The fight in your home against bed bugs may be one of the most frustrating experiences for your family and you. Bed bugs are persistent and extremely difficult to completely eliminate from your home. The infestation worsens the longer it is left untreated, so promptly addressing your bed bug problem is your best route.
Identifying Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are small, oval-looking insects that come out at night to feed on human blood. (If having a little tiny vampire bug doesn’t make you uneasy, we’re not sure what would!) Bedbugs do not fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. They are reddish-brown in color and have flat bodies with no wings.
Bed bugs often go unnoticed until bed bug bites become apparent on someone’s body. Bed bug bites look like a mosquito or a flea bite and usually occur in a line across the skin. Bites along shoulders and arms are common. Bed bug bites are often extremely itchy. While these bugs don’t often carry disease, infections can occur in spots where an individual is scratching the bite and opening skin wounds.
Once you notice bug bites, checking your home for these unwanted insects is the next step in the process of getting rid of them. To check for bed bugs, turn bedsheets and bed linens up and look at the bed frame. Check the seams of mattresses and box springs for bed bugs or signs of bed bug activity. The bed bugs feeding period is typically at night, but they can feed during any time of day if hungry. A bed bug will spend about five minutes feeding before returning to its hiding place. These little guys are really good at hiding, so make sure you’re checking thoroughly to find them.
What Kills Bed Bugs
There is a general belief, as bed bugs make their way back as a common pest to households around the world, that bed bugs are killed by very cold weather. The simple answer, however, is no. Bed bugs can survive in many different climates and will not die from the cold alone. Opening your windows and doors during the winter will only make your home cold. Your unwelcomed bugs will still be alive and thriving while you’re freezing cold.
Unfortunately, there are no easy fixes to getting rid of bed bugs. Professional extermination service providers need to be called in to fully rid your home of bed bugs. Bed bug extermination companies follow bed bug treatment protocols that can fully rid your home of your infestation.
There are a few steps you can take to prepare your home for successful bed bug extermination.
1. Wash and dry all bedding, curtains, blankets, the linens on high.T
2. Tightly tie up any items that can’t be washed in plastic bags and let them sit sealed up for up to 5 months to ensure all bugs die.
3. Clean all clutter from floors, especially around and under the bed. Throw out whatever you can as moving items from room to room can worsen the infestation
4. Vacuum any bugs you can find, but ensure the vacuum bag is sealed tight and thrown away.
5. Use a steamer around your bed mattress creases to instantly kill visible bugs.
Once the professionals arrive, they will take over your problem! Your exterminators will choose the best approach to rid your home completely of these pests. That may include utilizing chemicals or utilizing extreme temperature changes. Your team will work with you to choose the best approach for your home and case. Contact Preventive Pest Utah to get more information on getting rid of bed bugs once and for all!