This is the third week of January, 2012 and I'll talk about dust mites, bed bugs, spiders and how to get rid of them. First, you need to know your enemy. Here is some basic info.
Dust mites are closely related to ticks and spiders so they are built to cling and burrow with pointy legs and even in death do not easily let go. They prefer to consume the dead skin of humans and animals. One gram of dust will house from 500 to 10,000 or more mites and each mite will produce 20 waste droppings per day. A female will produce 40 to 80 eggs in a lifetime spanning 2 to 4 months. That means they hatch, grow, reproduce and die rather quickly. Dead dust mite bodies and their waste contain a protein that causes an allergic reaction. This allergic reaction and nasal polyps can be produced in otherwise non-allergic people. There are a variety of mites that feed on dead plant material (think dried flowers), paper and glue of books. How many books do you have by your bed and how long have they been there? If it collects dust, it collects dust mites. The good news is most mites are between 3 and 10 microns in size and a HEPA filter will pick them up. Since they are usually attached to larger dust particles they do not stay airborne for long, settling on the bed, bedside tables, walls and the floor. Vacuuming is the best way to remove them from your environment. Wash bedding in hot water as they cannot survive temps over 130 to 140 degrees. This is hot enough to scald your hand so follow up with a hot dryer if you don't have your hot water tank set this high. They also die off when the humidity level drops below 50%. This may account for the sniffles some of us get when the colder temps and drier air arrives in the fall/early winter. The humidity drops, they die off en masse, they get kicked up into the air as we make our beds, toss in our sleep, walk through the room or otherwise ruffle the air. We breathe them in and those proteins trigger our histamines to attack and ... we sniffle. There will always be a host of dust mites that live entrenched in your bed pillows, sheets and mattress. The humidity level in your bed stays high enough for them to thrive because we spend enough time in bed keeping it relatively moist through our skin and breathing. Air out your blankets, pillows and comforters in the winter time by taking them outside and shaking them or hang them out in the cold, dry, purifying air (it's the dryness that is effective against them) or run them through a hot dryer for 20 minutes or so where the heat is effective. The heaviness of your older pillows is not not so much from the oils in your hair but the accumulation of the dust mite carcasses and their droppings (YUCK). They love it in there. It's suggested that you buy a new pillow every couple years. You can extend the quality and life of your pillows by fluffing and sanitizing them in the dryer once a month for 20 minutes. I also run the stuffed toys my clients' children sleep with through the dryer to keep their dust mite population down. Items can be put in zip lock bags and frozen to kill the mites but their little dead bodies are still in there.
Bed bugs are nocturnal (they hide when there is light) and like to hide in the folds of fabric and crevices of wood. Preferring to feed on humans, they can live for a year between feedings and most people do not feel bed bugs bite. The severity of welts and itching caused by the bites vary from person to person. After a couple bites most peoples' skins develop an allergic reaction to the bed bug spit and a rash will result. Don't scratch it as it can become infected. They are not known to spread disease and can be seen without magnification, usually about 1/4 inch long. They do not jump or fly but can move quickly along floors, walls and ceilings (CREEPY). Bed bugs can be killed with heat above 120 degrees and they die when sprayed with a solution of 90% or greater isopropyl alcohol but it needs to be directly sprayed on them. Their carcasses may accumulate around a heat source so that is a good place to look for evidence that they have arrived in your space. Vacuuming must be thorough to get rid of them. Seal mattresses and pillows in plastic to ensure any bugs living inside the material do not escape. You would have to vacuum slowly every inch of everything in your space to get rid of them using the crevasse and upholstery tool (not the brush) for maximum suction. I'd call in a pro if I had them. That "living for a year between feedings" factoid means they can hide in a small crack between the floor and baseboard for a year and be all the more hungry for it when they come out. If you have to go somewhere that you suspect may have these bugs, wear light colored clothes so you can see them if they hitch a ride on you. Do not wear cuffed pants and try to sit on wooden chairs and not the upholstered ones. In hotel rooms, put your suitcase in the bathtub while you have a look around the heat source for any dead ones. The mouths and claws of bed bugs are not particularly strong so they don't burrow into mattresses and pillows as effectively as dust mites, but can hide in folds, under buttons and along seams in draperies, mattresses, clothing, suitcases etc and cracks in walls, floors and ceilings. Also to their advantage, they have low genetic diversity meaning that one impregnated female can spawn an infestation because her offspring can mate with one another with no inbreeding side effects. This genetic ability occurs in other non flying bugs that co-habitat with humans, such as cockroaches. They are not attracted to "dirty" places but the instance of infestation in "poorer" environments is a reflection of an inability to pay for eradication and a lack of information about them and a general acceptance of what seems like a hopeless situation. They can show up anywhere, from a city bus to a park bench, a hotel room to the White House.
Spiders, as they relate to housekeeping are not the worst insect to have around. They do a great job of eating other more bothersome insects. However, we don't want our homes all cobwebby and crawling with them either. Chances are, as with dust mites, you won't be able to eradicate them but our goal is to maintain a minimum population. Vacuuming the tops of walls and corners of the ceilings on occasion will help keep their numbers down. Use a floor tool or the brush but often these tools leave marks. I have wrapped the edges of my vac tools with masking tape to keep them from marking walls and baseboards. Besides seeing the spiders and their cobwebs, look for small brown spots on window sills and on floors around doors, windows and the baseboard heat. I haven't actually tested these brown spots to see for sure what they are, but I suspect they are the drippings from a spiders' meal. At first they seem difficult to clean but the key to wiping them us is to allow plain water to soak on the spots for a minute or so, then they wipe easily. It takes time and plain water, no need of cleaners for the most part. Spiders seem to be most prevalent around doors and windows. That's where they get in and also where their food gets in. To clean for looks, you could just dust away the webs but vacuum to get the spiders themselves. They can become entrenched above "drop ceilings" so vacuum often in rooms and up the walls with these suspended tile ceilings.
So then, now our vacuum cleaner bag or dirt container is all full of dead and hopefully dying buglets. Empty the vacuum and take the trash right out or they will just crawl back out of your vacuum. The stale smell a vacuum cleaner sometimes has is the smell of these buglets drying out. Empty the vacuum often and keep it clean inside. There are lots of products that mask the smell but why would you want to do that? The smell is telling you that the inside of your vac is nasty and you need to know this so you can maintain your equipment. I hope that takes care of the "why" to vacuum and dust. Next time, I will talk about our second line of defense against these little beasties and teach you my dusting technique.
