Once you’ve experienced Bed Bugs I can personally guarantee that you are never going to want to have an infestation of these nasty bugs again.
Just the thought of them crawling up and feeding on my body while I’m trying to sleep makes my skin crawl all over again.
And I don’t even want to think about the fact that they are sucking your blood while they’re there.
Getting an infestation of these bugs will make your life miserable and it can be really hard to get rid of them once you have one of these infestations in your home.
In this article I’m going to try to answer the most common questions about Bed Bugs so you can get right to getting rid of them.
My First Experience With Bed Bugs
My first experience with these nasty bugs was while I lived in an apartment that was located in a building in downtown Denver.
The building was clean and well kept but shortly after I moved in a problem arose that made living there a nightmare.
I started to get bitten every night when I was sleeping. I didn’t know what was doing it but it was making my nights miserable. These bites, even though they were small, were extremely itchy and swollen and that was enough to keep me awake at night.
Part of the problem was that Bed Bugs can be hard to find unless you know what you are looking for so for a time I wasn’t even sure what was happening.
But soon another thing came to light that seemed to indicate that my problem was happening to others that lived in the building.
The managers of the property were constantly having exterminators come through the apartments looking for bugs although they wouldn’t say what type of bug they were looking for when they came through my apartment.
When I learned from a neighbor that it was Bed Bugs that they were looking for I have to admit that I panicked. I’d heard how horrible Bed Bugs were and how hard it was to get rid of them.
So I read everything that I could find on the Internet and quickly became an expert in all things bed bug.
I wanted to get rid of the bugs and tried having the exterminators spray my apartment several times but it seemed that they didn’t know any more than I did about getting rid of Bed Bugs.
It turned out that the problem was that they were using the same methods that were commonly used to get rid of other bugs and that just won’t work with Bed Bugs.
And even though one of the things I read was that the bugs weren’t attracted to dirty conditions I still felt that admitting that we had these bugs in our apartment somehow meant that our apartment was somehow dirty and that was the reason that we had become infested.
But gradually over time I learned the best ways to increase your chances to get rid of the bugs whether you did the work yourself or had an exterminator. You can find more on what I did in other areas of this blog or check out my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pancreatitisfacts/
What Do Bed Bugs Look Like
As I surfed the web I learned that Bed Bugs are pretty small and this makes it difficult to see them unless you know where to look for them. How To Find Bed Bugs
A full grown adult can be less than 1/4″ in diameter, with a body that is nearly flat and oval-shaped which makes it easy for them to crawl through small cracks and openings to get into your home.
Adults are a normally a dark brown in color but their bodies will redden after feeding on your blood.
These bugs are also wingless but are very adept at crawling and will hitchhike in boxes or on furniture or clothes to travel great distances.
The bugs start out hatching from eggs and then grow through several stages, molting and discarding their shells as they grow into adults. The eggs and newly hatched bugs are very small and hard to see unless you know where and how to look for them.
Can Bed Bugs Fly
You might wonder how something so small gets into your home. Luckily, Bed Bugs can’t fly or they would be a worse pest than they are already when they infest your home.
Although adult Bed Bugs do have the vestiges of wings that are called wing pads, these do not fully develop into working wings so the bugs can’t fly but this doesn’t stop them from traveling great distances to get into your home.
How Do You Get Bed Bugs In Your Home
There are many ways that you can get a Bed Bug infestation in your home.
But one of the most common ways is if you live in an apartment or condo building with attached units.
Once there is an infestation in someone else’s unit and it becomes either too large or the unit is treated the bugs will seek out new sources for their blood meals by crawling to other units that are nearby(including yours) and that are in the area.
These bugs, because of their small size, can reach numerous other units just by crawling along carpet edges, along pipes and by following electrical wires. Their small, flat size allows them to fit through even very small holes and cracks.
You can also get the bugs in your home by bringing in a piece of furniture that has an infestation hiding in it so you have to carefully check any used furniture that you bring into your home.
