Let’s take a quick look at some pieces of information about bed bugs you might find useful.

Bed bugs don’t spread diseases; they leave you with annoying, itchy bite marks. The itchiness begins because of the saliva they inject into you.

Their perfect target is someone motionless in a dark room.

During the daytime they typically are hiding although some experts claim they occasionally do bite humans during the day.

 They are unintentionally delivered here by visitors and they may also be living in chicken coops. 

Insect foggers don’t kill them but rather inspire them to invade other parts of your home.

Don’t buy used furniture in areas where bed bugs have been reported. They don’t mind moving to your house.

On  a silly or perhaps troubling note, one pest control company would remove bed bug infested mattresses and place them on the curb for pick-up. They painted the mattress with a big red X and figured that would be the end of the mattress. The exterminators would be called out to new locations for bed bugs infestations and find the mattresses with big red X’s on them in the residences. Perhaps people thought the middle of the X indicated the best landing position for their body.

Cryonite works great for bed bug eradication.

Hotels get bed bugs from their guests. Unlike roaches and mice, bed bugs aren’t caused or attracted by filth, dirt or garbage. They come into a hotel in the luggage or on the clothing or person of a guest. During the guest’s stay, they take up residence in the hotel room and wait for the next guest to arrive.

Hotels provide plenty of comfortable places for bed bugs to live: mattresses, box springs, linens, bedside tables, behind headboards, under picture frames, behind loose wallpaper, under carpeting, in ducts, etc. Any quiet, dark place near a bed makes good harborage which makes hotel rooms prime real estate for bed bugs.

Hotels also provide a “moveable feast” for these tiny insects. Each night brings a new guest to bed, creating a smorgasbord for bed bugs which feed on human blood. Bed bug bites can raise itchy red welts but not all people respond to their bites. It may be days or even weeks before an infestation is discovered.

Bed bugs are a serious problem for hotels, motels and resorts. They are easily spread by guests and housekeepers. They can spread throughout a facility as guests move about or on housekeeping and laundry carts. As their numbers grow, they will seek additional food sources, spreading through wall voids, electric and plumbing conduits and air vents.

For information about bed bugs, visit the Stern Environmental website.

When you go on vacation, checking the bed bug history of a hotel isn’t enough to guarantee a bug-free vacation (see our July 2 post). Personally, I avoid staying in hotels, motels and resorts where bed bugs have been reported. Why take a chance? But because bed bugs hitch a ride in on guests’ luggage, belongings and clothing, a clean bill of health when you book the room doesn’t guarantee a bed bug-free stay when you check in.

Before you carry your suitcases in the door, take a minute to check the room. Check the bed, pull back the sheets for a good look and expose the mattress. Look behind the headboard, on bedside tables, in drawers, around vents, behind pictures, and along baseboards. This is what you’re looking for:

• active bugs
• dark or bloody smears on sheets and mattresses, particularly at seams and welts
• bug casings and dark dots behind picture frames, on furniture and along the join between walls and carpeting

For a clear idea of what you might see, visit the Stern Environmental website for pictures of bed bugs and the marks they leave.

If you see any signs of bed bugs, ask for a room change to a different part of the hotel. Don’t take a room next door to the infected room or on the floor above or below. Those are the first places bed bugs will spread. Personally, I’d check into a different hotel. Why take a chance?

I just got back from a mini-break on North Carolina’s scenic Outer Banks. I was looking forward to escaping the 90-degree city heat for a long weekend of sun, sand and cool ocean breezes. The kids and I wanted to stay at a small hotel on the beach with some character — but no bed bugs.

As I researched the choices on TripAdvisor, I was surprised to see how many Outer Banks hotels and motels had suffered bed bug infestations either last summer or earlier this year. Some were even “nice” well-known hotel chains. It just points out the fact that bed bugs cross all socio-economic boundaries. They are carried person-to-person. They are not caused by or attracted to unclean or dirty facilities. And they stick around.

Bed bugs are carried into hotels and motels by guests who may not even know they or their luggage are infected. The little vampires crawl into the bed and wait for the next guest to check in. When the hotel closes for the winter, the little buggers just “hibernate” until the vacancy sign lights up in the spring. When the first guest checks in, they’re ready to chow down — on you!

Before you book your vacation, check out your hotel or motel on Trip Advisory and The Bed Bug Registry for a bed bug-free vacation. 

Bed bugs are only one-fifth of an inch in size yet they frighten people more than a grumpy badger. Don’t let them take control of your home.

Some practical advice to safeguard the bed includes  placing the bed away from the wall and apply some Vaseline or perhaps mineral oil to the legs of the bed in a two inch wide band in order to make it difficult for the bed bugs to climb into bed with you. They don’t have wings.

Caulk all the cracks  so they won’t have a place to hide and thrive. Some people suggest creating a barrier around the bed posts made from chalk or silica aerogel. Double sided carpet tape can be efficient at trapping the bed bugs.

Instead of tossing out the mattress you suspect is a playground for bed bugs, purchase a quality bed bug mattress encasement which will prevent them from snacking on you and they will eventually starve to death.

Placing your furniture outside during the cold winter may kill off the bed bugs. However, some experts suggest the temperature has to remain below freezing for probably several days. If they are still annoying, call a professional.

Bed bugs have invaded two apartment buildings Skip Lawyer owns in Reading, Pennsylvania. “It’s so demoralizing,” he told New York’s WNBC. “They get into virtually everything. I have nightmares about them.” His are only two of the buildings under attack by bed bugs. Reading officials say the nasty pests have infected homes and apartments across the city this summer.

