Cimex lectularius (bed bugs to you and me)

[EKB2]

Finally I have hope that I'm not, after all, suffering from psychosomatic insect bites or a curious allergic reaction to nothing in particular, at least not anything apparent. I hope we have bed bugs. According to the internet they have really taken off in the last few years, but not a lot of people know about them because you never see them and they only feed every few weeks. One site says SE22 is a current hot (?) spot. Can anyone out there advise on what to do or who to turn to to get rid of them? Is there shame in bed bugs? Does anyone else get bitten or is it just me? Might giant rabbits be responsible for this too?

EKB

[PeckhamRose]

Bed bugs are common and not a sign that one lives in a tip.

They - like cockroaches - can be brought in to a dwelling as eggs on people's clothes or shoes, and of course 2nd hand furniture and the like. I highly recommend a company called, believe it or not, www.bed-bugs.co.uk

They'll sort you out.

If you look at their very informative website, it even states that there is a high volume of bedbugs in SE22!! (But - phew - not SE15!)

Edited for information and spelling!

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

That's really nuts cos there is also a very high incidence of nits in SE22.

I brought my 4 kids up in SE1 and they never got head lice. Moved upmarket to posh SE22 and my daughter has had them 3 times in a year.

This place is infested!

[Brendan]

It's all the floppy hair around the place.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Yeh you see all the blonde kids flashing their hair all over the place.

In their old school, they had to have their hair tied back. Even though my daughter always has her hair tied back in her new posh school, all the posh kids don't, and flash lice all over the place, so she has still caught them.

It's gross. I tell her not to sit next to any kids who have their hair loose, especially if they start scratching their heads - I even started sending her in with a bandana on her head to deflect the bouncing parasites - but she doesn't like wearing it.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Can't think what's going on with the bed bug thing tho - yuch.

[Teddy776]

This product not only kills bed bugs, but also lice, fleas, mites, cockroaches, and host of other insects. It also repels these bugs, so for those of you are concerned about lice jumping or bouncing off other girls this product will repel and keep bugs off. Best of all it is non toxic and does not produce offensive or chemical odor. It is very popular among travelers and backpackers because they can use it on their luggage and baggage to keep bed bugs off. www.xerobugs.com

[Siduhe]

A friend of mine who attributes the rise in nit infestations to two things - apparently lots of local authorities no longer have nit nurses (I remember queueing up as a child to get checked at least once a term) and there is a reluctance in schools to single out children and write home to get parents involved for fear of offending. She was furious to discover that recent, recurrent nit outbreaks at her child's school were down to just two children (brother and sister) whose parents either didn't notice or didn't care, but the school decided they didn't have any ability to intervene.

As for bedbugs, nasty things - but easily visible with the naked eye - check around the edges of your bed, mattress, skirting board and curtains. It's unlikely to be bedbugs unless you have brown spotting on your sheets at night and/or the bites have a white, hard centre surrounded by a red, itchy bite (I think I spent much time spent travelling as a teenager!) often in a straight line. If you don't have these, particularly if the bites are randomly spaced, there is a good chance they will be flea bites. Much easier to deal with, providing you treat the room at least two or three times over a month to kill every possible stage they go through.

[EKB2]

Thanks for the tips - suddenly I see that bedbugs are a hot news item, one of the most read articles last week in Guardian online 'Bedbugs make a return via low-cost flights'. Probably loads of houses have them but only some of us get bitten!! I appreciate the comment that you don't have to live in a tip to get infested, but it's all making me think I could be a bit sharper about house cleaning, and maybe stop blaming everything on cats or pigeons.

EKB