What are bed bugs?
Those small insects feed on the blood of humans and animals. These creatures have tormented the human race since ancient times. Some of the first recorded information about bed bugs dates back to ancient Egypt.
These insects are flightless but can scurry about over walls and floors with ease. The female bed bug can lay hundreds of eggs in a course of one lifetime. Just imagine how fast they multiply. With good conditions such as good food and water supply, they can live up to a year when fully grown.
Bedbugs are some of the secret agents of the insect world. They are good hitchhikers, especially when traveling to your home. They can use clothing, luggage, beds, couches, and other items as transportation. Their common shelters are located near their hosts or victims. Typically in mattresses and headboards, underneath the bed, bedside tables, and other furniture. As long as they have easy access to their feeding ground, your body. These creatures are nocturnal. That is why it may be difficult to determine if bed bugs are present. They move at night and slowly suck your blood without letting you feel anything.
If left undetected, they would increase in numbers and spread out all over the house and scatter themselves to other bedrooms and even your neighbor’s home. Like other blood-sucking insects, the bed bugs inject a kind of anesthetic before drinking your blood, making the bite painless. Depending on the host’s condition, the itch comes long before the bugs have finished eating. You may notice a line pattern on these bite marks which are like red spots with a blister in the middle. People often mistake bed bug bites for other insects like mosquitoes and fleas. Make sure that the bites come from the right culprits.
Signs that you have bed bugs infestation
- Bite marks and red itchy welts
- Dark red to brown spots on the mattress, bedsheets, curtains and etc
- A prominent musty odor from the insect’s scent glands
- Egg shells, Dried Bug skins, Fecal material
If you think your home is infested, the first step is to clean your suspected location. Remove all linens, bedding, pillow cases, and curtains. Check also other room decorations like stuffed toys, bookshelves, and shoes. Prepare them for thorough washing and drying in hot temperatures. Use a vacuum cleaner around the surrounding areas of your room and take special caution on cracks and gaps. Decluttering your bedroom is also important to eliminate their hiding places.
Using preventive measures like covering your mattresses with a plastic case. These encasements can keep the bugs from hiding inside your bed. Always make it a point to check whether you have an infestation or not. That way you do not have to suffer in the future when problems go out of hand. Applying steam to the mattresses’ tufts, seams and folds is also one tip. Inspect your appliances and bedside tables and wires then seal the cracks and crevices on your walls.
What should you do when there are bed bugs?
The answer is a big GET RID OF THEM. Although we cannot fully eradicate them unless we use chemical products, we can still control their numbers and kill most of them by following a process. The methods you choose will determine how effective they are against these bugs. Using chemical products inside the bedroom may be harmful to you instead. So always be cautious with what you use.
Educate yourself. The internet is filled with information on how to handle different kinds of pests. You can learn from experts and their methods. Various treatment measures are readily available online. Getting rid of bed bugs completely alone needs perseverance and patience. The right knowledge of what kind of pest you are dealing with and what kind of treatment is effective against them. The best option is always prevention. Early detection and proper treatment implementation will help you save costs.
The best option: professional help
According to the bed bugs exterminator in Baltimore MD, if bed bugs continue to show themselves, it means they are already uncontrollable. It is time to get professional help. The exterminators will evaluate your infestation and can offer very effective measures to get rid of bed bugs and other pests at home. These experts have treatment management plans to eradicate these bugs completely. Always allow yourself to choose the best exterminator for the job.
You don’t have to share your bed with these nasty insects ever again.
Apart from that, if you are interested to know about Bed Bug Chemical vs Heat Treatment then visit our Daily bites category.
