Bed Bugs
Traveling and Bed Bugs
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is common for families to travel over the river, through the woods to grandmothers house you go and often times this requires stays in and out of hotels. You may have had houseguests for the holidays who themselves had a stop over in a hotel on their way. This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a special time of family visiting, travel and winter vacations.
Holidays are already a stressful enough time of the year, and what often happens is that bed bugs are inadvertently brought home from travel. It is more common than you would think and can escalate to a severe infestation immediately.
If you think you have cleared up a bedbug infestation, think again. A big mistake in solving a bed bug infestation is believing you can eliminate the infestation simply by washing bedding in hot water and unfortunately eliminating a bed bug infestation is not that easy.
Identification and Habits
Bed Bugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of humans. Bed Bugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, however, their blood-filled bodies swell and are a reddish color.
They do not fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Over a lifetime, female bed bugs may lay hundreds of eggs, each of which is about the size of a speck of dust. Immature bed bugs, called nymphs, shed their skins five times before reaching maturity and require a meal of blood before each shedding. Under favorable conditions the bugs can develop fully in as little as a month and produce three or more generations per year. Although they are an extreme nuisance, they are not thought to transmit diseases.
Where Do They Come From?
Bed bugs may enter your home undetected through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, less than the width of a credit card. Bed bugs do not have nests like ants or bees, but tend to live in groups in hiding places. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy night time access to their human and animal food source.
It is very difficult to get rid of bedbugs and as their population begins to grow, they spread from hiding places in and around the bed to other places in the home or business, like couches and recliners. Some studies show bedbugs can go several months to a year without a blood meal so closing off an infested room for a few weeks hoping the problem will go away is not an effective method for solving a bedbug problem.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs
Thorough elimination can be accomplished through a combination of treatment protocols but it must start with a detailed inspection and professional oversight using the latest products and industry methods.
Our Angel Pest Control Team has been in business over 30 years since 1987 and has always been family owned. Our expertise ensures that all of our methods are completely safe and will not harm you, your family, or your pets. When we recommend a treatment plan that is appropriate for your infestation, you can be assured of it’s success and can be confident that our treatment plans are effective.
The pests need to be eradicated and your family needs to be safe.
Solutions to pest and bug problems are just around the corner so contact our experienced Angel Pest Experts for an evaluation of your home. Learn more about our convenient and effective seasonal and specialized treatments. We use the latest techniques and the most effective professional products on the market.
Our trained technicians are extremely knowledgeable about residential properties and the ordinances and building codes for commercial properties in order to know what pest control treatments are allowed.
