By Tak Landrock
t.landrock@krdo.com

COLORADO SPRINGS - They're back and ready to take a bite out of you while you sleep. Bed bugs, once thought exterminated, are being found at apartments all across the city. "I never thought of bed bugs before we started getting these calls. They're all over!" says Ken Lewis with Code Enforcement.

Code Enforcement Officers are currently working on six cases right now of apartments infested with the nocturnal creatures. "They're difficult to get rid of, they're different from roaches and ants, because the tenant has to play an important roll in getting rid of them," says Lewis.

Usually an exterminator needs to be brought in and anything the bugs touches needs to be thrown out. This may be the reason why the bed bugs are spreading, people throwing out infested beds and couches, and people picking them up and putting them in their apartments.

"Avoid free couches and free mattresses and a lot of the items thrown out at foreclosures or evictions," says Lewis. "If you see anything on the side of the road, stay clear of it."

If the bugs are just on your mattress, you can by a plasic cover to put over the mattress instead of throwing it away. According to www.bedbugger.com, a protect-a-bed or mattresssafe product will keep bed bugs in or out.

You can also wash the sheets, but it needs to be in hot water above 120 degrees.

Bed bugs come out at night attracted to your body heat. The bug, the size of a match head, usually lives behind headboards, behind mirrors and along the carpet by the edge of the wall.

Once they bite you, they cause red welts and sometimes they can be painful. According to the University or Kentucky Entomology website, it's rare for the beg bug to pass on diseases.