You probably already know if you have roaches, mice, or rat infestations in your home. But it is important to know how big the problem is, how pests are entering, and where pests are getting their food and water, and how best to get rid of them and prevent them from returning.

To find out, go through every room in your home, focusing on the kitchen and bathroom, where pests are usually worst. You may need a flashlight for the dark areas.

Start in Your Kitchen
Look out for waste and droppings: Cockroach droppings look like dark smudges with dark dots. Their egg cases are yellowish and ribbed, about the size of a small fingernail. Rodent droppings are brown, the size and shape of rice grains.

Look out for Chew marks in woodwork, walls, and food containers. Gaps, cracks, and holes in walls, along baseboards and windows, and around pipes and wires, and drains: Cockroaches can squeeze through cracks as small as 1/8 of an inch. Mice can get through holes as small as 1/4 inch.

Look out for Leaky faucets and pipes or leaks in ceilings and walls. Open food packages, sticky surfaces, pet food left out and garbage cans that don’t close tightly.

Try Reduce Clutter
Recycle piles of newspapers, paper bags, cardboard, and bottles, especially around stoves and refrigerators. Store clothing and linens, you don’t use in sealed plastic boxes or bags.

Vacuum Thoroughly
Use a vacuum with a hose and crevice tool. Special filter vacuums, known as HEPA or allergen-reducing vacuums, work best. Vacuum behind and under refrigerators and stoves. Empty cabinets, throwing away old food and items with signs of pests. Vacuum inside gaps and holes in walls and in and behind cabinets.

Wash Hard Surfaces
Wear household gloves, fill two buckets with warm water: one with a mild soap or detergent, and one with plain water for rinsing, separate rinse water will help you, avoid spreading insect eggs, food, and other wastes and Change the water often. Use a sponge and plastic scouring pad or scrub brush to scrub and rinse:

• Countertops, tables, and surfaces where food is stored, prepared, or eaten.
• Under the stovetop, inside burners, and under and behind the stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher.
• Inside the rubber seal of the refrigerator door.
• Inside drawers, cabinets, and shelves in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Floors.

For hard-to-remove stains, use a mild bleach solution (1-part bleach, 10 parts water) or a cleaning product with bleach. Start high and work down. When you’re done, seal the vacuum bag in plastic and throw it out.

Deprive them of what they love most; food and shelter:
Seal up cracks and small holes and fill larger holes and gaps. Store all loose food in tight containers and manage your garbage well. Use garbage cans with tight-fitting lids and clean them more often, inside out.

For other pests, you can control and prevent them by using a number of do-it-yourself chemicals or engaging our services , if infestation is beyond control. Do-it-yourself pest control products are becoming more common as people are becoming more educated on the subject of pest control. Choose materials that are effective and can give you good value for your money.

NYC neighborhoods have the most rodent complaints and they are a lot bigger than you probably realize, and possess the uncanny ability to drag a slice of pizza onto the subway. Rat Complaints and sightings are soaring in Manhattan, including neighborhoods like Chinatown and the Lower East Side.

Needless to say, we have a bit of a rat obsession problem. But how bad is it? There are some very interesting rat stats from the year 2010 to 2016: There are two reports to this effect: The first is, as thus:

Brooklyn has the most rat sightings, particularly in Bushwick.

Staten Island has the least, whereas Queens has far fewer than expected.

29,174 rats were discovered in three-plus family apartment buildings across New York in the past five years.

More rat sightings were documented on a particular Monday over the last five years, with a whopping number of 12,940.

Here is the second report:

New Yorkers have made 8,335 rodent complaints to the city’s 311 hot line so far, this year, 2016, up 18 percent from the same period in 2015, when there were 7,076 complaints, and 39 percent over the same period in 2014, records show.

Brooklyn leads the rat pack with 2,542 complaints this year. Manhattan was second with 2,269, followed by The Bronx (1,917), Queens (1,291) and Staten Island (316).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 3+ Family apartment buildings are the most common places where rat sightings are reported. A large portion of housing, especially in Brooklyn is of this type. Fortunately, schools are among the least frequently reported and restaurants aren’t on the list as well, which is probably better. We need not know which restaurants had rats reported there.

A record 29,329 rat complaints were made in 2015, records show. At the current pace, that record will be eclipsed this year.

This year’s top three rat hot spots are:
335 148th St., a multifamily dwelling in Mott Haven, Bronx (173 calls).
2172 Second Ave., a four-story building in East Harlem, Manhattan (127).
2300 Kings Highway, an apartment building in Midwood, Brooklyn (106).

