This recent event simply has to make you smile. A very dear customer had recently placed a call to us to report crickets in the hallway of her apartment. One of our service-technicians, Donnie Meadows, traveled to her apartment to eliminate her pesky cricket problem.

Those of you who have had the pleasure of knowing Donnie, know that he is very patient, and thorough. Donnie likes to talk to people and strives to do anything to please his customers.

Before Donnie provided the necessary treatment for the customer, she begged him to take a seat, and to wait and hear the crickets for him-self. Donnie sat, and sat, and several minutes later it came. It was one, quick, CHIRP! Donnie smiled at the customer and led her down the hallway to the smoke detector that was mounted high upon the wall. As she apologized for calling to report the stubborn “crickets”, Donnie assured her that it was just fine. He admits that it was no bother at all. In fact, it made his day!

When you have sleeping on your mind, they have eating on theirs. The bedbug, once thought to be a mythical creature that existed only within the ever popular statement “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite” are in fact very real.

Bedbugs once were very common inhabitants of inns throughout the country in the days of our founding fathers. In fact, George Washington was very particular about the inns in which he stayed and often performed thorough inspections prior to lying his head down at night.

Many credit the recent re-emergence of the bedbug to a much more re-active approach to pests that has been taken over the past decade than in previous decades. When I started hearing several years ago of their return, I was speculative at best. My speculation
changed to confirmation as I have since witnessed bedbugs with my own eyes.

Though very real, there is much misinformation about the bedbug and their nature and mode of travel. Thus, we wanted to provide you the following tips to follow so that you may have a bit of security when you turn out the lights at night.

~When you arrive at your hotel, carefully pull back the sheets and blankets and examine the mattress paying careful attention to the seams, head section, and headboard. Bedbugs look much like tick and are large enough to be seen without magnification.

~ If you are bitten by bed bugs during your travels, whether in a hotel, private residence or on public transportation, it is not likely that you will bring these bed bugs home if you follow the steps outlined above. In many cases the itches from bites are delayed until the next day and you may incorrectly assume that you have transported bed bugs. Since bed bugs bite at night and hide by day, just entering an infested area during the day is not cause for alarm.

~ Bedbugs do not generally travel “on your person” per se. They do, however, love to travel in luggage, bed linens, etc. Do not leave your luggage on the floor of hotel rooms that you stay in. Store them at the highest point possible within the room, and avoid storing anything clothing or toiletry items in drawers within the room.

~Frequently, the first evidence of the presence of bed bugs is the sudden appearance of very itchy bites on your torso. It is important to seek medical attention if bites alone are the only evidence of bed bugs. Dermatologists may recognize skin rashes, allergies and other conditions that are not insect bites. If you determine that you have an infestation of bedbugs, wash curtains and bed linens in hot water, and call us so that we can follow up with necessary treatment.