WNBC film of the infected apartments shows hundreds of bed bugs crawling all over mattresses and furniture. (YUCK!) Red bed bug bites cover the arms and legs of one tenant. “They’re true vampires,” Lawyer said of the blood-sucking insects. Though not known to cause disease, bed bug bites can raise itchy red hives that bedevil their victims, causing severe emotional distress.

Despite repeated attempts, traditional pesticides have failed to evict the blood-sucking tenants so Lawyer has been forced to tell his human tenants to move out while the buildings are fumigated. Click here to watch WNBC’s video of bed bugs in action and the bites they leave. It will give you a sense of the horror and disgust victims face.

Lawyer’s experience is not unique. Many bed bugs today are pesticide resistant and don’t respond to traditional pesticide treatments. Cryonite is the way to kill these super bugs. The fast-freeze CO2 snow freezes bed bugs in their tracks and kills them, eggs and all. Cryonite is the perfect bed bug solution for multi-unit buildings like apartments, co-ops, condos, hotels, motels and resorts. To learn more about Stern’s amazing Cryonite bed bug treatment, click here.

You may think you have a bed bug problem but it might be some other annoying insect. Experts claim that only a small percentage of the insects sent to them turn out to be bed bugs.

Beg bugs are typically about 1/5 of an inch and weigh about thirty pounds (not really). Young bed bugs are typically light yellow in color, however if they just consumed some blood they become dark in the middle region of their bodies. The blood ages and becomes darker and typically a small amount of undigested blood is excreted and ends up on mattresses and bed sheets and four hundred dollar dresses.

Adult bed bugs are reddish brown and they also darken  after a meal. They have no wings, are oval in shape and crawl at a steady pace. If they are scampering, skipping  or sauntering you have another issue to deal with.

They’re usually active at night and when they bite you they often leave bite marks that are two or three in  a row. If you awaken to a pungent aroma you probably have a very large gang of bed bugs lurking. Check for blood spots and fecal matter. 

Call an expert on bed bug pest control if you have spotted them in your residence.

Like the Hulk, Cryonite is a big, green, killing machine! The super hero of the pest world, it’s Cryonite to the rescue when the bad guys invade. Blood-sucking little bed bugs, nasty German cockroaches, vicious pumped-up pesticide-resistant bugs — Cryonite mows them all down with ease. Like Mr. Freeze on steroids, Cryonite shoots a carbon dioxide snow that stops insects in their tracks and freezes them dead. Cryonite is the summer blockbuster hit of the pest control world!

You can find Cryonite at Stern Environmental Group, recently named a North American sales rep for the revolutionary ”green” bed bug and insect extermination system. What makes Cryonite “green”?

• It’s chemical-free and non-toxic making it safe for sensitive environments like the food industry, day care centers, nursing homes, hospitals and your home.
• There are no messy wet residues, no pesticide smells, no health implications when Cryonite is used. Hotel rooms can be placed back in use right after treatment. You don’t have to worry about the health of your children and pets after treatment.
• Cryonite uses only food-grade quality CO2 so there is no risk of contamination. 
• The CO2 used by the Cryonite system is recycled from industrial processes and does not release additional CO2 into the atmosphere.

To find out more about the revolutionary “green” Cryonite bed bug killing system, visit Stern Environmental Group.

Stern Environmental Group has just been named a North American Sales Representative for the revolutionary “green” Cryonite bed bug extermination system by CTS Technologies of Switzerland. Stern becomes one of a very select few North American pest control companies trained and authorized to provide this highly effective, completely non-toxic pest extermination service in America and Canada. As an authorized CTS representative, Stern can now sell and lease Cryonite products directly to pest management firms and the hotel and motel industry. Stern already has significant experience with Cryonite, having provided the wildly popular bed bug treatment to its residential and commercial customers for some months.

Cyronite is a poison-free freezing treatment particularly effective in chemically sensitive environments such as restaurants, hotels and resorts, hospitals, nursing homes and day care centers where use of poisons can pose dangerous risks. Pest control technicians spray a fine film of frozen carbon dioxide snow that quickly penetrates into cracks and crevices where bed bugs and other pests harbor, freezing and killing them before they can escape. Unlike traditional pesticide treatment, Cryonite kills bed bugs in all stages of development, including eggs. Click here for more information on Cryonite treatments and products offered by Stern Environmental Group.

I’m giving my daughter a set of Stern’s Protect-a-Bed bed bug-proof mattress covers and box spring encasements. After complaining about her old, lumpy mattress, she just treated herself to a new bed to celebrate her birthday. Since my daughter lives in Brooklyn where bed bugs have been particularly active this year, I figure a bed bug-proof mattress cover and box spring encasement will ensure that she can enjoy her new bed for years to come.

Covering your mattress and box springs with bed bug proof encasements just makes good sense. It’s like buying insurance for your bed. The cost of a good mattress and box springs can run well over a $1000, particularly for king and queen sizes. It just makes sense to protect that investment with top quality bed bug-proof mattress covers and box spring encasements.

Beware though. Not all encasements are created equal. You can’t bed bug-proof your bed with mattress covers from Wal-Mart. Stern Environmental Group sells only BugOff encasements which are designed by experts specifically to keep bed bugs out and prevent them from infecting your mattress. If you already have bed bugs, BugOff encasements will also trap bed bugs inside permanently until they die so they can’t bite you. Protect-a-Bed mattress covers and box springs encasements are meant to stay on the bed for the life of your mattress. Put them on and you’ll never have to worry about bed bugs again. Click here for more information on BugOff professional bed bug-proof Protect-a-Bed products.