Bed Bugs can enter your home by attaching themselves to our clothing or laying eggs on your clothing.  Most people think of hotels when they think of bed bugs, but they can be on any public clothed furniture. Airplanes, movie theaters, office lobbies, used furniture, the possibilities are great.  Bed bugs are a very tough pest to deal with. They can hide in your bed, furniture, walls, rugs, carpets.  They rarely come out in the light. The worst part about bed bugs is you are their food source. Bed bugs can multiply very quickly and will become a huge problem in no time.

Bedbugs got their name because they are usually found near beds. It is because they require blood of warm-blooded animals to survive. These pests mature in around 35 days, and they live to seven to 12 months. Those are the reasons why it is hard to remove bedbugs without the help of an expert.

Identification:

Bedbugs are flat with reddish brown color. They are around 4 to 5 mm long, and oval in shape. After blood meal, they will be reddish and swollen. Often, homeowners have the misconception that bedbugs are invisible to the naked eyes. The truth is that adult bugs can be seen with the naked eyes, and often found in crevices and cracks.

Behaviors:

Bedbugs mainly feed on humans who are sleep in bed. Their bite is painless, and the blood meal often takes around ten minutes. Humans don’t even notice that they were already bitten until they feel itchy.

The pests find their hosts through body heat, carbon dioxide emitted from exhaled breath, and other biological indicators. These factors help bedbugs find their unsuspecting hosts. They feed and then retreat to where they are hiding. They will stay there for days or weeks before they need to feed again. This makes it more difficult to detect the bugs until the infestation has been established. They are also known hitchhikers that can be transported through humans and their belongings.

Control:

The best way to control a bedbug infestation is to seek the help of a professional pest control company. This is because controlling the pest requires a lot of moving and even disassembly of furniture. It also requires specialty equipment.

A thorough inspection is needed, and when an infestation is found, then it will be treated through vacuuming, steam treatments or heat treatments. Insecticides can also be used, but they require special training and equipment.

And that’s why you should hire a pest control company to deal with the infestation. Over the counter, products are not as effective in dealing with bedbugs. Contact us today if you want to learn more about how to handle a bedbug infestation.

Prevention:

The best way to prevent a bedbug infestation is to do regular inspections. Use a flashlight to help you with the visual inspections. You should check your sheets for indicators of blood spots. You should also inspect areas where your pets sleep. Besides humans, bedbugs also feed on your pets.

If you are going on a vacation, consider bringing a large trash bag to keep your suitcase. And after the vacation, make sure that you vacuum the suitcase when you get home. That way you are sure that no bed bug hitchhiked during your trip.

If you are going to bring second-hand furniture into your home, make sure that you do a thorough examination. Box springs and mattresses might have bedbugs hidden within cracks and crevices. To be sure that they are bug-free, consider hiring a pest control professional to look at the furniture.