How did I get bedbugs in my home? We hear that cry of panic when we inspect a home, and the homeowner is stunned to learn they have bedbugs. If you think that bedbugs could never find their way into your home, you are sadly mistaken.
Here are some facts and tips about bedbugs
- It is common to get bedbugs while traveling on planes, even trains, and buses.
- We recommend that you leave luggage off the floor and either on tables or in bathrooms.
- You really should always search the mattress and furniture throughout your hotel room. Look for signs of bedbugs such as skins, fecal stains, clusters of bedbugs on the linens or in the bed. We advocate for mattress and box spring covers that are bedbug-proof, especially if you travel a lot.
- After traveling, leave your luggage in the garage or on a porch and bring in one load of laundry at a time and wash everything immediately. You can also wipe down your luggage before bringing it indoors.
- Did you know? Bedbugs do not like the smell of mint, garlic, lavender, or Cayenne!
One caveat, these tips are not meant to insinuate that all hotels or forms of travel are unclean or infested with bedbugs. Either is your home!
How did the bedbugs appear out of nowhere?
Bedbugs do not appear out of nowhere. Bedbugs are often called hitchhikers because they can travel unseen. Here are some examples of how bedbugs can “appear out of nowhere”:
- Bedbugs can travel within storage facilities and enter your possessions. You then bring both your furniture and boxes home with bedbugs.
- Buying used furniture and items from flea markets and garage sales can likely bring home bedbugs.
- We talked about travel and luggage above. Please do heed that advice.
- Public transportation- bedbugs do not jump or fly, but they can crawl quickly from one briefcase on the floor to another.
- Gyms- bags left on a bench or touching each other on the workout floor can pass bedbugs from one item to another.
- If not thoroughly treated, apartment complexes can be a spreader for bedbugs if an infested apartment has bedbugs travel to other units.
What attracts bedbugs to your home?
It isn’t what you’d think. Pests such as cockroaches, mice, and ants look for unkept or unsanitary homes searching for food. Bedbugs look for a warm environment where they have access to feed on blood- your blood. Be vigilant. Signs that you may have bedbugs are bites on your body, blood spots on sheets and pillows, and markings of large infestations on flows and up the walls.
How do I get rid of bedbugs?
Close-up of a woman with magnifying glass detecting bed bug in bedroom.
At Accurate Pest Control, we begin with a full inspection confirming the infestation of bedbugs and their activity scope. We do this to rule out a misreported flea or tick infestation (we can take care of that, too!). We provide prep sheets that must be followed before the arrival of our technicians. While time-consuming on both our end and the customer, it ensures success in removing and treating the bedbugs. As the population grows, the bedbugs will spread throughout the home, and if it is in an apartment, it could spread to other units.
We will remove the bedbugs, offer suggestions, aid in cleaning the space and deliver follow-up services as required. We want you to be safe and healthy and return you and your family to a peaceful and restful sleep.
Contact a pest management professional
Homeowners often hesitate to call a pest control company for bedbugs. They are embarrassed, and they feel a stigma associated with bedbugs. You cannot treat and eradicate bedbugs from your home with an over-the-counter product. You may be able to kill the bedbugs you can see. To indeed remove them, you need to hire a pest control professional with specialized products and training to access the entire situation and return your home to a healthy and clean environment.
If you think you may have bedbugs, contact us for a free inspection. Don’t worry. We have the experience to treat this, and we can help.
