Just when you thought you are alone in your bed, that the bed was all yours alone as you sleep at night, you suddenly find little red insects scrambling around your mattress. Then after a week, you get itchy, red bumps on your skin. You realize quickly that you have bed bugs. Now you wonder how you got them; you tried to maintain good housekeeping exactly to keep pests out of your house.
First appearing in the United States during the 18th century, bed bugs terrorized homeowners in the early to mid-1900s. Due to advancements in pest control technology however, the bed bug population was successfully controlled in the 1950s. Humans slept in peace, until the 1990s when bed bugs started to come back. Now, bed bugs are stronger than ever, having developed resistance to some of the pesticides that once helped eradicate them.
Is the fight against bed bugs lost this time? What can we do to prevent them from spreading to more households here in Asheboro?
Go-Forth Home Services, the leading pest control company in Asheboro, says yes, there are things you can do to control these pests, and would like to teach you how. But first, let us understand what bed bugs are and how they came to spread so quickly.
What Are Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are tiny insects that are brown in color, with flat bodies that are oval in shape. They are the size of an apple seed, their size being 5 mm to 7 mm. The body of a bed bug has three segments: the head, thorax, and the abdomen. Bed bugs have two eyes, six legs, and two antennae attached to the head. They have mouthparts that can bite. Inside their bodies, the male bed bug has a scent gland, testis, and intestines. A female bed bug scent glands, intestines, mycetome, ovaries, ovarioles, and a genital chamber.
They suck human and animal blood for a living, which they do at night since they are nocturnal creatures. After a blood meal, they turn red and their bodies bloat.
Where Are They Usually Found?
Bed bugs, as their name suggests, usually hide in beds. This is because they need to be near their food source. They can be found on mattresses, on the bed frames, on the headboards, and on the pillows and pillowcases. The thing about bed bugs is that they reproduce very quickly. An adult female bed bug can lay hundreds of eggs in its lifetime. When bed bug infestation becomes heavy, they scatter all over the house. They can be found in cracks and crevices of the walls and floors, in drawers, electrical receptacles, in cabinets, clothes, and furniture. They will also have a tendency to move to your next-door neighbor.
Bed Bugs Bites
Bed bugs are nocturnal creatures, so they feed on human blood without us knowing it. While they bite, they inject an enzyme that acts as anesthesia so we continue to sleep soundly as they feed.
Bed bug bites and its effects would not show up until after 7 to 14 days. Once the bites show up, it would appear as red bumps arranged in a straight pattern. These bites are very itchy and unsightly. People, especially young children, get embarrassed having them because of the stigma of having bed bugs at home.
Are Bed Bugs Dangerous To One’s Health?
According to three United States government agencies - namely the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Environmental Protection Agency - bed bugs are high health risks. People with bed bug problems report cases of insomnia, stress, anxiety, social isolation, and even depression. These, in turn, affect the homeowners’ productivity at home or at work, as well as their relationship with other people.
The only good news here is that bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases.
How Did They Spread?
Way back in the 19th century, bed bugs made their first appearance in the United States with the aid of ships traveling from other countries worldwide. The trend of traveling being the number 1 cause of why the population of bed bugs is still rising continues up to this day.
Due to the advances in technology, travel has been made a lot easier, faster, and more comfortable. The world has become smaller, as more and more Americans travel either for pleasure or for business. Unfortunately, people get to pick up a lot of bed bugs along the way.
One shocking finding of bed bugs is that they infest 5-star hotels just as much as they infest smaller motels and traveler’s inns. What you think is clean can be full of bed bugs, and if you are not careful, you might pick some up along the way. Bed bugs are very good hitchhikers and can easily latch on to luggage and clothes so if you are not careful, you might bring home some of them.
You may also pick up bed bugs when you buy old items from garage sales. The old clothes and furniture that you buy might have a couple of bed bugs, so be careful with what you buy.
How To Treat Bed Bug Bites
Bed bug bites usually resolve by itself with no need for medical intervention. The exposed parts of the skin like your face, neck, hands, and arms are the most common areas that they bite. But if you want some relief, you may use steroid creams, antihistamine treatments, oatmeal baths, and cold compresses. Other treatments include a paste made of baking soda and water.
Signs That You May Have Bed Bugs
If you think you can simply wait for the bed bug bites to show up before you act on the infestation problem, think again. Bed bug bites, as mentioned earlier, do not show up until after 1 to 2 weeks of the bite. This means it would be too late, and the bed bugs would have spread to the different areas of the house already. Once they do, they would be pretty hard to stop. Your best bet then would be to look for these signs so you can still effectively control their numbers.
- Bed bug feces that look like rust-colored dark spots on the bed or in cracks and crevices. These are actually the blood that they fed on.
- Bloodstains on the mattress, which are probably crushed bed bugs whenever you roll around sleeping on the bed.
- Visible signs of egg cases or shed skin. These are most probably signs you have bed bugs.
- A sweet, musty odor coming from the scent glands of bed bugs.
- Actually seeing bed bugs on your mattress, pillows, headboards, and bed frames.
Pest Control For Bed Bugs
Here are some effective ways on how to remove bed bugs:
- When traveling, use a hard-sided suitcase so that bed bugs would not have anything to latch on to. Also, use a light-colored suitcase so that it would be easier to find them in case they try to hitch a ride.
- When checking in to a hotel or motel room, inspect the bed’s mattress, bed frames, headboards, and pillows for bed bugs. Place your luggage far from the bed.
- At home, use a vacuum cleaner and vacuum cracks and crevices on the walls, floors, mattresses, couch, and other furniture. After that, seal the vacuum’s bag and then throw it away properly.
- If your furniture is infested with bed bugs, do not throw it away at once, try to salvage it using a vacuum cleaner. If you cannot save it anymore, then that would be the time to throw it. Make sure to put a sign that says “Bed Bugs” so that no one else would use it.
- Use diatomaceous earth, which you can buy from a nearby gardening store. Diatomaceous earth is made up of fossilized remains of diatoms and looks like tiny shards of broken glass. If a bed bug or any other insect crawls on it, it would inflict tiny cuts on its body. This would cause them to bleed to death. Use food-grade diatomaceous earth. This is safe for humans and pets.
- If you are living in an apartment, report the bed bug problem to the landlord at once. Bed bugs spread quickly, and it may soon spread to the other units. A professional pest controller might be needed in this case.
Bed bugs reproduce quickly. If this happens, it may be hard to stop them. If your bed bug infestation problems have become too big for you, just call the best pest control company in Asheboro, Go-Forth Home Services.
Simply The Best Pest Control In North Carolina
Go-Forth Home Services has excellent experience in exterminating pests like bed bugs, mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, poisonous spiders, rats, mice, moths, and many others. We have a team of expert professionals who only use state of the art equipment to help you get rid of these pests.
The people of Asheboro trust only Go-Forth Home Services, has been around since 1959. For more information, call us now.