Contents
What are Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are tiny insects that are most active at night when they search for food – on human hosts. These wingless insects like to eat between midnight and the early hours of the morning when you’re sleeping, which is why you might wake up with itchy bites if you have bed bugs in your home.
Most people think of these critters as more of a nuisance than they are harmless, but they’re actually a mix of both. Not only can bed bugs infest your home quickly (they’re really good at hiding and making their way into other parts of your home), but they can also cause allergic reactions, spread Chagas disease, and trigger secondary skin infections when you scratch their bites.
Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation
Although a bed bug infestation can sometimes be very noticeable, more often than not, you might have an infestation before you even know any bed bugs are taking up residence in your house. Once you’ve found just one bed bug, you probably already have an infestation.
Knowing what to look for when it comes to bed bugs is the most crucial step in combatting the problem as quickly as possible. Common signs of a bed bug population in your home include:
- Rustling noises near your bed at night when bed bugs are most active
- Waking up with bites on exposed skin, usually in a clustered line
- Light brown shed skin on your sheets
- Reddish-brown blood stains on your sheets, generally in small lined streaks
- Live bed bugs in your mattress, couch, behind furniture, stuffed animals, and other hiding spots in your home
How Did I Get Bed Bugs?
There’s no way to pinpoint where bed bugs come from because they can come from almost anywhere. If you’ve stayed at a hotel or friend’s house recently, you could have picked a few strays up with you. Bed bugs can easily hide in suitcases, clothing, and furniture, so it’s possible that you even got them from a movie theater seat or a mall bench.
It’s important to thoroughly inspect any used furniture or clothing you buy before bringing it home to check for possible signs of bed bugs. If you do stay at a hotel or friend’s house, be sure to keep your belongings packed inside a closed suitcase that sits off the floor.
Why You Should Treat a Bed Bug Infestation ASAP
Getting rid of bed bugs as soon as you notice them is the best line of defense for preventing an infestation or allowing one to get worse. The longer you wait, the easier it is for bed bugs to move into other areas of your home.
Bed bugs reproduce quickly, too, with female bed bugs laying between one and seven eggs each day, so it’s important to stop the cycle in its early stages.
Bed Bug Removal: What Not to Do
Bed bugs may be tiny pests, but they pose a risk to your home and family. It’s important not to try to handle a bed bug infestation on your own. It can be tempting to try to kill them with pesticides or other chemicals marketed to treat bed bugs, but most chemicals can be hazardous to you, your family, or your pets.
You also don’t want to make any quick decisions, like throwing away furniture or moving furniture from one room to another for deep cleaning. Professional bed bug removal services can treat furniture safely to kill bed bugs and their colonies, so there’s no need to get rid of infested furniture. You also don’t want to take the chance of bed bugs moving into another room in your home. It’s much easier to treat a bed bug infestation when it’s contained in one area of your home.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Effectively
Ready to get rid of your bed bug problem once and for all? It’s best to leave bed bug control to professionals who are equipped to search for bed bugs and use safe practices to treat the problem. Doing so keeps your home and your family safe!
Bed bug control does take some preparation and patience, but your home can be completely bug-free in as little as one week.
At Midwest Pest and Wildlife Control, we offer affordable and effective bed bug control services with trained experts who are ready to provide you with a free consultation and discuss your options. Our two options include:
- A liquid-based treatment we reapply every seven days for three weeks, and
- A hybrid chemical and heat treatment that uses a strategic combination of heat and chemical application for slightly faster removal in one or two weeks.
Contact us today at (937) 570-7216 for your free consultation and estimate.