Khatmal - BedBugs - An unwelcomed guest

An unwelcome guest

Bed (bad) bug

Some tips to fight these bugs (kill khatmal)

• Clean and Vacuum your house on weekly bases.
• Bed bugs like to hide in cool and dark places. Look carefully at the bed and mattresses contours.
• Kill the bug as soon as you see it. This might leave a dark red color blood mark on the surface, so give it a thought before you spoil your wall or bed sheet.
• There are some insecticides in markets to kill these bugs. You can apply it in the corners after cleaning the room. Keep them away from the reach of the kids.
• If you find an infested bed/mattress/cot, which you can wash with hot water, bring them out in a open compound or in bath tub and then pour boiling water over it. This will kill all the bugs.
• At night, wear a full sleeve shirt, a full pajama, and socks. Bed bugs attack more on naked skin.
• If you have wooden flooring, check for the little cracks. One round of floor polishing will fill most of them.
• Regularly clean your electronic equipments with vacuum and brush. Bugs like to hide in laptop, speakers, music system.
• Once your home is infested with bed bugs, there is little you can do about it. Your first option will be extermination, for which you have to hire a professional, who will disinfest your mattresses, corners of the cupboards and rooms, couch, tables, carpet, windows, curtains, electrical switchboards, computer, television etc. He might use insecticide sprays and fumigation. Generally, the whole procedure takes 1-3 days. He should also provide a warranty period, during which if you find bugs again he has to provide free service again.

Other observations

• Bed Bugs do not like sun light.
• Infants, vegetarians, and thin skin people are bitten more frequently than others are.
• You will not feel pain when it bites. A small bump will develop at the bitten area, and then you will feel lots of itching.
• If you scratch, an itch-scratch-itch cycle will start. So please avoid not scratching the surface with your nails. Try itch-reducing creams.
• If you are staying at a friend’s place or in hotel, keep your bags closed and zipped. Open them only on need basis.
• Bed bugs have nothing to do with cleanliness of your kitchen and bathroom. A very clean house can has infestation, while a dirty looking kitchen and bathroom can be bugs free.
• Bed Bugs locate their target by body heat. Sometime you may also find them hiding in your laptop.
• Bed Bugs come out and start crawling in your bed in nighttime.
• Bed Bugs run quite fast. So make the kill as soon as you see it with whatever you find handy.
• Bedbug bites are not contagious.
  
• Many apartments and building are severely affected by the infestation of bed bugs in New York, New Jersey, Jersey City, and Chicago. Hence, when renting a new apartment, check with the landlord about the infestation of bed bugs. Also check with him/her that who will pay the cost of extermination in case infestation occurred in future. Check the New York Times article “Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask” for more details.
  
• Bed bugs rapidly multiply. By the time you notice them, sometimes, it is already too late. However, if you keep cleaning and vacuuming your carpets, rooms, couch, cupboards on weekly or biweekly bases, you can put an effective stop at their growth.

When I got bitten for the first time, I was scared and did not know why it happened and what to do. With some search and research I realised that these are bite marks from bed bugs (khatmal in Hindi).  I used some anti-itching cream to reduce the itching and pain.

Here are snaps of my hand, severly bitten by Bed bug:

2 hrs after attack (in the morning)

In the afternoon

By the evening

You can also go through the following links to get more information on bed bugs:

• On WebMD
• Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask
  

Please leave your comments if you have some information to add.