Home / Housekeeping / General / Bed Bugs: Treatment & Tips For Getting Rid Of Them 27 Comments Print EmailBed bugs are usually brought into the house from the outside, on clothing, baggage, second-hand furniture or in laundry done in an infested home. Social stigma is attached to them more than to any other insect. This is unfair since the most conscientious homemaker may bring them in on his or her clothing after brushing up against someone while shopping or spending an afternoon at the movies.Once in the house, they will hide all day in the most out-of-the-way place it can find. Its hiding place may be a good distance away from the bed–in wall spaces, floor cracks, behind partitions, in furniture cracks–or it may burrow into the mattress tufts or crawl in among the crevices in the bed frame. Wherever it hides, it has an uncanny instinct for finding its way easily to the bed when the lights are out. They will climb up from the floor, climb walls and drop from ceilings with ease to get at their victims.
They are attracted to your body warmth and the carbon dioxide you exhale–sure signs that there’s a live one waiting to be feasted on.Because of the increased amount of traveling we do today compared to a few decades ago, bed bugs can be a real problem in hotels, buses, airplanes and other areas where groups of people gather together. Buildings that house several people or families at once can also cause infestation problems (apartment buildings, condos, senior citizen homes, etc.) since they can travel between walls with ease.Before eating, the bedbug (Cimex lectularius–also known as a chinch, a red-coat or a mahogany flat) is a small one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch, wingless, paper-thin insect, oval in shape and dark brown in color. After becoming engorged, the body thickens and is elongated. The ingested blood changes its color to a dull red. The mouth is constructed in the shape of a beak, which it plunges into the body of its victim, sucking the blood up through it. At the same time a fluid is being secreted to facilitate the eating process.
This fluid is extremely irritating to the skin of most human beings and causes swelling, irritation and itching.When sleeping in an unfamiliar bed (at a hotel for example), pull back the bed sheets and look at the bare mattress–if you see excrement (it will look like rust spots on the mattress), leave the room immediately and find another hotel to stay at.You can call in a professional exterminator to fumigate the home and furniture inside, this is preferable since professional exterminators are familiar with the hiding habits of these critters and the chemicals they use are usually very effective. However, if fumigation is out of your budget or you’d like to try a more natural remedy to kill them, food grade Diatomaceous Earth is a safe and harsh-chemical free method.Diatomaceous Earth is a natural, effective means of pest control (I’ve previously recommended it for fleas and ant control). You can find it in garden centers (make sure to buy the food grade stuff). It’s a soft, chalk-like sedimentary rock that is crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder.
Diatomaceous Earth is easily picked up by the hairy bodies of most insects, whereupon it scratches through their protective wax layers and they also absorb some of this material. The result being that the insects lose water rapidly, dry up and die. Further protection is provided by the powder’s property of repelling many insects. In houses it can be used effectively to prevent the entry of certain insects such as earwigs, ants, and cockroaches, and to control these and others that are present in cupboards containing food, carpets, basements, attics, window ledges, pet areas (for fleas), etc. In all of these examples it is important to place a small amount of the powder in corners, cracks, crevices and other areas where insects might hide.(Source: Ecological Agriculture Projects, McGill University).It will take a few weeks before they all will be killed (you have to ensure that the entire life cycle has been halted–no new eggs waiting to hatch, etc.). Keep applying the Diatomaceous Earth and petroleum jelly until all signs of the infestation are gone.
Try applying one of the following for relief:If there is a danger of infection, use iodine as a topical antiseptic to control it.Source: Some of the information above is from Woman’s Home Companion Household Book (1948) JOHN BOYD TEXTILES LIMITED Horsehair fabrics woven by John Boyd Textiles First established in Castle Cary in 1837, John Boyd Textiles is proud to maintain the tradition of horsehair weaving. Horsehair fabrics are woven with the finest and best quality tail hair from live horses and cotton or silk warps using the original looms and techniques from 1870. Horsehair fabric was originally used by famous furniture designers such as Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Lutyens, and Rennie Mackintosh, and are ideally suited to most forms of upholstered furniture; antique, classical, and contemporary. To this day, horsehair fabrics are widely recognized for their unequalled lustre, durability, care properties, and value. Horsehair fabrics have been used with many prestigious projects throughout the world.
John Boyd Textiles is now one of the last companies in the world still weaving hair cloth. Although the historical traditional fabrics are still woven today, contemporary designers also appreciate the unique qualities of horsehair fabrics. Many new designs and colours have been added to the collection in recent years. John Boyd Textiles have received the following awards: 1994 Best Merchandise Award at Decorex 2001 Silver Award for Best Stand Design at Decorex 2003 D&D Award for Product Design of the Year 2004 House & Garden Design Influence of the Decade PARIS DESIGN WEEK20th - 25th January 2017 18 Rue des Petits-Champs ParisSPRING DESIGN WEEK12th - 17th March 2017Alton Brooke Showroom 202 Design Centre East, 2nd Floor Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF JOHN BOYD TEXTILES SHORT FILM A Vegan Mattress does not contain any animal products or by-products. That means no wool, horse hair and any other animal hair. All our mattresses are Vegan and here’s why.
Vegans will be glad to know that, ethics aside, animal fibers should not be used in a mattress unless you’re prepared to take the wool or horse hair out each spring and wash it. Here’s Why Animal Fibers Should NOT be Used 1) They’re a Nesting Ground for Critters. Wool sheds particles that are eaten by other insects. Dust mites thrive in wool. 2) Bacteria Build Up. Animal fibers made of protein are particularly sensitive to bacterial attack. 3 options are available for Wool: Sheep are typically treated with pesticide chemicals to reduce lice and bow fly infestation. Once the wool is taken from the sheep and washed these chemicals end up polluting the waterways. Pesticide residue always remains on the wool. To reduce these chemicals there’s talk about “genetically improving sheep” to resist pests. Organic (wool or horse hair) really should be cleaned at least once a year as it is not chemically treated to ward off pests and bacteria.
Would you wear the same wool sweater every night for a year without washing it? Most people don’t think about this before buying a wool covered mattress. Most mattress companies don’t talk about it either 😉 y Italian friend used to sleep on a wool mattress. Every spring his grandmother would take all the wool out, clean it by hand, let it dry and re-work it into its sleeve. Gatta love the Nona’s. Why is Wool even found in Mattresses? Wool has a great story. It’s natural and can be certified organic…better than synthetic without a doubt. It wicks away moisture…people love the word “wick”… oooo it wicks! It’s the only readily available natural option to soften up a sleep surface. It also does do a good job at regulating temperature too. Wool is a natural fire retardant however it does NOT pass fire retardant regulations. Unless compressed to a thick cardboard-like state wool does not pass United States FR laws. It does not withstand a 2 foot wide blowtorch open flame for 70 seconds. W