You wake up with itchy welts with tiny red spots on your bedsheets. No one wants to believe it, but it’s a possibility that you have bed bugs on your property. It’s a horrible thought of an infestation of bed bugs hiding in your box spring, mattress, or the crevasses of your upholstery furniture.
Identifying Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are tiny, distinct-looking bugs that hitch a ride into your home or business through clothes worn by a human carrier, inside a suitcase of clothes from a trip, or within used furniture.
At its nymph stage, bed bugs range from 1.3 to 4-5 millimeters in size. Adult bed bugs have six legs, two antennae, wing pads but are wingless and cannot fly. Once they become fully mature, they appear oval-shaped and grow to about 3/16th of an inch in length. Before feeding, they are brown and flat, and after feeding, their color reddens, bodies swell, and elongate.
If you think you have bed bugs look for the following clues:
- Discarded bed bug shells
- Empty insect eggshells
- Stained mattress, bedding, and upholstery with insect fecal matter
- Bloodstained bedsheets and sleepwear
- Welts, rashes, or a pattern of insect bites
Strategy for Preventing Further Infestation
Once you discover a clue that you may have bud bugs, you don’t have another moment to waste.
Do not try to resolve the issue yourself, as improper treatment could spread the problem throughout your home and make it more challenging for bed bug professionals to get the issue under control.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) suggests you suspect that you have bed bugs that you do the following:
- Collect a sample or take a picture of the pest to show to your pest control expert like Seitz Bros.
- If you are renting, notify your landlord or property owner that you may have a bed bug problem.
- Work with your pest control technician to inspect your entire property.
- If you don’t want to throw any valuable or sentimental items, bag up infested items and place them in a sealed plastic bag for treatment. Your pest control technician will discuss your options.
Discard items responsibly if you can’t safely eliminate the bed bugs. Write “bed bugs” on furniture, for example, to prevent others from taking the pests to their home and infesting any additional property.
Advice like washing your linens and clothes with hot water, treatments found online, or pesticides purchased at the store won’t resolve the problem.
Once you have scheduled a consultation with a pest control expert, prepare your property for inspection by reducing clutter and vacuuming the room. Then after cleaning, tightly bag and dispose of the contents away from your property.
Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution to eliminating bed bugs. Seitz Bros. offers you years of experience helping residential and commercial properties of all types eliminate bed bugs.
Fight the Fear of Bed Bugs
The spread of bed bugs happens effortlessly because these pests travel on clothes, in suitcases, and within the seams of the cushions within airplanes, cars, and trains.
There’s no reason to stay home in fear of bed bugs. When the opportunity to travel arises, be vigilant in the possibility that bed bugs are around. Check to make sure the location is free from the signs of bed bugs by using a strong light, like from your phone, to check seams and bedding. Peer at the seams between your mattress, box spring, and cushioned furniture in your room. Check the sheets as well.
After returning home, take the extra step to vacuum your suitcase and check carefully for any signs.
There’s a Solution
Unlike other insects, bed bugs can adapt and thrive in every season, temperature, and climate. No matter where you are, there’s a chance that bed bugs are already thriving in your location. Prevent a significant problem with a thorough check of the area. If you believe that there’s a bed bug problem, Seitz Bros. is here to help with a free consultation.
Seitz Bros. has decades of bed bug elimination and removal experience. We provide heat and conventional treatments for bed bug elimination that can be selected based on your needs.
Reach out to schedule a consultation and learn more about our bed bug treatment programs.
