Bedbugs do not transmit disease. They do smell bad and bite painfully, however, which can be a huge nuisance. Female bedbugs lay hundreds of eggs, which usually means that these bugs go through three or four generations in a couple of months. Once an infestation begins, bedbugs can soon overrun a home.
Oddly enough, it can be especially hard to even to know about such happenings in your own home for certain, simply because of how small these bugs — with their tiny, flattened bodies, they can usually fit into cracks no bigger than the thickness of a credit card. They tend to hide all day, and only make it out at night. Since they tend to be spread out with no nests to call home, they can be especially hard to notice.
The first thing you need to do is to learn about the signs
Getting bitten is the easiest way to tell that you have an infestation on your hands. Bedbugs bite any exposed area of the skin, and leave red welts that itch in a highly irritating fashion: these itchy welts do not feel any better when you scratch them.
The droppings are another way to know that you have the bugs. Bedbug droppings appear as tiny black spots that do not come off easily, but that smear when wiped with a wet rag. You may also spy spots of blood on your sheets, or discarded body shells — the exoskeletons that bedbugs must shed when they molt.
If you suspect bedbugs, first make sure
Look under the box springs, paying special attention to the wood framing. Bedbugs like to hide between seams, and under the fabric borders. Hold back the fabric where it is stapled to the wood frame to check. It can also help to look on the edges of your carpets, inside electrical outlets, and inside the spines of books.
Should you call an exterminator or do it yourself?
The DIY approach to cleaning homes of bedbugs is a popular choice. People attempt to use mattress sealers to seal bedbugs in (these bugs can stay alive without access to food for a full year, though), and use powerful pesticides. The hundreds of different chemicals sold for bedbug extermination, though, tend to be highly toxic, and can be hard to use effectively without considerable expertise. Bedbugs have the advantage of numbers, too. They tend to spread all over a home. If your methods leave even a couple of bugs behind, they will repopulate in weeks.
According to Tri-County PestCo, leaders in expert bed bug prevention in Ocean City, NJ, DIY methods can be extremely hard to get right, especially when one doesn’t have access to professional bedbug extermination equipment.
Do your research
Getting rid of bedbugs isn’t just hard for the untrained; it tends to challenge hardened professionals, as well. If you’re calling exterminator service in, you need to first do your research to make sure that the people you call truly do have expertise when you succeed in finding such professional, usually, you can count on being free of bed bugs in hours.
