

They get a lot of things wrong, as you might expect, but they also get quite a bit right.

My favorite quote?

“$2500? I want you to kill them. I don’t want you to send them to the private school.”

I look forward to hearing yours.

I think you will find it amusing, and I tried to note where the most relevant moments are, so you can cut out some of the episode if bed bugs in “The King of Queens”, and not “The King of Queens” per se, is your main interest.

Enjoy!

(and thanks, bugbattler!)

Part 1/3

Bedbuggiest moments: this one’s pretty solid with only brief non-bed bug moments (10 mins.)

Part 2/3

The following excerpt is ten minutes long but the most bedbuggy scenes begin at 0:00 and approx. 02:55:

Part 3/3

For the vengeful among you! This one is just 1:25 minutes.

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The Grand Island, Nebraska Independent reports that the local library’s Children’s Summer Reading Program will feature a story called “Bed Bugs” Tuesday evening:

“Bed Bugs,” at 6:30 p.m. is a family story time where kids can come dressed in their pajamas.

In their pajamas!

Perhaps hot on the heels of the previous day’s book selection, “Caring for Your Pet Bug,” the library may be sending the wrong message to young people.

It’s hard to believe people still think bed bugs are fun, and that this show has not been run off the air by angry mobs.

I guess bed bugs just aren’t big enough yet. Similar Posts:

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Ahhhh, the 70s.

A time when so few children in North America encountered real bed bugs that this game was not considered creepy.

I especially like that the hopping bed bugs bounce the gentleman’s bed right out of the room.

I remain amazed that this show remains so beloved. Similar Posts:

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Remember this old thing?

A William Burroughs fan has transformed it into this.
Yes, you can get it on a t-shirt.

I know our Winston will be all over these.

Nobugs did not even know William Burroughs was an “exterminator” (or that this figured in his novels), though she did know he once “exterminated” his wife. (Note: drunk people should not play with guns.)

Thanks, boingboing, and to hopelessnomo, for pointing it out!Similar Posts:

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Today’s bed bug news:

• CBBC Newsround | UK | Look out, there are bedbugs about How to scare the children, from the Children’s BBC. Remember it was just a few years ago when the CBBC thought bed bugs were the same as dust mites. We’ve come a long way, babies.
• San Jose Mercury News – Action Line: The bedbugs are biting at tenants’ apartments
  San Jose Mercury News tenants’ Q and A thinks rental insurance may sometimes pay for bed bug-related expenses (or landlord’s insurance, or PCO’s insurance). We had heard from readers renter’s insurance never covered this. Would love to be proven wrong.
• Scabies? Malaria? Chagas? Tapeworm? Bee Attack? Rat Bite? Rabies? Bedbugs? Hantavirus? Snake Attack?
  “The producers of ‘The Deadliest Catch’ and ‘Ice Road Truckers’ are producing a new show for Discovery Channel and are looking for all types of unique and interesting tales of and disease and infestation… We can’t wait to hear yours!” Seriously, they consider your bed bug story (or, indeed, your scabies story) to be on par with these other horrors. Click the link above to audition, and be glad you did not have rabies.

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