You've heard the phrase "Don't let the bed bugs bite," but these days that's becoming more of a cute nursery rhyme. The creepy critters are making a comeback.
HEATHER CATALLO REPORTS IN THE VIDEO PLAYER TO THE RIGHT.
You’ve heard the phrase, don’t let the bed bugs bite..
But these days – that’s more than a cute nursery rhyme for a lot of people in Southeast Michigan… because more and more people are facing serious bed bug infestations.
Action News Investigator Heather Catallo has the details on how to prevent the tiny bloodsuckers from feasting on your family.
[Heather] There’s no question -- bed bugs are creepy. They feast on you while you sleep.. and they can be really hard to get rid of. So we wanted to find out why bed bug infestations are on the rise – both in Michigan and across the country.
They are only the size of an apple seed… but they can cause big problems.
[Anita Shapiro/Bitten By Bed Bugs] “It’s devastating – I was beyond upset.”
Anita Shapiro’s family had to face down these tiny blood-sucking bugs after they bought a used bed frame for their 9 year old daughter.
At first they didn’t know what was causing the red welts on Mackenzie’s skin.
[Anita Shapiro/Bitten By Bed Bugs] “We figured it was some sort of allergic reaction.”
After three miserable months -- Leonard Shapiro caught on to the real problem.
[Leonard Shapiro/Caught Bed Bugs] “What you’re looking at is kind of nasty, and kind of gross.”
Those reddish-brown… flat.. oval things are bed bugs.
[Anita Shapiro/Bitten By Bed Bugs] “I freaked cause I suddenly realized every night when I went to bed I had all these bugs crawling all over me.”
This is a magnified image of a bed bug.
To get a sense of how small they really are… take a look at these bed bugs next to a penny.
Because they’re so tiny… you often have no idea that they’re inside your mattress… or under your carpeting.... until you wake up with bites that look like this.
[Steve Simpson/Terminix] “I would hate to have the bugs at my house. I wouldn’t want them, I would take any other bug besides a bed bug.”
Steve Simpson is the Manager for the Detroit branch of Terminix. He says 3 years ago – he’d only get about 3 calls each year for bed bug infestations. Today it’s a different story.
[Steve Simpson/Terminix] “Last year, it probably went to 3-4 phone calls a month, and now it’s up to about 3-4 phone calls a day.”
Simpson says 2 of his employees are full time bed-bug exterminators.
The folks at Orkin Inc. also say they have seen a “very noticeable increase” in bed bugs in metro Detroit – in fact they say they get anywhere from 20 to 50 calls a month about bed bugs.
So why the sudden increase in the creepy critters?
After World War II, bed bugs were pretty much eradicated in the US. But now that certain pesticides are no longer used.. and with the increase in international travel… bed bugs are making a major comeback.
[Steve Simpson/Terminix] “They could be on someone else’s luggage when you’re on an airplane, they can be on bus seats, they find them in movie theaters, all over – public transportation, motels, hotels, everywhere.”
Simpson says bed bugs travel on people – on your clothes, your purse, or your kids’ backpacks.
[Steve Simpson/Terminix] “They breed so quickly, and they’re hitchhikers, so by the time the person realizes they have them, they may have given them to 5 or 6 other people.”
You usually find them in mattress seams, your bed frame, bedside tables, cracks in your floorboards, behind peeled wallpaper, inside picture frames, and inside any upholstered furniture.
Pesticides don’t always kill bed bugs. So Terminix freezes them with this liquid carbon dioxide.
[Steve Simpson/Terminix] “It kills them on contact, but then it also, if it doesn’t kill them, it flushes them out of their hiding spots, and we vacuum them up and take ‘em out.”
Simpson says it usually takes a couple of treatments – and you’re probably going to have throw out your mattress or your couch… if the bed bugs have taken up residence.
That means bed bugs not only cost you peace of mind – they can cost some major money.
[Steve Simpson/Terminix] “We’re talking 100s, and it can go into the 1000s, depending on the size of the house, and the scope of the job.”
