Rafiki Pest Control LTD
Imagine enjoying a party at your home with your best friends. You decide to spend the night catching a movie on your big screen. So, you bring your clean bedding along to keep the cold away. When the film gets very interesting, your friends start scratching and getting uncomfortable. It soon gets to you, too, and you switch the lights to inspect. You can't believe the horror you see: small, flat, reddish-brown insects everywhere. Great, just great!
That would be uncomfortable.
This article will discuss everything you ought to know about bed bugs. We will tell you what brings these annoying insects into your clean home in the first place, simple methods to detect an early bug infestation, and why you must get professional help to exterminate them.
Five Bed Bug Facts You Ought to Know
- They Neither Jump nor Fly- Bed bugs lack wings and do not fly or jump. Instead, they have narrow bodies and a flat body shape that allows them to fit in tiny cracks and small crevices, seams, and folds of luggage and bags, so you will never spot them.
- Bugs live for many months without feeding- These pesky pests can survive for a very long time without sucking a victim's blood. During this period, they digest the meals they have already taken, mate, and lay thousands of eggs.
- They Live On Human Blood- Bed bugs can survive solely on a host's blood. They may not pose serious health risks when they bite, but bed bug bites can be very itchy and irritating, leaving ugly marks on your arms, legs, and chest.
- They are Stowaways- Bed bugs are elusive squatters with tiny bodies, and a victim will hardly notice them once they lurk in your travel bag seams or when you are folding your mattress. They are skilled at the game of hiding and will hide during the day only to come out in the night to suck on your blood once you are fast asleep.
- They are lured by carbon dioxide- Bugs are strongly tempted to leave their spots by the carbon dioxide exhaled and the heat emitted by the body at night.
How Can Bed Bugs Get into Your Premises?
Unfortunately, keeping your house sparkling clean and maintaining good hygiene does not help keep Bed Bugs away. They can quickly get into your home in various ways that are unbeknownst to most people.
- Traveling- A simple visit to your friend or a vacation in an infested place is a common cause of bug infestation. They lurk on your clothes, briefcases, bags, purses, and luggage, and you can accidentally transport them a long distance back into your house.
- Second-Hand Furniture- Buying used furniture can lead to bug infestation. Bugs will easily hide in the seams, tufts, and under the cushion and get into your house unnoticed.
- Crawling- Bugs crawl around an infested area. They can quickly spread between rooms in multi-unit buildings like business premises, hotels, and homes.
- These hitchhiking pests are found almost everywhere. Be careful around the following places:
- Public transport
- Office places
- Schools, universities, and colleges
- Hospitals
- Libraries
- A friend's house
- Children's' daycare
Most Common Bed Bug Hiding Spots?
Bed Bugs are small-sized, flat, and easily fit in tiny places like cracks and crevices. They prefer to hide during daytime and only appear at night to suck on a victim's blood:
- Small cracks and tiny crevices in walls and wood
- Folding of bedding, corners of the beds, and mattress seams
- Furniture crevices and cracks
- Behind baseboards and wall hangings
- Bags, purses, and luggage
- Under the seats in the house
DIY Bed Bug Inspection and Bed Bug Signs
The fastest way to be truly sure that you are having a bed bug problem is to have a licensed pest control expert perform a keen inspection of your premises to ascertain the infestation level and how widespread it is. To perform this inspection, wear protective gloves and use a flashlight and a magnifying glass to keenly inspect the most typical bed bug hiding spots for the following signs:
- Unexplained stains of blood on your pillow and bedding
- Tiny, flat, reddish-brown insects (bed bugs)
- Bug dropping/ fecal spots
- Bed bug shells/shed-off exoskeleton
- Bed bug eggs/empty eggshells
- The house may have a musty and coriander-like odour released from the Bed Bug Scent Gland.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs
While getting professional bed bug control is the only effective method to treat bed bugs and ensure they never come back, we have provided you with the following simple DIY bug control measures that you can employ.
- Inspect all the infested areas and take note of the type of bugs.
- Contain/seal the infested area to efficiently exterminate them.
- Wash all clothing in a treated washer with the highest temperature and dispose of anything that cannot be treated.
- Seal out all open areas in different rooms and ensure your bed is away from the wall.
- Maintain high temperatures in the rooms or use chemical pesticides or bed bug sprays to treat the whole house.
- Give keen concentration to the areas around your bed, folding, and seams.
Note that using DIY to exterminate bed bugs demands a lot of patience as it is a challenging process that consumes much of your effort and time. Exterminating a significant infestation requires applying different chemical and non-chemical treatments.
Professional Bed Bug Control
Professional bed bug control is the most efficient method to control a bug infestation in your premises. Bed bug infestations are unlike any other pest you can effectively treat with DIY methods. They can survive most DIY treatments and continue to thrive while causing damage.
Our licensed pest control experts have been trained in all bed bugs' minor and significant habits and behaviors. Upon your request, they will visit your premises and conduct a fanatic inspection to identify all bug-hiding spots. Upon this inspection, they shall recommend the most effective course of treatment to exterminate the bed bugs and ensure there is no chance of future re-infestation.
