Quick Guide To Bed Bugs In School

Quick Guide To Bed Bugs In School

By now, you’ve probably heard of bed bugs. Those tiny rust-colored blood eaters are making the news all across the country. These bugs are no longer the boogeyman that hides under the bed in motels. They can be found in many places, including schools. If you have school age children from pre-k to college, you should find some helpful information about bed bugs here.

How Do Bed Bugs Get Into Schools?

The bed bug, known scientifically a Cimex lectularius, is not a pest that squeezes its way in through exterior walls. These bugs spread by climbing into the items we wear, and the belongings we carry. So, if a home is dealing with a bed bug infestation, it is possible for that infestation to spread to the schools of any children living in that home–no matter how old. Even college students can pick these bugs up at home and bring them back to their dorm room.

Can Bed Bugs Crawl From One Kid To Another?

Adult bed bugs prefer to be nocturnal. They usually wait until it is dark, and when CO2 levels in a room have risen. But, immature nymphs are more daring than adults. This is probably because they need food to grow and mature. It is not uncommon for young bed bugs to appear in the daylight, or pass from one child to the next.

Can Bed Bug Eggs Pass From One Kid To Another?

While this is possible it is not likely. While bed bug eggs are sticky, they usually stick pretty well to their current location. Bed bugs usually deposit their tiny white eggs in the creases or seams of items to keep them protected. They won’t usually be on the surface.

What Can I Do To Protect My Kids?

There are many practical ways to protect your kids. Here are a few of the most important ones:

  • Make sure your kids know what bed bugs look like in all stages of development. Eggs are the size of the tip on a pen and white. Immature nymphs start transparent and grow more tan/brown and less transparent as they develop. They have six legs, two antennae, three body parts, and are shaped like an apple seed.

  • Make sure your kids know the signs of bed bugs; Bites on the skin; black streaks; blood staining; shed insect skins; and the tiny pale eggs they leave.

If bed bugs come home with your kids, be sure to call a professional. Bed bugs are an extraordinarily difficult pest to get rid of. If you live in our extensive service area, give us a call. At Russell’s Pest Control, we offer industry-leading pest control for all the pests we deal with here in Eastern Tennessee including bed bug control options.

How To Avoid Getting Holiday Bed Bugs

How To Avoid Getting Holiday Bed Bugs

If you could go back in time to stop something really bad from happening, would you do it? Of course you would. It is a lot easier to prevent something from happening than it is to fix things “after” they have happened. This is the secret to avoiding holiday bed bugs. No. We’re not saying you need to build a time machine. That would be complicated, if not slightly impossible. What we’re saying is that bed bugs are a problem that is best dealt with “before” it happens. Here’s what you need to know.

If you knew that a certain person would be hit by a certain car on a certain day, what would you do? Would you warn them? What if you knew how and where your friend or family could pick up bed bugs, would you tell them?

When you tell your friends and family about bed bugs, you will not only be protecting yourself from an accidental infestation, you’ll be protecting them as well. Public awareness is the most powerful weapon in the war against bed bugs.

3 Places Bed Bugs Get Picked Up During The Holidays

  • Sleep accommodations. It doesn’t matter how nice or how clean, bed bugs can be found in places where people sleep. If your friends and family will be staying somewhere on their way to your home, it is important that they do a quick inspection of any room they stay in. Use a flashlight to inspect bedding, sheets, pillowcases, mattress seams, and the stitching on upholstered furniture for black streaks, fecal pellets, brown blood staining, and shed insect casings.
  • Public transportation. Bed bugs have been found infesting trains, planes, buses, taxis, and other public transportation. Your family members should know what a bed bug looks like when they see one, and they should take a moment to examine their chair for black streaks, blown stains, and shed insect casings. In enclosed spaces, there may be a locker room smell if a large enough infestation is present.
  • Homes. If your friends and family will be staying the night with other friends and family, or at the home of a host family, they should take the same precautions as staying in a hotel or motel.

It is a whole lot easier to stop a bed bug infestation before it begins. Let your family and friends know what to look for when they travel.
If you ever find bed bugs in your home–and you don’t have a time machine–call a professional. These pests are nearly impossible to remove without an entomological understanding of these insects and what modern pest measures are most effective for eradicating them.

If you are in our Knoxville, Gatlinburg or elsewhere in our Tennessee service area, let Russell’s Pest Control assist you. Our team is BedbugFREE Approved by Bedbug Central, the most authoritative information resource on bed bugs in the country. When holiday bed bugs find a way in, get them out with bed bug control services from Russell’s Pest Control.

Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

When bed bugs attack, what happens first? Most often, it is a search of the internet to find out more about these little blood eaters. The words, “Get Rid of Bed Bugs,” are typed in and page after page of information comes up about how to get rid of these invasive pests, and a false confidence is established. Why do we say false? Because most do-it-yourself bloggers will tell you a few facts about bed bugs and use these facts to guide you toward the products or solution they are looking to dispense, but rarely do they give the entire picture.

Here are some examples DIY facts that don’t connect to a solution:

While it is certainly true that bed bugs are drawn out by raised carbon dioxide levels in a room, that doesn’t mean that CO2 traps will eradicate bed bugs from your home. Sure, you’ll kill some bugs. Some of these traps actually work, but they don’t solve the problem. What the blogger failed to mention is that not all bed bugs come out of hiding to feed, and all the bugs that come out will not be killed by those traps. Bed bugs have been around for centuries, and in that time, they have learned how to avoid danger.

Another fact that is definitely true is that bed bugs need to crawl up into your bed to get at you. They don’t fly like mosquitoes. So, you may be directed to put traps under the feet of your bed to kill these bugs before they climb up and feed on you. Makes sense, right? But these traps fail in many ways. If there is a backboard on the bed, the bugs will crawl up and over that. If there are bed bugs already living in the mattress or crevices of the bed frame, they won’t need to crawl up. These bugs can also feed on you anytime they wish. They don’t have to feed on you at night, while you sleep. They can get you while you’re watching television on the couch. They can get you while you’re eating breakfast–or pretty much anywhere you sit or lounge.

There are also products that will kill bed bugs. Your DIY blogger may direct you to these, and when you find bugs lying on the floor, you think you’ve won the battle. The problem is, even if every bug were to come out of hiding and be killed by these products, a new infestation could begin with a batch of unattended eggs in your walls. That is not even taking into consideration that these pest products can be harmful when not applied properly.

We understand the desperate urge to get rid of bed bugs when they are discovered, but please don’t take the do-it-yourself route. Getting rid of bed bugs requires experience, specialized knowledge, and state-of-the-art equipment.

These bugs are enough of a nightmare when they plague you for a week. Don’t turn a week into months of torment. Get a professional bed bug treatment and eradicate those bed bugs the first time.