BBRUG Bedbug Control Command Center
Though I haven't posted about bedbugs in more than two years--and hope never to have to do so again--these little nasties are still one of the biggest draws here at BBRUG. I get e-mails fairly often from distraught people trying to cope with infestations. Blogger doesn't have a category function, otherwise I'd just tag the relevant posts, so to make it easier on y'all, I've compiled this list of relevant posts. Most just detail my own war against the bugs, but a few include links to more interesting stuff around the web. Scroll farther down for mug shots of the two bugs I found in my house.
If you think you have bedbugs, you could do worse than to check out the Bedbugger online bedbug support group. Together, we can overthrow the insects!
Bedbug Post Index
- Bug report (12/12/2004): The bugs ignore massive amounts of Skin-So-Soft. Detailed description of bites--including measurements, phone conversation with Oxford's nurse line. Last known bedbug attack in my apartment (typed with crossed fingers).
- Varmints. (11/20/2004): Got bit, took Chlor-Trimeton, got annoyed.
- The Bugs Are Back (11/8/2003): My whole building is infested; multi-apartment extermnination begins. Quotes from news articles.
- Halloween Vampire Attack! (11/1/2003): Got bit. Iced. Took Chlor-Trimeton.
- Scratching what doesn't itch (7/3/2003): Tips on how to scratch, from the New York Times. No, seriously.
- Bug Report (5/11/2003): Round-up post after a whole six months bug-free.
- Fashion solution (10/7/2002): Brief note at the bottom on the continued presence of bugs.
- Lagniappe, or, Do I Live in the Pest House? (10/1/2002): Assorted disturbing extracts from bedbug-related texts found online. Includes the bedbugs-smallpox theory and the nasty-sounding formaldehyde treatment.
- Oh, I forgot to mention that yesterday I re-dusted (9/22/2002): Brief mention of dusting the house with Drione.
- I have seen the enemy (9/22/2002): Found the alleged adult bedbug stuck to a glue trap under my bed. (This has since been debunked as a juvenile cockroach.)
- Bug Report (9/21/2002): Progress report, mid-infestation.
- Okay, I think I saw one. (9/15/2002): Hunting for the dreaded no-see-um.
- Bug report (9/15/2002): Several informational links, including the infamous "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" quote.
- Bug Report (9/10/2002): Desperate, I resort to the vile Avon Skin-So-Soft.
- Bug (9/9/2002): I order Drione and Claire Lice Killer from Bugsaway.com.
- Just when you thought it was safe to sit on the couch . . . (9/8/2002): Got massively bitten while awake, outside the bedroom, under fairly bright lights.
- Bug update (9/1/2002): Status report on a particularly nasty bite.
- I've Found the Bug (8/29/2002): How I caught a bedbug in the act, with a history of my infestation up to that point.
Nasty Little Bugger
On August 28, 2002, I was sitting on the couch reading when I felt an itch on my hand. I looked down and saw this little tiny bug on my cuff; it had just given me two bites. I squished it with a tissue and stuck it on the scanner. It is really tiny, but the bite packs a wallop of an itch; these nasty little buggers have been chowing on my flesh on and off since April. I have since learned that this is a bedbug nymph.
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Sorry the pictures are so small and fuzzy; this is the best I could get my scanner to do.
Why am I showing you this revolting critter? Because thanks to kinder, gentler trends in pesticide use, after decades of decline, bedbug populations are on the rise again. If you start getting super-itchy bites from no-see-ums, you, too, may have these. I don't know where mine came from--I hadn't stayed in a hotel, the traditional transfer point, in two years--but I've got 'em, and they're a bitch to get rid of. Watch out!
Last updated 12.16.2006
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