Susan Stetzer, district manager for Community Board 3, acknowledged the citywide rat problem. She said rats in her district, which covers Alphabet City, the East Village, the Lower East Side and Chinatown, feast on garbage from eateries and scraps left in Tompkins Square and Seward parks.

“There are more mountains of garbage on the street waiting to be picked up. Our increased development does not have the infrastructure to support it,” she said. “The worst locations are city-owned properties. The Department of Health cannot issue summonses and clean up and charge back to the property owner if necessary.”

Mayor de Blasio launched a rat attack last May, spending $3 million on an extermination plan — but it appears the vermin are winning the war. Timothy Wong, an exterminator in Chinatown, cited the rising number of homeless digging in trash.
“There is so much food out there on the street,” said Wong. “The rats are getting bigger and bolder. We’re seeing them in the parks an hour before sunset. Some folks are seeing them in the afternoon.” Scary, isn’t it?

Sure, there may likely be some irregularities in these reports, but at least now you know?

Baits are the primary pesticides used to treat cockroach infestations. They can be packaged as pastes, gels, granules, or dusts. Most insecticides used in baits are slow acting. Consequently, an effective bait program does not give immediate results, but may take 7 days or longer to provide visual evidence of its effects. Baits can be quite effective for long-term control of cockroaches unless the cockroaches have other food sources available to them.

Baits do not control all cockroaches equally. Female cockroaches with egg cases do very little feeding and avoid open spaces; consequently, they are less likely to be immediately affected by a bait.

Bait Stations:
Prefilled bait stations is the most popular form for home use, which are small plastic units that contain an attractive food base along with an insecticide. Refillable bait stations are available in stores and are refilled with bait granules or gel. The advantage of bait stations is that insecticides can be confined to a small area rather than being dispersed, and they are relatively child resistant. Baits in plastic containers also remain effective for many months.

Gel Bait:
Gel baits are very effective for crack and crevice treatments when applied using a bait gun or syringe in small dabs in cracks and crevices where cockroaches will find it. While they are fresh, bait gels are very effective when placed in locations where they will be found by cockroaches. To remain effective, however, the gels need to be reapplied frequently. Bait gels dehydrate in about 3 days when left in open air, it is therefore recommended that gels be used indoors only.

Baits that are available to homeowners can usually be purchased at most retail outlets that carry garden supplies. Examples include Stapleton’s Magnetic Roach Food by Blue Diamond, Combat gel bait and prefilled bait stations, and Pre-Empt Professional Cockroach Gel Bait. These products may vary in effectiveness according to cockroach species.

As with sticky traps, insecticidal baits do not attract cockroaches so place them near hiding spaces or where roaches are likely to encounter them when foraging. If the bait stations are labeled for outdoor use, place them around building perimeters, in valve or water meter boxes, and around planters. Indoors, place bait packets under or behind appliances, along wall borders, and in cabinets. Baits can also be placed next to fecal specks and droppings of cockroaches, which contain a natural attractant or aggregation pheromone. Look for these fecal specks and droppings under kitchen counters, behind kitchen drawers, and in the back of cabinets.

In summary, Baits are most highly recommended because of their effectiveness and targeted application, decreasing unnecessary pesticide exposure. Baits usually come in granular formulations, plastic stations, or large syringes for gel applications. Apply granular formulations outside in plants and mulched areas, bait stations should be placed in areas where you suspect cockroaches are hiding in your home, the gel in syringes will be placed in cracks and crevices around windows, doors, and any other suspected cockroach harborage.

It hardly takes a genius to notice that cockroaches usually make their raids on pantries, countertops and kitchen appliances when evening falls. They can get into houses in a variety of ways, food packages, used furniture, appliances, suitcases and more, and once there, often make homes in the overlooked corners and crevices of your home.

Cockroaches are one of the most numerous groups of insects in the world, found almost everywhere and comprising a lot of species, like some 4,500-different species. The American or palmetto cockroach is the most common one in the United States, but German, brown banded and Oriental cockroaches are also common in some other regions. They breed quickly, and as omnivorous scavengers, can subsist on a wide variety of food sources. They are difficult to kill and can even live for a long time when their heads are severed from their bodies.

