Bed bugs can end up in your house as they cling on to your belongings. These tiny pests will hitchhike from your hotel room to your bedroom. From here, a new bed bug infestation can start. While bed bugs get their names because they usually rest in bed, they can also be found in other parts of your bedroom and house. They compensate for their inability to fly with their amazing speed. Indeed, they can scamper and hide quickly when exposed to light.
Bug bugs are active at night, feeding on your blood while you sleep. They are drawn to the carbon dioxide and warmth you emit. Also, they feed on your blood every 5-10 days; however, they can survive for several months without feeding. When bed bugs draw blood from you, they usually leave behind bite marks that form a line or pattern. If you are allergic to their bites, you may notice huge welts and swelling on your bitten limbs. Given this possibility, you will never want to share your space with these critters. You should contact a Saela Pest expert if you suspect you have these unwanted visitors in your home.
Signs You Have a Bed Bug Problem at Home
As bed bugs are elusive, knowing if they have invaded your living space can be difficult. To get an advantage over these bugs, you must watch out for some signs of an infestation. Aside from mark marks, the following are signs you must pay attention to:
- Dark spots on the mattresses. Bed bugs leave behind dark stains from the blood they draw from you or their excrement. These spots can be found on bed sheets, mattresses, nearby crevices and cracks, as well as skirting boards.
- Live bed bugs. The most obvious sign of an infestation is potting the bugs themselves. But young bed bugs are quite small and translucent, so they are not visible to the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are almost the size of apple seeds. Their color is reddish-brown.
- Eggs. You can usually find these eggs against dark-colored fabric.
- Distinct, musty odor. A bed bug infestation may exist if you notice this odor without other obvious causes. If you are dealing with a serious infestation, the smell can be like rust, moldy laundry, or wet towels.
- Shell casings. Juvenile bed bugs shed yellowish-brown exoskeletons that come in different sizes.
Bed Bug Control is Not Easy
Bed bugs may develop resistance to a lot of insecticides available on the market. That is why eliminating them completely by yourself is almost impossible. Even if a certain chemical can eliminate bed bugs, it may not impact the eggs. Thus, while you would enjoy the much-needed sleep at night for a few days, you may wake up not too long after. This makes it important to hire a pest control team to help you deal with the bed bug problem.
It only takes just one live bed bug to repopulate the impacted area again after the initial treatment. with a two-week incubation period and the tendency of the bugs to hide in hard-to-reach areas, an infestation can continue to torment you until an expert is brought in. When experts detect an infestation, they will inspect the adjoining rooms and treat them before the bug issue escalates.