Bed Bug Removal
Bed Bug Detection
Bed Bugs are a parasitic insect that feeds on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals such as dogs or cats. Because bedbugs live solely on blood, having them in your home is not a sign of dirtiness. You are just as likely to find them in immaculate homes. They are flat, reddish-brown, oval wingless insects about the size of an apple seed. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, about the width of a credit card. Bedbugs do not have nests but tend to live in groups in cracks and crevices. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy access to people to bite during the night. Blood spotting on mattresses and nearby furnishings are signs of an infestation. Their bites can leave itchy welts on the skin and can cause allergic reactions. Bedbugs are often brought into your home or business by your luggage after staying in a hotel or motel or by bringing in infested furniture. Bed bugs can migrate from one infested area into another very easily by adjoining walls of an apartment or condo via the electrical wiring or plumbing. Although they do not fly, they can move quickly over floors walls, and ceilings. It is best to have a professional like Knock ‘Em Out Pest Control treat your home for a bed bug infestation.
Female bedbugs may lay from one to five eggs in a day and hundreds of eggs in their lifetime. Immature bedbugs called nymphs shed their skins five times before reaching maturity and require a blood meal before each shedding. Under favorable conditions, the bedbugs can develop fully in as little as a month and over 300 days.
Bed Bug Treatment
You can help reduce your chances of a costly bedbug infestation by catching them early. While cleaning up infested areas will be helpful in controlling bedbugs, getting rid of them usually requires chemical treatments. Because treating your bed and bedroom with insecticides can be harmful, it is important to use products that can be used safely in bedrooms. It is safest and most effective to hire an experienced pest control professional for bedbug extermination as bedbugs are extremely difficult to eradicate. If the bedbugs are not all removed, they will continue to breed and infest your home once again.
Treatment of active bugs uses a variety of treatments including steam, to kill bed bugs and their eggs in places with likely human contact, followed by residual treatments in box springs, hard furniture, and wall voids to provide long-term control. Heat is an environmentally friendly process that involves heating the infested area and its contents to a high temperature for a predetermined time to eradicate bed bugs as well as a variety of other pests including spiders, cockroaches, termites, ants, and many more.
Bed Bug Encasements
Mattress and box spring encasements for beds have a tightly woven, zippered cover that stops bedbugs from entering or escaping. These encasements, which are soft to the touch and conform to fit any mattress, box spring, or pillow, stop infestations from spreading and help prevent future infestations. As bedbugs may live up to a year without feeding, you will have to keep the encasement on for a year to make sure all the bugs in the mattress are dead. Encasements are also available for sofas, love seats, and recliners.
Bed Bug Prevention Tips when Traveling
By simply following a few basic tips you can help decrease your chances of introducing bed bugs into your home or business.
- Look for tiny rust-colored spots of bedbug excrement on bed sheets, mattress tags and seams, and bed skirts.
- Look under mattresses, bed frames, behind headboards, drawers, and furniture.
- Keep your luggage off the ground and away from walls.
- Examine your luggage carefully while repacking and when unpacking upon your return home.
- Place all your clothing from your luggage immediately in the dryer for at least 15 minutes at the highest setting upon returning home from travel.
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