Bed bugs are a nightmare for all homeowners. They come into the home undetected, live in the smallest nooks and crannies throughout the house, and are notoriously difficult to eliminate. Furthermore, it is a common misconception that bed bugs prefer dirty homes. On the contrary, they will infest any home, clean or dirty. There are other important facts about this bug that every homeowner should know. By learning more about bed bugs, you can be prepared for an infestation and thus prevent maximum damage. Here are three things every resident of Powell should know about bed bugs.
1. What A Bed Bug Looks Like
If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s easy to confuse a bed bug with another type of bug. However, once you know what they look like, you won’t have a problem identifying the insect.
Bed bugs are small and reddish-brown in color. At their largest, they reach about 3/4 inch long. With an oval body shape, the insect resembles an apple seed in size and shape. When they haven’t been feeding, bed bugs are flat. After feeding, they swell and look more like tiny balloons.
It’s worth mentioning that you can’t tell a bed bug from its bite. Everyone reacts differently to a bite from a bed bug, so the bites manifest in different ways. You could easily confuse a bed bug bite for a bite from a flea or a chigger. Typically, however, unlike fleas, bed bugs will bite in a linear or zig-zag pattern. If you have unidentifiable bites when you wake up in the morning, you should hire a pest control technician or visit a doctor to identify the culprit.
2. How To Identify An Infestation
Identifying a bed bug infestation isn’t always as easy as finding a bed bug. Sometimes, you don’t see the pest at all. They are experts at hiding and may find a home in your furniture, baseboards, picture frames, or even electrical outlets.
After feeding on your blood, the insects leave behind excrement. Therefore, one tell-tale sign of an infestation is brown feces on your sheets or walls. Another sign is blood stains on your sheets or pillowcases. If you look carefully, you may also find their shed skins under your mattress.
If you see a bed bug, you likely have an infestation and should seek professional assistance immediately. Because their eggs hatch in only six to ten days, bed bugs reproduce at a rapid rate. Furthermore, a single female will lay upwards of 500 eggs in her lifetime so that an infestation can get out of hand in a hurry. Finding only one or two-bed bugs means that you will soon find many more.
3. Why You Need A Professional To Eliminate Bed Bugs From Your Powell Home
Although you could try to remove bed bugs on your own, doing so may cause more harm than good. You will need a professional to save money, find their hiding places, and eradicate your population.
The chemicals or heat treatments needed to eliminate bed bugs are expensive and difficult to source and implement properly. If you try to buy chemicals on your own or use thermal radiation to eliminate the population, you will almost certainly fail to cause you to spend more time and money down the line. Also, bed bugs can survive months without food. If threatened, they will go into hiding, making you think you've solved your infestation woes. However, they will return months later in greater numbers, thus exacerbating your problem in the long run.
Furthermore, bed bugs are tiny, flat, and experts at hiding. Unless you are experienced in pest control, you probably don’t know where to look for them. While you may be able to eliminate some of the pests, you’re likely to leave behind the rest.
In the end, trying to resolve the issue on your own will only cost you more time and more money. As you attempt to solve the problem, you could damage your home. In the end, the problem could become so bad that you will need to leave your home until the bugs are exterminated.
It's best to hire a professional to combat the resilient bed bugs plaguing your Powell home. A licensed technician will design a plan that eliminates all of your bed bugs, giving you the peace of mind necessary for a good night's sleep.
Why Should You Choose 1st Response Pest Management?
If you’re looking for a pest control company with years of experience fighting bed bugs and other unwelcome intruders, 1st Response Pest Management has the professional experience needed to tackle even the worst bed bug infestations. We will work with your schedule to ensure that your bed bug problem becomes a thing of the past. To keep your family and pets safe, we even offer chemical-free bed bug treatment. Contact us today to discuss all of your bed bug control options!