You have bed bugs. Now what?

Answers & practical, actionable advice.

New Article: Testing the Bedbug Beacon Bed Bug Monitor August 10, 2010
I travel every couple of months for business. Although I take precautions to avoid bed bugs, you just never know when a few might manage to sneak a ride into your home on your luggage or belongings. I bought the Bedbug Beacon Bed Bug Monitor to use as an early detection system. I just got back from a trip and put the monitor to use. Here is my experience with it so far.

Catching Bed Bugs with Vaseline? July 22, 2010
The idea of slathering the legs of my bed with Vaseline doesn’t really appeal to me. Many beds (like mine) have designs that don’t really lend themselves well to this. I have a sleigh bed which doesn’t have individual legs. It has two big pieces of wood at the head and the foot of the bed that touch the floor. So for each end of the bed I would need to coat all four sides of a piece of wood roughly 4.5 feet wide x 2 inches deep. I don’t want to damage the wood and I don’t want Vaseline on the carpet. I also don’t want it out where my pets can get to it. If the above applies to you, what can you do? The Bedbug Beacon is a nice choice. You can see the most popular ways of catching bed bugs here.

Does tape help catching bed bugs? July 19, 2010
It’s possible to use double-sided tape to trap bed bugs. Essentially, you find a way to cover the bed legs in double-sided tape (you can also use vaseline). When bed bugs try to enter the bed by climbing up the bed legs, they likely will get stuck. It’s not foolproof but it’s a start. To do this you can either apply the tape directly to the legs of your bed or you can make a kind of sleeve that fits to the legs of the bed and coat the sleeve with the tape. The advantage of using the sleeve is that it won’t leave sticky tape residue on the bed legs. Read Bed Bug Traps Compared to get a better view of all the methods. It also links out to pages with more information on using the double-sided tape and vaseline.

Michigan Department of Community Health Bed Bugs Resources
Whether you live in Michigan or not, The Michigan Department of Community Health publishes www.michigan.gov/bedbugs, an outstanding resource on bed bugs. If you are not a pest control professional, have a look at the flow chart which is especially is very well done. It is a nice way of presenting how you should handle a bed bug problem.

Do bed bugs have hard shells? July 6, 2010
Yes, in fact bed bugs have very hard shells. This is part of what makes them hard to kill. They don’t absorb chemicals such as insecticides as easily as other insects. Their hard shell makes them more rugged. However, they must shed their exoskeleton (known as molting) as they grow through the different stages of the bed bug life cycle. After they have shed their exoskeleton, it takes a little time for their newly developing exoskeleton to harden.

New Article: The Bed Bug Dog May 17, 2010
Bed bug dogs have been popping up in the news a lot lately. Most of us know that dogs are used to detect things like bombs, drugs and firearms. But did you also know that dogs are used to find lost bodies, detect mold and even detect certain diseases? (more »)

New Article: Bed Bug Traps Compared
One of the harder parts of dealing with bed bugs can be reliable bed bug detection. You need to be able to find a live bug to prove an infestation. There are a few different devices on the market that trap bed bugs. There are also some more do-it-yourself approaches. What is the right choice for your situation? The answer, as usual: it depends. Bed Bug Traps Compared shows you the various methods and compares compares pricing and features to help you decide.

New Article Bed Bug Repellant May 11, 2010
I spent the last week pulling together all the research I could find on the topic of bed bug repellants and documenting my findings for you. (Yes I know “repellant” should be “repellent” but most people search for “bed bug repellant” and I want to make sure they find the article.) (more »)

20% Off Bed Bug Encasements and More May 6, 2010
BedBug.com has generously offered BedBugInfo.com readers 20% off products purchased between now and June 30th. Just use the bedbug.com coupon code dhang112 for your discount. Also be sure to check out the BedBug.com blog — a great source of bed bug information.

Can you tell me how to treat bed bug bites on humans? April 28, 2010
There are two parts to this answer. (more »)