Hairy Bed Bugs – Billy The Exterminator Steaming Bed Bugs In Florida – A&E – Billy Bretherton – All Rights Reserved
Since my own hairy bed bugs encounter in an infested West Hollywood hotel room years ago, I’ve been researching and writing about the little bloodsuckers.
I barely escaped with my blood intact.
Unfortunately, bed bugs are an increasing problem some experts label epidemic.
Famed A&E’s Billy The Exterminator had an episode (before the series ended), dedicated to battling a major bed bug infestation in Florida.
The episode was very creepy, but also very informative. Billy used scalding hot steamers to kill the bugs which had exploded throughout the rooms. Eradicating bed bugs is an ongoing process not cleared with just one treatment.
Misinformation has exploded as a result of the rising bed bug population.
Luckily the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been busy putting together helpful facts about Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Non-Chemical Treatments and even Pesticide Treatment Alerts.
Hairy Bed Bugs Attacking Human Hair And Scalp
Hairy Bed Bugs – Billy The Exterminator – A&E – Billy Bretherton – Takes on the biggest pests & wildest animals of the Great White North.
I’ve received emails from people who were bitten on their scalps, along their hairline as well as throughout their hair and roots. This seemed surprising.
NBC Dateline consulted with Dini M. Miller, Ph.D., an associate professor in Urban Pest Management at Virginia Tech’s Department of Entomology. Dateline did a segment on the show which answered some pressing consumer bedbug questions.
Dr. Miller pointed out bed bugs can make their way into areas of hair, but they really don’t navigate as easily on areas with densely popular strands.
Unlike fleas and lice who have bodies or claws specifically designed for navigating through human hair, the common bed bug doesn’t have these capabilities.
Bed bugs need to set their front claws in a particular position so they can strategically insert their mouth parts into the skin. This is necessary in order for the bugs to be in the proper feeding position.
Hair can make easy feeding difficult for them.
While bed bugs prefer to feed on hairless bare skin, if they’re hungry enough, or the swarm is large enough, they’ll bite the scalp, hairline and along the strands.
Hairy Bed Bugs – Billy The Exterminator – A&E – Billy Bretherton – Takes on the biggest pests & wildest animals of the Great White North.
Many people report bites on their face or some other less hairy areas. Others have reported biting inside the hair.
If you’re bald or suffer from thinning hair, it’s even more likely they’ll bite you on the scalp, face, hairline and near the borderline of any hairy sites on your body.
If you enter a bed bug infested zone, none of your body parts will be safe. Hair or no hair, bed bugs won’t be stopped once they’ve detected juicy bite zones.
Products To Protect Hair And Scalp From Hairy Bed Bug Bites
The EPA strongly suggests use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM. It’s an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management which relies upon a combination of common-sense practices. This includes taking precautions against getting bitten by proper bug infestation identification and management.
The EPA is concerned any use of pesticides used to manage the pests do the least possible damage to people, property, animals and the environment.
For more information review Non-Chemical Treatments and even Pesticide Treatment Alerts.
Hairy Bed Bug Pesticide Alert
Many people are concerned about the growing bed bug problems and question whether new pesticides will be made available to the public to fight the battle. There is news of companies currently developing new bed bug pesticides.
Hairy Bed Bugs – CDC/ Harvard University, Dr. Gary Alpert; Dr. Harold Harlan; Richard Pollack. Photo Credit: Piotr Naskrecki via Wikimedia Commons
Dr. Miller explained all pesticides, including those for managing bed bugs which are labeled for use in the United States, must be registered by the EPA.
In order to receive EPA registration, a pesticide product has to be thoroughly tested for acute and chronic effects on mammals such as laboratory rats and dogs. The potential effects on birds, fish and honeybees has to be documented.
The environmental fate (half-life) of the products in water or soil must be quantified.
Achieving EPA product registration costs an estimated $100 million. The high cost of EPA registration makes it more difficult for new pesticide products to make it into the marketplace.
There’s been a 10 to 15 year trend in the reduction of the number of pesticides receiving registration for use in indoors. Indoor pesticide approval are very different than pesticides for agricultural use.
Members of the EPA are not the only people concerned with indoor use of toxic pesticides.
Many consumers have serious concerns about using pesticides or similar chemicals where children, pets or chronically ill people sleep and/or play.
EPA Warnings About Hair Bed Bugs
The EPA has their own warnings about using pesticides indoors to combat bedbugs.
HairyBedBugs – SwarmOfBedBugs – CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2648122
Listed below are the EPA pesticide warnings:
- Never use a pesticide indoors which is intended for outdoor use. It’s very dangerous and won’t solve bed bug problems.
- Using the wrong pesticide, or using it incorrectly, to treat for bed bugs, can make you sick. It may not solve the problem. It could even make it worse by causing the bed bugs to hide where the pesticide won’t reach.
- Check if the product being proposed for use is effective against bedbugs. If a pest isn’t listed on the product label, the pesticide hasn’t been tested on that specific pest It may not be effective.
- Avoid product use inside a home if bed bug treatment is not specifically named on the product label.
- Never allow a pest control operator to treat your home without reviewing the documentation about the product.
- Before using any pesticide product, read the label first. Carefully follow the exact directions for use.
- Keep in mind that any pesticide product without an EPA registration number has not been reviewed by EPA. This means the EPA hasn’t determined how well the product works.
Summary – Hairy Bed Bugs
Since my own hairy bed bugs encounter with an infested hotel room in West Hollywood some years ago, I’ve been researching and writing about the little bloodsuckers.
The increase in rise of bed bugs in the developed world may have been caused by increased international travel, resistance to insecticides, and the use of new pest-control methods which do not affect bed bugs.
If bed bugs should become as big a problem as they were at the beginning of the 20th century, the public may demand the federal government accelerate the registration of pesticide products which are effective against bed bugs.
For more information about bed bugs or EPA guidelines for management, control and elimination visit http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/bedbugs/
