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How To Control Bed Bugs
Most people in the West will never see a bed bug. In a way, they are an old-time household pest. This is because houses are cleaner and mattresses are man-made. Having said that, you may come across them. You might not see them, because they go into hiding during the daytime and only venture out at night. However, the next morning you will know that they have visited because you will have bite marks. Bed bugs suck your blood.
Bed bugs will trek a fair way to get to you and then will go home for a good day’s sleep, although sometimes they cannot get home if they have eaten too much. Bed bugs normally like to live in cracks and holes like behind skirting boards.
One way of testing for bed bugs is to leave a bar of soap in half an inch of water for half an hour while you lay on the bed reading a book. Then, get up and fetch the soap, wet side down. Pull the bedclothes back quickly and if you have bed bugs hit them with the soap. They will be attracted by your body heat, but you will have to be snappy, because they are very swift when they have not eaten. If you are in a hotel, you will now have evidence for the hotel manager.
So, if your house has an infestation of bed bugs or if you just want to give it a clean sweep, just to make certain, how do you go about it?.
Perhaps the first place to begin is your bed. Is the mattress OK? If it is torn either sew it up good and tight or get a new one. Change your sheets at least every week, it is not only more sanitary, but you will also be able to check for stragglers that have not made it home.
Next, inspect your skirtings. Are they loose, ill-fitting or even rotten? If so, have them fixed or replaced. While the skirtings are off, soak the brickwork or plaster behind there with a powerful insecticide and then fit the skirtings back tight. If you are still worried, seal them top and bottom with mastic or silicone.
The next stage is to spray your floors and carpets, the whole floor area with permethrin. Permethrin will kill fleas, ticks, woodlice, bed bugs and spiders for up to six months and it will resist washing as well. You should now be clear of the little blighters.
If you are in a hotel, bed bugs are unacceptable no matter which country you are in and it is the hotel manager’s responsibility to get rid of them. Otherwise, get a tin of permethrin or some flea powder and spray or dust it along the base of the skirtings. If they are in your mattress, have it swapped for an undamaged one and carry out the soap test once more.
If you are in rented accommodation, ask your neighbours if they have the same issue. Be diplomatic, some people might be too embarrassed to disclose it. You will have to inform your landlord as it is his duty to manage such pests in his buildings. If he or she is reluctant to help, say, in as pleasant a way as possible, that you cannot live like that and that you will have to get some suggestions from the council. That should shake your landlord up.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is currently concerned with natural mosquito repellant. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Mosquito Repellent For Dogs.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
Canine Skin Irritation
We are inclined to think of dogs as being tough; animals that can take care of themselves; animals that are far more in touch with nature than we humans are and we sort of admire them for it, in a way. However, the truth is that dogs come under many of the stresses that we do including pollution and junk food, even though they do not have to do the nine-to-five or sit in traffic jams, which are of our own making anyway.
Most of the stresses that dogs suffer are not of their own causing, they are our fault too. These stresses often manifest themselves in much the same way as they do with us in neuroses, anti-social behaviour and skin problems amongst other ways. In this article, I want to talk about some of the most common sorts of canine skin irritation, not all of which can be ascribed to human activity.
The foremost cause of bad skin in dogs is fleas in the town and fleas and ticks in the countryside. The cause of the inflammation is these parasites’ spittle. A dog’s immune system can handle a few fleas, but the trouble comes when he is infested. Brief infestation can happen fairly easily, but usually it is a symptom of neglect. If a dog was brushed every week, the problem would not get out of control.
Often a neglected dog will look mangy because he has pulled his hair out and injured his skin with continuous scratching, try to rid himself of his tormentors. If the dog had remained in a pack like it was born to tens of thousands of years ago, it would be groomed every day by its companions. A domestic dog relies on its owner to do this for him. You could liken it to a child crawling with lice waiting for its parents to do something about it.
You can treat it and prevent it happening by bathing your dog in insecticidal shampoo as indicated on the label and dusting him and his box with flea powder on a regular basis, say, in conjunction with his weekly grooming.
A similar looking condition is mange. Mange is caused by tiny parasitic mites burrowing under your dog’s skin. Again, your dog can deal with a few mites, but an infestation is grave. It can also be caught by humans, but our bodies usually clear the problem up. However, your dog will be driven to distraction by an infestation of mites.
