During the holidays, people tend to travel more (normally, thanks 2020.) Be sure that you don’t pick up any unwanted hitchhikers! Bed bugs get their name from their habit of taking refuge in beds and feeding on humans while they sleep. They often occur in living areas with poor sanitation, but they can also be carried into the home on luggage, furniture, suitcases, or other belongings. This blog is intended to give you some information on bed bugs and how to identify them.

How to Identify

  • Oval Shape
  • 6 legs, 2 antennae
  • Only grow to about 3/16th of an inch
  • Prior to feeding – brown and flat
  • Post feeding – red, swollen, and elongated

Signs of a Possible Infestation

  • Small reddish-brown fecal spots on mattress, upholstery, or walls
  • Bites on the arms and legs
  • Molted bed bug skins
  • Eggs or empty egg shells
  • The bugs themselves
  • Although these things are all very small, they are visible to the naked eye.

Habits:

Excellent travellers

  1. Be sure to take precautions when travelling. The most common place to pick up bed bugs is in hotels/motels. Inspect mattresses before bringing yours bags into the room.
  2. Inspect second hand furniture before bringing it into the house.
  3. Be careful when using public transport or sitting in pulic areas such as the library

They can live in places besides beds

  1. Cracks and crevices
  2. Within bedding and inside box springs
  3. Headboards, baseboards, cabinets, dressers, couches, other furniture, etc.

Mainly feed on humans but will also feed on other warm blooded animals

  1. Active at night but opportunistic feeders (eat when they can)
  2. Their bites are usually painless
  3. Do not transmit disease but can cause red, itchy welts and sometimes allergic reactions

Super fast reproductive nature

  1. Female lays 1-5 eggs per day, 541 eggs in lifetime
  2. Nymphs mature after only 21 days

Treatment

  • Extremely difficult to treat
  • According to NPMA survey, 76% of pest professionals say that bed bugs are the hardest bug to eradicate.
  • Seek professional help!

The Bugyman Exterminators are here for you! Check out our Bed Bug Management to see how we can help you and our guarantees. And remember inspections are free!