Because cockroaches dislike light, they disappear during the daytime to dark places, including the undersides of appliances like stoves and refrigerators, underneath sinks or other installations, near plumbing, inside light switches and behind wall paneling or doorjambs. They also hide in the insides of bookcases or furniture, the folds of drapes or other fabrics, in piles of detritus like old newspapers, paper bags or pet food bags, and in among brooms or mops. Their hiding places are nearly endless, provided they are dark and usually undisturbed.

Cockroaches emerge at night to feed on whatever they can find in your house. Leftover food, dirty counter or appliance surfaces, pet food, crumbs on the floor or compost bowls all provide ample feeding grounds for roaches. They even eat the glue in book bindings, though without moisture they won’t last more than a few weeks. Unfortunately, their close contact with human food and other objects can transmit bacteria and disease because they also come into contact with human and animal feces. Because they much prefer moving around in the dark, if you see a cockroach in daylight, you should suspect an infestation. Cockroaches don’t like traveling alone, and will explore their habitats during the day if it’s quiet. The definition of infestation may be fluid, even in your own mind. You may be able to stand one or two roaches around your garbage cans, for example, but not want to see a single one in your kitchen.

Cockroach Management

The first step toward eliminating cockroaches is to get rid of their daytime hiding places. Clean out all cupboards, eliminate heaps of detritus or trash, clean underneath appliances, and remove all sources of potential food from commonly dark, undisturbed areas. Remember that they prefer moist hiding places, so take especial care under sinks, near water heaters or in bathrooms and laundry rooms to clean effectively and remove all potential food, such as pet kibble. Place traps near potential hiding places to determine where most of the infestation is located, then seal up cracks, fix leaks, make repairs and otherwise limit their access to refuge.

The first step to ensure safety from rodent-borne disease is to have a basic knowledge of what they are, there features, modes of infestation, the diseases rodents can transmit to humans and the possible modes of transmission. Then secondly, know the various means rodents can be eliminated from homes to avoid severe infestations and spread of diseases.
Rat and mouse are rodents. Some of the common species of commensal rodent are:

Rattus norvegicus (Rn), sewer rat; also known as norway rat.
Rattus rattus (R2), house rat; also known as roof rat.
Mus musculus (Mm), mouse.

Rodents have some special features as follows:

They are social animals, nocturnal, good climbers (especially for Rattus rattus), good jumpers, range of movement: 30-50m for rats, 5-10 m for mice, good swimmers and they can dive, rats take 15-30 gm food and consumes about 30 gm water daily, mouse takes only 3 gm of food and small amount of water every day, about 5-8 liters per year, 5-14 per litter and average life span is 1 year.

Rodent-borne Diseases

Rodents are carriers of viral, rickettsial and bacterial diseases. The causative agents could enter our body by four different ways:

1. Through the ecto-parasites of rat like fleas, ticks and mites
2. By food or water contaminated by rodent excreta
3. Through direct contact with rodent excreta
4. By rat bite

Some of the common rodent-borne diseases are:

Plague
This is a disease of rodents caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Rat fleas feeding on a bacteria-infected rodent would transmit the disease to the next host (rat or human) through biting.

Urban typhus
This is a rickettsial disease transmitted by rat fleas. Flea feces are rubbed or scratched into the wound or abraded skin. Also, possible transmission could be by the inhalation of dust or ingestion of food contaminated with flea excreta.

Spotted fever
This is yet another rickettsial disease transmitted by rickettsia-infected ticks feeding on human through biting. It is transmitted when tick’s larvae feed on rodents; adults feed on dog as their host and then through human contact with the host animals.

Scrub typhus
Also, a rickettsial disease transmitted by rickettsia-infected mites feeding on human through biting. This disease is transmitted by mites amongst rodents in scrubby areas and then accidental infections occurs in man: campers, hikers etc.

Personal Preventive Measures for Scrub Typhus While Hiking/Camping

– Wear long trousers and clothes with long sleeves
– Avoid resting in scrubby area or on grasses
– Apply insect repellents to exposed skin surfaces
– Do not leave clothes in scrubby area or on grasses

Hantaan disease
A disease of rodents caused by Hantaan virus, transmitted by air-borne droplets and fecal particles of infected rodent under poor ventilation.

Rat-bite fever
A bacterial disease from rodents usually transmitted to human through rat biting

Rodent Prevention and Control

1. Direct disinfestations
Use poisonous bait or traps by mixing rodenticide with bait for rodent consumption. Some of the rodenticides are chronic anti-coagulants (vitamin K as the anti-dote). The anti-coagulants take 4-5 days to give effects
Also, consider making Traps for example, Cage trap, Snap trap/break back trap etc.

