Bed bugs are tiny, oblong, brownish insects that feed on human or animal blood. The flattened bodies of adult bed bugs are roughly the size of an apple seed. However, their bodies enlarge after eating and take on a reddish hue.
Although they cannot fly, bed bugs can move fast around carpets, rooms, and ceilings. Throughout their career, female bed bugs can produce dozens of eggs, each approximately the size of a dust speck.
Bed bug nymphs, or immature forms, must consume blood before their five skin-shedding cycles to reach adulthood. The bugs can create additional or more generations each year and get full development in less than a month under ideal circumstances.
Although annoying, it is not believed that they spread illnesses.
Where to Find Bed Bugs
Bed bugs can enter your home through clothing, used mattresses and couches, luggage, and other items. Because of their flattened bodies, they can squeeze into areas that are only a little wider than a credit card. Unlike ants and bees, bed bugs do not build nests; instead, they prefer to reside in colonies in concealed areas. Bedding, bed frames, wooden furniture, and walls are frequently where they first hide since they provide easy access to prey for nighttime biting.
Over time, they might disperse across the bedroom and hide in every nook and cranny. Additionally, they might spread to neighboring homes or flats. Having bedbugs on your property is not an indication of cleanliness because they are blood-only creatures. They can be found in both clean and unclean residences and rooms.
Infestation Symptoms
You may have insects if you start waking up in places that weren’t itchy when you fell asleep, especially if you recently purchased used bedding or other used equipment around the moment the bites first appeared.
Additional indications that you have bugs include:
- Your linens or pillowcases have blood stains.
- Bed Bug excrement can leave behind dark or reddish stains on bed linens, mattresses, and walls.
- In regions where bedbugs conceal themselves, look for bed bug feces, eggshells, or shed skins.
- A repulsive musty smell was emanating from the bugs’ smell glands.
Take away all the sheets and carefully check them for pests or garbage if you suspect an infestation. By eliminating the dirt cover protecting the futon mattress’s base, you may check the hardwood framing’s seams. Pull back the fabric where it is nailed to the wooden frame.
Additionally, look inside books, phones, radios, the carpet’s edge, and even electrical outlets in the area all around the bed. Because bedbugs can connect to clothing, check your closet. Call an exterminator if you are unsure of bed bug symptoms because they will know what to search for.
Start taking action to eliminate the insects and stop them from returning if you notice infestation indications.
Bed bug remedies
Cleaning up the areas where bed bugs reside is the first step in getting rid of them. The following should be mentioned:
- Dry all clothing, tablecloths, blankets, and linens on the hottest dryer after washing them in hot water. Stuffed creatures, footwear, and other things that can’t be cleaned should be placed in the dryer and dried for 40 minutes on high.
- Before cleaning, scrub the mattress seams to remove bedbugs and their eggs.
- Regularly vacuum your bedroom and the area around it. After cleaning, immediately put the vacuum cleaner waste in a garbage bag and throw it in an outdoor trash can.
- A densely woven, zipped cover should be placed over the mattress and frames to prevent bedbugs from invading or fleeing. Keep the shield on your bed for at minimum a year to ensure that any bedbugs in the mattress are destroyed. Bedbugs can survive for up to a decade without feeding.
- To remove hiding spots for bedbugs, patch up plaster cracks and glue down wallpaper that is peeling.
- Clear the area around the bed of clutter.
If your bedding is contaminated, replace it with a new one. Just get rid of the bedbugs in the remainder of your house first, or they’ll spread to your new bed.
Extermination of bed bugs
Clearing up contaminated areas will help control bed bugs. Chemical treatments are typically necessary to get rid of them. Use items that can be used securely in bedrooms because treating your bedroom and room with pesticides can be detrimental. If the label needs to state that it can be used on beds clearly, do not treat pillows or bedding.
Employing a skilled pest control specialist for Bed bug removal in San Jose, CA, is typically the safest and most efficient option.