Humans are used to being the predator, not the prey. But when it comes to our relationship with bed bugs - well, these little critters have been making a meal of us for thousands of years.
And they’re not the only ones. Lice, ticks, mosquitoes... they need our blood to live.
The common bed bug looms large in our psyche because it invades our most private space, our bedrooms. Head lice are another pest that take up residence on our person and cause us all sorts of psychological trauma.
And we haven’t even gotten to the ticks and mosquitoes yet.
So night-night, sleep tight and... oh, who are we kidding? We’re making your skin crawl and no one is sleeping tonight!
GUESTS:
- Dr. Gale E. Ridge - Assistant Scientist, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and chair of the Connecticut Coalition Against Bed Bugs
- Brooke Borel - Author of Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World and contributing editor for Popular Science
- Heidi - Connecticut resident who had a bed bug infestation
- Renée Bento - CTLiceLady, owner/operator of All Natural Lice Removal in Brookfield, a salon that caters to treating head lice
MUSIC:
- “The Bed Bug Song” by Mighty Panther
- “Mean Old Bed Bug Blues” by Lonnie Johnson
- “Ticks” by Brad Paisley
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Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.