The use of glue traps can scare rodent that are caught live and cause them to urinate. Since their urine may contain germs, this may increase the risk of being exposed to rodent-borne diseases

2. Fundamental control
– Improve the sanitary condition of the environment and deprive rodents of :
– Food, Harborage and Passages
– Eliminate harborages for rodents and confine the rodent activity area for enhancing the rodent disinfestations work
– Disposal of dead rodents

The following procedures can be used for handling dead rodents found:
Using tools such as tongs to put the dead rodents into a tough plastic bag (e.g. rubbish bag); spraying the carcasses with general household disinfectant or diluted bleaching solution until they are soaked thoroughly; sealing the bag tightly and placed it into another plastic bag. The second plastic bag should also be sealed; putting the bagged material properly in covered rubbish bin or disposing of it to the nearest refuse collection point.

When handling dead rodents, attention should be paid to personal and environmental hygiene. Wear gloves and face mask, if necessary, when handling dead rodents and avoid direct contact with them. All areas, clothes and items contaminated by the dead rodents should be disinfected thoroughly using general household disinfectant or diluted bleaching solution. Before taking off gloves, wash them with water and then cleanse with general household disinfectant or diluted bleaching solution. Hands should be washed thoroughly with soap and water after removing the gloves.

In the fall and winter months, rodents, like the house mouse, are looking for a safe place to spend the winter. Since these mammals are commensal, they rely on humans to help them survive. When they find their way into our homes they will look for a safe and undisturbed place to build their nest. Believe it or not, mice will hide just about anywhere inside your home, including in: Attics, basements, closets, car trunks or under the hood, inside walls, storage boxes, wood piles and any other undisturbed areas. These hiding places can be categorized into two, Outdoor Hiding Spots and Indoor Hiding Spots.

Outdoor Hiding Spots (Underground and Higher Locations)

• Underground
Rats can be found living outdoors in a wide array of habitats. They’re usually big on underground burrowing. Some of them reside in small openings below homes. Others set up residence under stones, high grass and bushes in yards. Rats also often hide out below heaps of wood, as long as the wood is mostly ignored. Many rats make their burrows right next to gates, outhouses and terraces. Some of the burrows they inhabit are as far down as 18 inches in the dirt.

• Higher Locations
While it’s common for rats to live in low locations, not all of them do. Black rats, or roof rats (Rattus rattus), for example, usually prefer to hide out and rest away from the ground. Many of them scout out nesting locales up in trees. Many of them reside in the upper portions of man-made buildings, as well — think attics of two-story homes.

Indoor Hiding Spots
Just when you think the cold weather has driven all the pests away, you notice rodent droppings in your pantry. Although at first, they may look like grains of dark brown rice, these tell-tale signs are not nearly as innocuous as they may seem. Rodent droppings can actually contaminate your food and spread diseases to you and your family members and if you are seeing these signs of rodents in your home, you are probably dealing with an infestation.

If you’re concerned that rats might be hiding out inside of your home, make a point to look in all of the key spots. Areas in the middle of walls, cramped basements and crawl spaces are all favorite rat hideaways. They also like to hang out in tight and narrow spaces such as those below and in the back of closets, cabinets and tubs. Some of them even hide out in empty drawers.

After their nest has been built, these furry creatures will begin to forage for food. They will look everywhere in your home for crumbs, including: in your cupboards, behind appliances, in the bags that pet food is stored in and in areas of high moisture. When rodents forage, they tend to follow the same trail; especially once it has proved fruitful in the search for food. When following the same track, they tend to leave ‘smear’ marks along walls as the grease from their fur rubs off onto their beaten path. You may also find mice droppings in areas where mice have been feeding.

As soon as you identify a rodent problem in your home, it is best to call in the Pest control professionals to handle it. Not only will they help identify areas of infestation, but they can eliminate the pests once and for all and also offer recommendations for environmental modifications that may be necessary to keep these pests from returning to your home.

Naturally roaches are seen in warm areas of the house; under logs, around cabinets, and all of that. This why you generally find them in numbers indoors rather than outdoors. Roaches are not the best of companies, so by all means try to keep them out of the home, else you may find that roommate that you never had and never wanted. Like every other creature on the planet they have a reaction to temperature and this write up will just educate you on how to exploit this.

