With the holidays behind us, you might be worrying about all kinds of things: sending the kids back to school, taking down decorations, and sticking to your New Year’s resolutions. But are you worried about bed bugs? These nuisance pests can invade your home undetected. You might have brought them home without even realizing it!
A bed bug infestation takes a lot of work to get rid of when it happens, so it is important to learn how to prevent bed bugs from getting inside in the first place and what to do if they invade your home.
How Bed Bugs Get Into Your Home
Bed bugs travel by clinging onto various objects. They don’t fly or jump. They use tiny claws to grip onto fabric, and then wait for people to transport them to wherever they need to go. They can hold onto furniture, clothes, backpacks, shoes, hair, furniture, and even fur. Once a bed bug enters your home, it can multiply and then soon there will be a whole family of bed bugs feeding on your family. The worst part is that these infestations can spread very quickly as the bed bugs travel from your home to other locations and vice-versa.
Bed Bug Infestation Signs And Prevention
There are several signs that indicate a bed bug infestation. The most obvious one is seeing the bugs themselves around your bed or on your mattress. However, since bed bugs are nocturnal and incredibly tiny, you might struggle to spot them. Look instead for the things they leave behind: molted skins, blood stains, droppings, bite marks, and eggs. All these signs indicate that you may have a bed bug infestation.
Bed bug bites are the easiest way to identify whether they’re the pest infesting your home. Their bites are small and red with a clear center. There are usually multiples of them in a line or zig-zag pattern. If you spot these marks on yourself, your children, or your family members, there are probably bed bugs in the vicinity. If you spot them on others while at their home, that means that bed bugs could be coming home with you.
Preventing bed bugs is quite difficult but not impossible. They die at extreme temperatures, so washing and drying your clothes on the hottest settings can kill them before they have a chance to spread. Vacuuming your carpets and steaming your furniture also helps to get rid of them. When vacuuming, make sure to empty the bag outside away from the home.
When traveling, make sure to keep your luggage off and away from the bed, and always inspect your room for bugs before settling in. After returning home, immediately empty your luggage and wash all clothes and fabric items on the hottest washer and dryer settings. Vacuuming your luggage is also a good idea.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Your Home
Even if you put in a lot of effort to prevent bed bugs from getting into your home, it can still happen. Once they’re inside, getting rid of them, using DIY methods, is nearly impossible. People can spend years fighting bed bugs and they still won’t go away. Some DIY solutions can do more harm to your family than the bed bugs themselves, and there’s no guarantee they’ll work.
Instead of wasting your money on ineffective and possibly harmful DIY solutions, call Russell’s Pest Control to get help with your bed bug infestation. We’ll make sure that your home is completely bed bug free with our comprehensive inspections, treatments, and follow-ups. Our friendly trained technicians will give you the best customer service and best treatment coverage you can ask for.