There have also been cases where these bugs were delivered in boxes that came from an infested warehouse. Theaters, Hospitals, Restaurants and Libraries have all reported cases of infestations where you can pick up the bugs on your clothes and bring the bugs home.
Picking Up Bed Bugs When Traveling
Another common way the bugs get into your home is when you travel and pick them up in your luggage when you stay at an infested hotel or motel room.
This is why you need to carefully check motel and hotel rooms for bed bug signs when you travel. If you find the signs of an infestation you should ask to move to another room or go to a different hotel. The last thing that you want to do is bring them home with you!
It’s also a good idea to check the comments on the various hotel booking websites to see whether anyone has reported problems with Bed Bugs.
If you have sons or daughters that are in college and their dorm room is infested they can bring the bugs home with them during visits.
Are Bed Bugs Nocturnal
Bed bugs are usually considered a nocturnal bug. This means that typically they will feed in the early morning hours just before dawn when we are in our deepest sleep and they can feed undisturbed.
But the fact is that they are also an insect of opportunity and will feed anytime that their host is at rest. So if you nap on a bed or sofa that is infested you might get bitten no matter what time it is.
Many times people will try sleeping in another room when they have an infestation hoping that this will keep the bugs from getting to them but this simply won’t work.
These bugs will just follow you into the other room, spreading the infestation throughout your home.
Do Bed Bugs Jump
Bed Bugs get around by crawling or attaching themselves to other objects that are being moved. A typical bedbug can crawl up to 20′ to reach their host each night from the places that they hide during the day.
When you consider how many places there are to hide within 20′ of your bed you can see how hard it can be to find and get rid of these bugs.
Bed Bugs don’t jump but have been known to crawl up a wall and drop down on the bed below as a way of getting to their goal.
Do BedBugs Make You Itch
Bed Bug bites can be very itchy depending upon the reaction of the person that they bite.
While some people have no reaction to the bites others can get extremely itchy and swollen areas around the bites.
Even two people sleeping in the same bed can react differently to the bites. Part of this is because the bugs tend to return to the same person once they start feeding on them so one person can be getting bit more that the other.
Luckily there are ways that you can treat the itch and make it go away while you are working to kill Bed Bugs in your home.
Can Bed Bugs Live In Carpet
These bugs look for places to hide during the day and between feedings that are still close to the people that they feed on. Their hiding places include mattresses and box springs, bed frames, and along the edges of carpet.
They can find hiding places in furniture, behind picture frames and in books that are close to the victims that they are preying on.
Bed Bug Signs
It’s pretty easy to tell if you have a bed bug infestation. How To Look For Bed Bugs
One of the first signs could be the itchy bites that they can cause when they feed although the reaction to bites can differ from person to person.
Look for the signs of these bugs in and around the places that you sleep. If you look closely around the seams of your mattress you’ll find the actual bugs, discarded shells, blood smears and fecal droppings.
The more of these signs that you see the larger the infestation that you have and the harder it is going to be to get rid of them.
These bugs won’t go away as long as they have someone to feed on so the bottom line is that the sooner you start working to get rid of them the easier it will be to rid your home of this pest.
The Tools That You Need To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs
There are a number of different things that you are going to need to get rid of Bed Bugs.
Conclusion
It’s important that you know that there are numerous ways to get rid of bed bugs. The way that you get them in your home is actually less important than how you get rid of them once they are there.
You can choose to treat for them yourself or pay to have an exterminator come in to treat your home.
But the important thing that you need to know is that even if you have an exterminator come there are many things that you can do to improve the odds that you are going to kill bed bugs and get rid of them.
You’ll find that this blog is filled with all sorts of information on what to do once you get an infestation.
But the most important single tip that I can give you is to start as soon as possible. An infestation will continue growing till it becomes too large to be sustained by the available food sources – you and your family.
The sooner that you start the easier it is going to be to get rid of Bed Bugs.
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