Cockroaches are cold blooded creatures without the capacity to adjust their body temperature, so they are wired to survive in regular warm temperatures, but that is of course if you’re not trying to burn them. Generally, cockroaches do not survive if between the temperature gets overly hot or cold; a lot of the roaches’ do not survive when they’re exposed to temperatures above about 115 or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit for an excess amount of time. Other cockroach species like the Austrian and Surinam will not survive for too long in the cold because they are subtropical.

Temperature effect can be tweaked to an advantage by any victim of cockroach infestation; lowered temperature below 45 degrees slows before eventually halting growth and reproduction of cockroaches.

Cockroaches are widely regarded as survivors, and given a little time they can just begin to adapt to cold temperatures. This is noticeable with the oriental cockroaches that have been proven to survive for longer periods in subfreezing temperatures.

The survival instincts of cockroaches is key to their response to temperature change, when there is abrupt and severe temperature change they will most likely not survive it, but when the temperature change is gradual their impressive physiology helps them adapt to these little changes. So, if you’re looking to employ temperature change in dealing with cockroaches do it the Assasin Creed way; do it fast and strong.

If roaches infest a valuable item of yours, it is sane practice to put the item in a plastic bag then place in the refrigerator, allow it to freeze for something like five days then afterwards take out the roaches then clean out the item.

If roaches probably had a choice they would be begging you to leave the room at a regular warm temperature, but they don’t so smoke them out or freeze them out.

No one ever announced that they got rid of their cockroach infestation easily, and that is because getting rid of roaches is one of the most cumbersome tasks anyone can take on even for professional exterminators. They never seem to go away completely; one and the next day you will find another one, take care of that one and it doesn’t stop you from finding 10 more another time. It all seems like they are unstoppable, and it’s even worse knowing that they have the genetics that helps them survive harsh living conditions, including various traps that humans try to kill them with.

Cockroaches are normally around 15 mm long. Unfortunately, some have been found to be up to 9 cm long! Do everything you can to keep these big guys out of your house. Fortunately, if you do see them, there are some ways to kill them and make sure that their friends never return to your house again.

Tips to getting rid of roaches

There are three tips that I recommend to anyone who is interested in getting rid of roaches. While these tips may seem simplistic, they are effective for basic cases of roaches. Fortunately there are plans that go even further for more extreme cases of roaches. Here are the three basic suggestions:

• Remove any and all crumbs from your home. Also, mop up any spills you may have in your cupboards, on your floors and all around your counters. Roaches unfortunately live off of similar food is we do. They searched the house for any remnants of food or drink left behind.

• Make your own roach killing concoction! My preference is one that mixes sugar water and baking soda. Simply mix this in a bowl and serve to your cockroach friends. They will eat it up as though it is a Thanksgiving dinner, and within a day or two you should see the wonderful effects of this method.

• Finally, you can go the old-fashioned route. By a set of roach killing traps and set them up in various locations. I recommend that at least one goes in your cabinets, one in your bathroom, and one on your floor. Try to keep these traps away from any opening containers of food. Also, make sure that you get the effective roach killing traps. Some tend to work like a charm whereas some tend to be rather useless.

Getting rid of roaches will never be easy, but it is possible. Use the tips offered above to make this task slightly easier. If it doesn’t work though, you may need to seek out some more powerful measures. Fortunately, these methods aren’t very hard to find online.

The bad news around here is that bed bugs can spread. They can catch a ride in your clothing or bag, and hop off somewhere else to start a new life. It’s worth considering this possibility, as you are. The good news is, it is possible to avoid this using some precautions.

It’s also worth noting that they can bite during the daytime, a fact which some people just don’t acknowledge. If bed bugs are in a school, a corporate office, or somewhere else where people are not sitting or lying down at night, they will bite by daylight.

It can be transferred to an office or transferred from the office to elsewhere.

Though few people report this happening, it is better to take precautions against it. If it does happen, not only can you create a stressful situation at work, but you are also likely to reinfest yourself at home, even if treatment at home is going well.

Precautions might include carefully inspecting purses, shoes, etc. and treating them in appropriate ways if necessary; storing them in the home carefully; washing and drying clothing on hot and storing it in sealed containers before use; showering and dressing in this cleaned-dried-sealed-up clothing directly before going out to work or anywhere else.

