Bedbugs

Remember when your parents used to tell you, “night, night, don’t let the bedbugs bite,” before you went to sleep? After a while, you realized they were just saying that to make you smile before bedtime. But when bedbugs invade your room for real, you’ll be gritting your teeth rather than grinning. These small, brown-coloured insects are quick movers who like to perch on luggage, clothes, mattresses, and couches. If they do bite, they choose to do so when you’re sleeping, making them tough to deal with because of their sneaky nature.

They Are Tricky Critters

You’d think bedbugs are more prompted to invade your home if it’s dirty. That’s not entirely true. Such insects feed on blood alone and will appear in the cleanest spaces just so they can access it.

Bedbugs are flat-shaped creatures who like to hide in mattresses, box springs and other parts of the bed. They stay patient and wait until you sleep to pounce. They can spread throughout your bedroom and move into any crevice, such as behind a picture frame or your drawer. However, they like to stay concentrated in areas in or around the bed.

While you sleep, they start their feeding frenzy. They pierce your skin and withdraw blood, feeding for a short time before crawling away. Bedbugs won’t cause you pain while doing all this. However, you may notice some itchy welts that appear on any exposed part of the body that they fed on.

Signs of a Bedbug Infestation

If you notice red welts or itchy areas on your skin that you didn’t have previously, you may have a bedbug problem.

You may also notice shedding skin, which bedbugs produce before each new life stage, lying around various crevices of your mattress. They leave fecal deposits, which look like black dots on your mattress. There may also be tiny egg shells and nymphs, or bedbugs that have yet to reach adulthood, laying around other creases in your bed or bedroom.

Furthermore, if there are blood stains on your bed sheet or pillow, it’s a sign you are prone to bedbug bites. This is because you will bleed a bit while they feed on you. There’s also a nasty odour they will leave behind, which becomes more pungent if the infestation worsens.

Should you suspect that an infestation is taking place, remove your bedding as soon as possible and check for any of these signs. Also, check your closet, the edge of your carpet and even electrical outlets. Because of their flat shape, literally anywhere is a hiding spot for bedbugs.

Solutions

If your mattress is infested, get rid of it right away. You can try cleaning your bedding, linen, and curtains in hot water, using a stiff brush to scrub mattress seams, as well as vacuuming your bed and surrounding areas. You can use a tightly woven, zippered cover on your mattress and box springs. You can do this for up to a year given that bedbugs may live that long without feeding.

However, you will need chemical treatments to deal with these insects in the most effective manner. It is important to ensure your bedroom and bedding are suitable for chemical use as some insecticides can be very harmful to both.

Harlow Pest Control will ensure bedbugs won’t bite you at night. Call now to get a K-9 bed bug inspection and quality treatments to help evaluate and terminate these pesky critters.