There is more than one pest that bites, so when you’re waking up in the morning with welts on your body, it can be hard to know where they’re coming from, or how deadly they even are. Could it be spiders that are biting you? Maybe your home has a flea infestation. It might even be another biting pest you don’t know about. One blood-feeding pest that regularly invades homes here in Richmond is bed bugs, so how can you tell their bites apart from the bites of other pests? Here’s how.
What Are Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are small ¼” long insects that rely on the blood of people and animals to survive. You can further identify this pest by its reddish-brown coloration and oval-shaped body. When engorged with a meal of blood, a bed bug grows to be several times its normal size and takes on a deeper red coloration to their abdomen.
Hitchhiking, The Way Of The Bed Bug
Bed bugs are clever pests in that they don’t put much effort into invading homes. Unlike other pests that have to find cracks, gaps, and other entry points around a building’s exterior to get inside, all bed bugs need to do is hitchhike. That said, you will never see these pests on the side of the road with their thumbs up or a bindle stick over their backs.
If bed bugs do their job, you won’t see them at all. They will be well hidden in an item you are carrying such as your backpack, suitcase, used clothing, the love seat you bought at a yard sale, a friend’s gaming console, or anything in between. It is only after bed bugs reach a new location that they hop off and start looking for tight secluded spaces to hide and settle down.
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide?
Just by looking at their name, one might assume that bed bugs only hide around beds, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, bed bugs hide wherever they are able, usually in secluded spots and out of sightline. Common areas these pests hide around homes include baseboards, outlets, beneath floorboards, inside electronics, and in cracks and crevices throughout the home.
How To Identify Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are unlike other biting pests that invade homes, feeding and interacting with people in considerably different ways. For one, bed bugs do not bite just once, but instead feed several times, walking a short distance between each draw of blood they take. To breakdown bed bug identification further, here are some other ways to identify these pests:
- Bites on your skin in a straight line or zig-zag pattern.
- Bloodstains on your bed coverings and or around your sleeping area.
- Specks of reddish-black fecal matter around areas bed bugs hide.
- Pearly-white eggs inside cracks and crevices throughout your home.
- A musty odor in the air.
What To Do If Your Home Has Bed Bugs
If you put two and two together and find out your home has bed bugs, your next step should be calling a professional. At Go-Forth Home Services, we offer advanced elimination strategies to deal with bed bug problems. No other pest control provider will treat you with the level of care and respect we offer our loyal customers.
Don’t let these pests fill their bellies at your expense. Reach out to our team to schedule a bed bug inspection and talk to one of our friendly service representatives about our pest control options.