If, instead, you sit around at home, then hop up, grab a bag off your (possibly infested) sofa, hop in the car, and go to work (friend’s home, etc.) then you are more likely to bring bed bugs elsewhere. And while few people have reported taking them to work, many people have reported giving them to relatives, friends, etc. Some folks think they have bed bugs at home, where they might actually be bitten at work. Since bite marks and itching seem to appear after one is bitten (anywhere from a few hours to the next day or longer), it is possible to be bitten at work and think you are bitten at home. Keeping a log of when new bites appear might help you pinpoint this. Most people seem to first notice new bites sometime the day after being bitten: in the morning, afternoon, or evening, in many cases. Lots of Bedbuggers notice them after a warm or hot shower, or exercise, suggesting that heat can “bring them out” somehow. That is based on anecdotal evidence; unfortunately, this stuff has not really been studied yet.

Bugs can be living on a chair at home. Sofas, soft chairs, desk chairs, anything really: if you sit there for long periods (working at your desk, zoning out at home in front of the internet or a movie), you can be bitten. And they are likely to hide out near where they feed. But remember, in addition to beds or chairs, bed bugs can actually live in the room itself (under baseboards, in floor cracks, around edges of carpeting, even behind electrical plates).

They can be transported through hugging or close contact with others.

It is possible, but not easy. They will “hitchhike” in your bag, or even an item of clothing. If you are wearing washed, clean clothes, and if you take care to store items like coats and shoes properly, then it would be difficult for them to do so. Also, even if they did hitchhike, say in a trouser cuff or bag, they would not likely ride around very long. They want to bite you and then run off and hide inside something that is not moving! The eggs be transported. It is possible a bed bug could have left an egg in your clothing. However, eggs take 6-17 days to hatch according to a report. So, if you’re washing your clothing and storing it better during your infestation, this should not be a problem because washing and drying on hot will kill bed bugs and eggs.

Most times, it is hard to tell if you’ve been bitten by a bed bug unless you find bed bugs or signs of infestation. When bed bugs bite, they inject an anesthetic and an anticoagulant that prevents a person from realizing they are being bitten. Most people do not realize they have been bitten until bite marks appear anywhere from one to several days after the initial bite. The bite marks are similar to that of a mosquito or a flea — a slightly swollen and red area that may itch and be irritating. The bite marks may be random or appear in a straight line. Other symptoms of bed bug bites include insomnia, anxiety, and skin problems that arise from profuse scratching of the bites.

Because bed bug bites affect everyone differently, some people may have no reaction and will not develop bite marks or any other visible signs of being bitten. Other people may be allergic to the bed bugs and can react adversely to the bites. These allergic symptoms can include enlarged bite marks, painful swellings at the bite site, and, on rare occasions, anaphylaxis.

Most people do find that bed bug bites are not actually painful. Instead, they are annoying, irritating, and bothersome. When bed bugs bite people, it can lead to a small amount of swelling around the bitten area. In some cases, a slight lump or bump will also develop directly on the bite area. If you have ever experienced a flea bit or mosquito bite, then you will find that a bed bug bite is roughly the same experience.

The swelling, slight redness, and tiny lump may be a source of irritation. You may find that you have an urge to scratch. Giving in to this urge can actually cause the bite to become painful when it wasn’t in the first place, because irritating the bite site and possibly breaking the skin with vigorous scratching is simply not a good idea. What can make bed bug bites even more annoying is the fact that the nature of a bed bug infestation will bring the victim into the bugs’ vicinity over and over. This means that the bugs will have a frequent opportunity to inflict even more bites, and over time the sum total of all of these can be quite bothersome for people, even if it never reaches the level of actual pain.

Some people find that while the bites are not causing them any physical pain, they are more than sufficient to inflict great psychological distress. Since the bites are unsightly, people who suffer them may feel self-conscious. Even worse, they may begin to feel ashamed of being a bed bug bite victim. This is due to a common but completely false impression that bed bugs are a sign of poverty. This is simply not the case. Bed bug problems are the sign of a bed bug infestation and nothing more. Bed bugs do not hunt out the poorer areas in town and then decide to take up residence there. They can, in fact, be found in the middle-class and even rich neighborhoods as well.

In addition to psychological distress, bed bug bites can in rare cases be responsible for an extreme physical reaction. If you happen to be allergic to the substances a bed bug injects into the bite to make the blood flow more easily, then you can experience a severe reaction known as anaphylactic shock. This is quite rare, but if it happens to you or a loved one, it may require the intervention of trained medical personnel or even a visit to the local emergency room.

The possibility of an allergic reaction is just one more reason, as if anyone needed more, to take steps today to eradicate bedbugs from your environment.