If you cannot find scores of fleas on your dog, it is probably mange, also known as scabies. You should be able to catch this early if you notice red, possibly bleeding patches of skin. Your vet or pet shop can sell you something to cure it fairly quickly.
Mosquitoes can be as much, if not more of a nuisance to dogs than they are to us. Mosquitoes harass dogs on the snout and genitals, but you cannot put DEET or other creams for humans for the reason that they will lick the chemical off causing stomach problems. You can apply lemon juice or oil scented with grated lemon rind and lemon juice, because mosquitoes detest lemon smells.
If your dog’s skin problem does not fit into any of these categories, then he is probably suffering from an allergy or pollution of some kind and you will have to take him to a vet.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with indoor mosquito repellent. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Mosquito Repellent For Dogs.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
Suggestions For Eating Insects
It sounds pretty revolting to the majority of Westerners that many people around the world eat insects on a regular, even daily, basis. This is not always only because edible insects are so abundant and money is so scarce. In a lot of countries, some insects are considered a delicacy.
I am not an authority on edible insects in every country, but there are so many kinds of edible insects where I have been, that there must be similar edible insects in every country with the exception of the North and South Poles.
Eating insects may sound revolting to us, but I have met individuals who think that it is just as revolting to eat prawns, shrimps and lobsters. After all, they are merely insects of the sea of a kind. And just like eating shrimps or lobster, insects are either the main or only part of the dish. In other words, they are considered just as much a luxury as shrimps, prawns or lobster is in the West.
Insects are not consumed with rice, chips, in a sandwich or with a sauce. Rather insects are deep-fried in a wok and eaten from a paper bag like chips. Insects are not mixed when cooked either. You buy fifty grammes of one and fifty grammes of another and they are enjoyed separately.
Insects are abundant and they do not have to be bred, unlike cattle. One interesting fact is that beef is about 20% protein whereas insects are between 65% and 80% protein. Surprising, eh? 50 grammes of insects provides more protein that a half-pound beef steak and they have scarcely any cholesterol.
If you want to include insects in your diet, then you will need to study the subject with regard to your own country, but I will give some suggestions. In the insect world, yellow means ’stay away from me, I am poisonous or do not taste nice’, so it is best not to eat those ones. Most insectivores stay away from hairy insects too, so spiders and house flies are out as well. Mosquitoes are too small so are ticks and many other insects.
While some caterpillars can be eaten, some cannot, so leave them to the experts. The best insects to go for are beetles, termites, larvae, grubs, grasshoppers, crickets and some night-flying insects.
In Thailand, for example, most people will eat insects for a luxury, although some people eat them every day. In the north-east and in the north-west, people might eat insects once a month. In the centre, like Bangkok and Pattaya, fried insects are prepared on the streets, so they are readily available. They are eaten frequently in the south and in the east, which is known as Isaan.
However, all over Thailand, you can see ultraviolet lights over insect traps. These families will either consume the insects themselves or sell them on to a dealer. I have also seen individuals collecting a fly which only comes out at night after rainfall. You can gather thousands in an hour by putting a bowl of water under a street light. The insects become stunned by the light and spiral down into the water where they drown.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with indoor mosquito repellent. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Mosquito Repellent For Dogs.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
Old Fashioned Remedies For Getting Rid Of Bugs
There is a massive wave of public opinion going against the use of chemicals wherever possible. People are instead re-evaluating their grandmother’s old home remedies and they are not being given much support from what I can see.
I guess that this is not surprising, given the enormous amount of money we spend every year on chemicals and the vested interests of the industry itself. A lot of the money we spend on chemicals is for cleaning and the killing of bugs.
The majority of us use our insecticides in the house, but gardeners use even more of the substance outside killing the bugs that eat their flowers and their fruit. Would it not be wonderful if we could rediscover the way these things were done before the invention of chemical insecticides, some of which, like DEET, have admittedly been around for quite a long time – more than 60 years in the case of DEET.
The first thing a first-rate gardener should endeavour to do is look after the environment while tending his or her garden. After all, if the environment is right for your flowers, then they will have a better chance of flourishing.
