Bedbugs...ewwwww but cool

I learned something new today - an Orkin guy in my office building gave me the 411 on bedbugs. Yep, it was an "ewwww" and "cool" session!

I asked about the infestation reported on the news and he did confirm that Cincinnati is full of the little critters - the news reports aren't lying! He showed me a live adult bug (in a sealed vial) and I spent some time looking at it. If you can imagine a flat tick, that's what it looked like. Apparently they only turn brown after feeding...the ewwww part. But, they are quite the clever little thing, flattening themselves to fit even in seams of quilting.

The cool part is that because the infestation is so bad in Cincinnati, they are giving him a dog that can find bedbugs. That is fascinating to me. How can a dog sniff out a bedbug?

After talking I have to admit that I had the "heeby geebies" and was itching here and there. And, I am going home tonight and checking the spots where he said they like to hide. I have no reason to suspect that we have them but I just want to be sure. Paranoid.

One word of advice - these pests don't just hang out in the "bad" homes! Anybody can get them from anywhere! (hospitals, doctor's offices, office bldgs) He mentioned that when people get together for the holidays, they come to your house and take their coats off...and lay the coats on your bed. Tonight I am also buying a coat tree.