Do you think you may see signs of bed bugs? It is best to intervene fast and quell the infestation. Let us guide you on making sure you get rid of bed bugs for good.
If you’re like most of us, you’re worried about bed bugs infesting the areas around your room. It’s a scary situation, especially if you have an allergy to bed bugs or you just don’t want little creatures biting you and sucking your blood as you sleep. It’s understandable. We’re here to explore the ins and outs of bed bugs, giving you a little insight into how they work and what you can do to rid yourself of them. Most importantly, though, we’ll discuss the signs of bed bugs and what they mean for you. Hopefully, the information below can prepare you for a time when you might have a bed bug infestation on your hands. Let’s begin!The Signs of Bed Bugs: What to Look For
One of the only great parts about bed bugs is that they’re pretty easy to identify when you’ve got them in your life. Bed bugs require people in order to stay alive. Unfortunately, they require us as their food source. So, when there are bed bugs in your home, you can be sure that they’re around you. That is unless you have a number of other people living in your home. If there are numerous people in your home, the bed bugs will make their home near one of their beds. Because they tend to hang out in linens and other bedside objects, though, they’re likely to travel through your house and take up shop in other rooms as well. Because bed bugs live off of humans, it isn’t as if they can live in your house without having any impact on you or showing any signs. When they’re around, bites are going to appear sooner or later. This brings us to our first and most important sign of bed bugs.Bed Bug Bites Are a Clear Sign
The most obvious indication that there are bed bugs in your home is the presence of bed bug bites on someone in your household. Again, bed bugs will bite you if they are around. They transfer into your belongings from other infested areas where people sleep. Staying the night at a friend’s house or staying in hotels will do the trick. In order for them to survive, they have to bite you. So, check your body for bug bites if you have any suspicion that you have an infestation. Odds are, though, that the bites will be the first thing that makes you wonder what is going on.What Do Bed Bug Bites Look Like?
Bed bug bites look just like a number of other bug bites that you might experience. For example, a mosquito bite that you unknowingly scratched will look pretty similar to a bed bug bite. It’s a few millimeters around, red, and raised slightly off of your skin. The key thing to keep in mind about bed bugs is that they bite in small clusters of about three or four bites. Bed bugs will attach you in small areas of your body, typically your back. The bites will be in a row and won’t stray too far from each other. You might experience a few clusters of bites, but they’ll be distinct from each other. If the bites are spread evenly throughout your body or there is only one in a random area, it’s probably not a bed bug bite. It’s more effective for bed bugs to get blood from you a few times in a small area because there’s only so much time before the anesthetic they give you wears off. They get in and get out three or four times before moving along. So, look for small clusters of three or four bites that look like mosquito bites but are really bed bug bites.Small Spots of Blood on Your Sheets or Blanket
In some cases, a bug bite will draw a little bit of blood. You might notice that your sheets or blankets have little spots of blood from the initial bite. This won’t always happen, but some individuals might be able to use this as a tool to see whether the issue is bed bugs.Other Ways to Check for Bedbugs
The unfortunate thing is that it’s tough to snoop out bed bugs if they haven’t left a trail in the form of bites. They’re very good at creating hiding spots for themselves and they tend only to come out at night. They live in wall crevices, dressers, bed frames, mattresses, and other dark areas that could be around where you sleep. You might be able to explore areas around your bed to see if there are any bed bugs out in plain sight. In those cases, they might be dead or simply sleeping near where the colony is. It’s unlikely that you’ll find bed bugs in these instances, though, because they do tend to stay out of sight during the daytime. If you’re not ready to call a professional and you aren’t sure if you have bed bugs, you can always call around to different places where you’ve slept in recent months. Hotels, friends’ houses, or places where you’ve picked up clothes or blankets might be good options. Call around and see if any of those areas have had issues with bed bugs since you’ve been there. You can only get bed bugs if they’re transferred into your home through personal belongings, so there has to be a source. You can also talk to anyone who has stayed in your house recently to see if the bed bugs might have come from their luggage.What to Do If You Have an Infestation
Hopefully, your issue isn’t bed bugs. It’s always possible that your bites came from a different insect that hasn’t made a home in your bedroom. If you do have bedbugs, though, don’t worry too much. Taking care of the situation early is the most effective way to keep things in line without putting yourself through too much turmoil. Let’s explore some things you can do on your own to limit the problem.Clear Out All of the Clutter in Affected Areas
Once you know there’s a bed bug problem, it’s time to start making it as hard as possible for the bugs to get food and hide. Clutter is a huge help to bed bugs as they scurry around and avoid the site. Do your best to reduce the number of small, dark places that they have to call home around your bed. This means moving piles of laundry, old boxes, and other things that might be laying around your bed for long periods of time. You should also move your bed out from the wall, and even consider putting it in a different part of the room. Bed bugs’ homes are near your bed, so moving your bed shifts their food source away from their dwelling. The best thing would be to move your bed to an entirely different room for a time while the infestation is still in full swing. Only do that if you know that the bugs haven’t made a colony in your mattress, though. If you’re not sure, then it might be smart to just sleep on the couch or in another bedroom.Wash Everything, Do Your Best to Quarantine Room Items
The blankets, pillows, linens, and other fabrics that are in your room could be hosts to a group of bed bugs. Do your best not to let those items get out and rest in other rooms around the house. Most importantly, try not to bring those items close to the places where anyone else in your house sleeps. This practice will keep the bugs close to their existing home and prevent them from spreading around the house and causing more problems. It’s smart to wash everything that you can to really make sure that you’re safe. In some sad instances, you will have to get rid of those items if you don’t have professional help to come to ensure that the bed bugs are gone.Call Pest Control and Have the Situation Taken Care of
At the end of the day, the only way to get peace of mind might be to call pest control. The DIY methods of handling the infestation will certainly help, but there aren’t a lot of good ways to be sure that the infestation is under control. Bed bugs can go a month or two without food and still survive. That means that just because the problem is gone for a few weeks doesn’t mean there aren’t still bed bugs roaming around your house in search of food. Getting in touch with the bed bug experts at Synergy² Jackson Pest Control will allow you to know for sure that there aren’t any more issues and you won’t be bitten in your sleep.Get in Touch with The Professionals
If you’re experiencing signs of bed bugs, it’s time to start taking action. The sooner you get things under control, the easier it will be to get back to your normal life in your bug-free house. If you want to know more about bed bug extermination, or need pest control services in your Jackson, MS home or business please visit our site at https://synergy2ms.com. Feel free to read more about us and decide if Synergy² is the right company for you. We have over 270 Five-Star Google reviews for pest control service in the Jackson metro area (Jackson/Madison/Brandon/Ridgeland). Check out our newest location reviews for pest control service in Jackson, MS here!
Barry Pitts, Synergy² Owner
Pharmacist and Synergy² Pest owner, Barry Pitts, is a long-time Madison, MS resident with a passion for applying advanced scientific pest principles to pest control services in the Jackson metro area. Combining exceptional customer service with cutting-edge pest control technology allows Synergy² to provide residents of the Jackson metro area with the highest levels of pest control available today.