One of the best methods of doing this is by getting rid of the pests that eat or destroy your plants and the best method of doing this is by encouraging the predators that eat the bad insects. Easier said than done, you might say.
However, if you create the right environment, they will come. Two of the most widespread yet also two of the most voracious predators are ladybirds and earwigs. if you can get those to stay in your garden then most of your insect problems will resolve themselves. You can encourage ladybirds by planting herbs such as fennel and dill, which they appear to like.
In order to encourage earwigs, plant dahlias. If you plant a dozen dahlias around your garden you will lure hundreds of earwigs, but put sharp sand around their base, because slugs and snails like them too.
Earwigs like to crawl under things, so leave a few potted plants about as well, but raise them off the ground a little by standing the pots on a handful of gravel. This will give the earwigs somewhere to live and will help with the drainage of the pot.
Depending on where you have your home, of course, the praying mantis is a first-class friend to have in the garden. These insects look scary and they really are scary to other insects. They will eat any insect they can get hold of, but they are perfectly safe for humans.
Lizards and frogs and toads are good friends to have as well. They too need somewhere to crawl under and flower pots or large stones are perfect. Put a few stones the size of footballs under your bushes or make a rockery for them to live in. However, cats will kill them, so it is a good idea to inhibit cats from your garden.
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with natural mosquito repellant. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Mosquito Repellent For Dogs.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
Appropriate Clothing For Toddlers And Older Children
The bodies of toddlers and older children are starting to take on the characteristics of an adult, but they still bear some characteristics of babies, in that their core temperature is rising but is still not up to peak. It is important to keep toddlers warm, but not to let them swelter. Therefore, you have to get hold of suitable clothing for toddlers and older children.
The textile used in the garments is more important now because toddlers are active and some fabrics may cause friction, static and skin irritations. Other fabrics may retain perspiration which is another cause of possible irritation.
It cannot be stressed too much that cold can cause disease in children. You should aspire to keep your toddler’s body temperature constant. Any sudden drop in temperature can render your child vulnerable to disease, while overheating can also have the same result. The areas most at risk are the air passages and the lungs.
No matter what type of clothing you decide to dress your toddler in, you ought to regulate its temperature according to the ambient temperature of the time of year and whether you are in or out of doors in the same way as you would do for yourself: that is by putting on and taking off layers of clothing. Be wary of under dressing in Spring and Autumn, because errors then can lead to congestion and inflammation.
Flannel is a good fabric for toddlers to wear because it is warm but it also absorbs perspiration. Some infants find flannel a bit too rough on their skin, so you will have to look out for abrasions, but in general, the coarseness of flannel has a beneficial, stimulating effect on the skin of toddlers, particularly when they are playing outside.
If you do notice redness caused by rough flannel, you could substitute cotton garments when they come in or go to sleep. Creams might be the only answer you require as the skin becomes tough enough to tolerate the flannel.
Infants grow so rapidly that you always have to be conscious of garments becoming restrictive. At this stage in a young child’s life, you ought to pay particular attention to the torso or boys and girls. The chest muscles must be allowed to expand as they will become be the source of strength in later life.
Likewise, the waist and groin, particularly in boys, must be free from encumbrance. Overly tight nappies or underpants on a boy can have serious consequences for his later life.
Girls fare better at this early stage in their development in that their sexual organs are internal, but as girls emerge from this phase, some cultures force girls to adopt restrictive practices which can have adverse effects on their health long into later life.
Excessively tight clothing around the midriff is harmful to the development of the internal organs. Corsets or girdles should certainly be ruled out. The peer pressure to wear make up on such young skin can also cause problems like rashes and even acne and so ought to be resisted at all cost.
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is currently concerned with thinking about high cut panties. If you would like to know more or check out some fantastic offers, please go to our website at Personalised Knickers.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
Natural Cures For Head Lice
It is a pure and simple fact, that primary and junior school children catch head lice and pass them around among themselves. Therefore, do not be shocked, horror-struck or astonished when your child comes home from school with head lice. It does not mean that you or your child is unclean or that you are doing a bad job as a parent. It happens because young children come into very close bodily contact with each other.
