Bed Bugs: Protect Your Home from These Uninvited Guests

The facts

Bed bugs like to travel and are good hitchhikers. They will hide in suitcases, boxes and shoes to be near a food supply. And before you know it, these pesky thieves in the night will find themselves in your home. Bed bugs are troublesome home pests. They’re sneaky, hard to find, and can pose potential health risks for you and your family. They are elusive, nocturnal creatures. They can hide behind baseboards and in cracks, crevices, and folded areas of beds, bedding and adjacent furniture, and in mattresses and box springs. Bed bugs can also hide in electrical switchplates, picture frames, wallpaper and nearly anywhere inside a home, car, bus, or other shelters.

Bed bugs usually come out at night for a blood meal. However, they are opportunistic pests and can take a blood meal during the day, especially in heavily infested areas. Bed bugs usually require 5-10 minutes to engorge with blood. After feeding, they move to secluded places and hide for 5-10 days. During this time in the bed bug life cycle, they do not feed but instead digest their meal, mate, and lay eggs.

Bed bugs and your health

While bed bugs do not typically spread diseases, the parasitic insects cause slight to moderate discomfort by inflicting itchy bite marks as a result of feeding. Bed bug bites are usually painless, rarely waking the host, and result in small red welts similar to mosquito bites. In some cases, the bites inflicted by the pests may cause allergic reactions requiring medical attention.

Generally, this reaction is uncommon which makes bed bugs largely considered a nuisance. In addition to bite marks, bed bugs regularly leave other evidence of their presence, including musty odors, rust-colored fecal stains in and around bedding, and layers of skin shed by nymphs. Despite the widespread assumption that bed bug infestations are an indication of poor cleanliness or sanitation in the affected area, bed bugs simply require access to a host and ample hiding space.

Bed bugs multiply quickly, and in just six months, a few can turn into a full-on infestation of 13,000 or more. Detection is critical to breaking the bed bug life cycle before they become a bigger problem. Bed bugs thrive in a variety of environments ranging from private residences to five-star hotels, and often prove difficult to find and remove completely. Professional extermination is recommended to treat infestations.

Get rid of bed bugs with 603 Pest!

What do you do if you are having an issue with bed bugs, or even think these little buggers might be invading your home? Simply call the team at 603 Pest Control. A professional exterminator will be able to confirm the issue and offer a treatment to combat these pests and get them out of your life for good.

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