Here are a few interesting facts about head lice. Head lice are not known to pass on any human diseases. They cannot jump or fly. Itching starts about three weeks after infestation. The age group that is most at danger of head lice is 4-13 years of age. It is commonly thought that head lice would rather clean hair to greasy hair, because it is simpler to fix their eggs to clean hair. Girls are more than two times as liable as boys to carry lice. Black children are less likely to have head lice than white children because of their sort of hair, although they can still pass them on.
There are lots of ways of getting rid of head lice, but most parents will go to the chemists to buy a medicated shampoo and a lice comb. This will do the job successfully, but many people are trying to use fewer chemicals in their lives and on their bodies and this is one field where you can avoid chemicals too.
One of the easiest home remedies to try is vinegar. Soak the hair in neat vinegar and comb it well in. Wrap a towel around the head or better still use a shower cap and keep the hair wet for an hour. Vinegar can totally eliminate an infestation within three days
Tea tree oil has long been known to combat head lice. You can try massaging a few drops into the hair undiluted, but it is easier to add fifteen drops of tea tree oil to a three-quarter full bottle of everyday shampoo and mix it up. Use it every day for five days to clear up an infestation or just use it every day for life to be rid of lice evermore.
Mayonnaise will kill head lice as well, although it is a more costly and a messier way of doing it than others. Massage the mayonnaise into the hair and leave it for an hour as with vinegar. Mayonnaise will poison the eggs too.
Rosemary oil will also poison head lice. Put a few drops of rosemary oil into a bowl of water and use it to rinse your child’s hair. Rosemary oil will not only kill the head lice, but it will also add a beautiful sheen to brown hair..
Seeing a child with head lice does not mean anything awful, unless it has them all the time, because then it is a sign of neglect. Children in the age group most at risk, should be checked for head lice at least once every week and if you have several children, you should check them more often. The more children in a family, the more chance of one of them picking up nits, bringing them home and passing them around.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with natural tick repellent. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at tick Repellent For Dogs.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
How To Treat Your Clothing With Insect Repellent
Have you ever heard of clothing that deters mosquitoes and other airborne insects? If not, I am prepared to bet that there have been times when you have wished you could get some. Mosquitoes and midges can wreck a holiday or even make you have to get out of your own garden when it begins getting dark.
There are various ways that you can combat mosquitoes and the other horrors of the twilight, but they always seem to find a place where I am not totally protected. Often that place is on the shoulder blade, where they will insert their proboscis through the material of your shirt to extract your blood.
I enjoy my garden, but so do the mosquitoes as there is a lot of open water in the surrounding area. My first line of defense against mosquitoes is to plant flowers and trees that they are known to hate the smell of. I think that the odour that they hate the most is that of lemons.
Therefore, we have a few small lemon trees, which will soon be playing a vital part in our defense, a patch of lemon grass for my wife’s favourite Thai curries and some as yet poorly-looking citronella plants. (I think that Thailand may be too hot for them, but I am hoping that they will become accustomed).
Then I have two mosquito lamps. The type that entice the insects to an ultraviolet light and then electrocutes them with 25,000 volts. They are very effective, but more so in the dark than at dusk, when they are probably less discernible to the insects. I am aware that there are insect lights that use smells or pheromones to lure mosquitoes, but I have not seen any for sale over here yet. I did once try a device that emits a sound on a high frequency that was alleged to drive them away, but it did not work on our mosquitoes.
In conclusion, if it was a bad night I used to put on some insect repellent ointment, often something that had DEET in it. This is pretty effective for a few hours, but it can damage some textiles and some plastics, which is why the makers suggest that you only put it on your exposed skin. If you do that, your shoulders and your legs become targets, even if you are dressed in trousers and a shirt.
This is where it becomes a good idea to treat your clothing with insect deterrent. Apparently the military has been using them for years. The active ingredient used is called permethrin and it ought be used at a concentration of 0.5%. There are two ways of applying it: by drenching clothing in it, as the army does or by spraying it on. I imagine that you will be spraying it on.
Do the spraying in the garden far away from any fish pond as permethrin kills fish as well. Spray the clothing and wait for the chemical to soak in and dry out. Clothing treated with insect repellent in this fashion will protect you for about six weeks and will still be active after six washes. However, sunlight breaks permethrin down, so dry the items indoors and store in black plastic bags for longer efficacy.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with indoor mosquito repellent. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Mosquito Repellent For Dogs.
Filed under: Medical Conditions
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