One female bed bug can lay up to 200 eggs at a time, so if you have a bed bug infestation, it can be difficult to get rid of all of them.
The earlier you catch a bed bug infestation, the easier it will be to get rid of them.
Do you think your child might have bed bugs? Learn how to check for bed bugs on their person and in their room with these tips.
What are Bedbugs?
Before you can search for bed bugs, you have to know what you’re searching for.
These bugs are small, brown, and oval-shaped. They survive by feeding off the blood of humans and animals, and they feed at night. The adults are normally flat, and they are normally no bigger than the size of an apple seed.
Once they are done feeding, their brown body normally swells to a reddish color from the blood.
These bugs normally don’t fly, but they can move very fast. The eggs also aren’t that big; they are normally no bigger than a speck of dust.
Thankfully these bugs normally don’t pass along diseases.
How People Get Bedbugs
Sometimes people think that having a dirty bedroom attracts bedbugs, but that actually isn’t true.
Bedbugs will live even in the cleanest rooms as long as they have some food. However, if there is clutter in the room, this makes it easier for them to hide from you.
If you have a lot of guests at your house, you may have a lot of bedbugs. For this reason, they are common in nursing homes, hotels, apartments, and hospitals.
However, they can also be found in other places such as public transportation, furniture, luggage, and clothing.
Where to Check
If you think you have a bedbug infestation, you should also know where you should check for them.
They can come into your home by being attached to clothes, luggage, used beds and couches, and sheets. They are flat, so they can hide in small spaces and you may not even notice them.
They don’t have nests, but they will hide in small cracks and crevices.
Their common hiding spaces include in the beds, hence their name. You should check the box springs, bed frames, headboards, sheets, and mattresses. That way they have easy access to bite people as they sleep.
While they may hide out in the mattress at first, they may end up getting spread throughout the bedroom. If they know that there are other people sleeping in other bedrooms, they may start to take over other bedrooms as well.
Signs You Have an Infestation
If you find some bedbugs in your mattress or some other crevices, you should check for a full infestation in your home.
If you are waking up with itchy areas on your body but aren’t sure where they came from, you may have bedbugs. If you are sleeping on a used piece of furniture, your chances of having a bedbug infestation are higher.
You should also look for signs like bloodstains on your pillowcase and bloodstains. There may also be dar or rusty spots from the bedbugs excrements on the bed, sheets, and possibly even the walls.
You may even notice a musty, offensive odor coming from the bugs as well.
You should check other areas like your bed, telephones, radios, the carpet, electrical outlets, and inside books.
You should also check your closet to see if any of them are attached to clothing. If you normally go to thrift stores, you may have accidentally brought bed bugs back to your home with you.
You should look for all these signs because normally people don’t feel the bedbug when it bites them because it’s so small. However, they have an enzyme that helps stop the blood from clotting, and this can cause a small allergic reaction which can make you feel itchy.
The bites normally look like small red bites, which is similar to a mosquito bite.
How to Treat It
If you do find evidence of a bedbug infestation, you should treat it as soon as possible. The sooner you can catch it, the better.
If you find evidence of bedbug bites, you should wash them off with soap and water. You may even want to use a cool compress or ice pack to help reduce some of the swelling.
Try not to itch or pick at it, as this will make it worse. The bite should normally heal in about 1-2 weeks.
As for treating the actual infestation, you should hire a pest control company or an exterminator. If the bedbugs have successfully infiltrated your home, you will definitely need some professional help.
Check out CustomBedBug.com for some help.
Prevent it in the Future
Once you’ve gotten rid of the bedbugs, you should know how to prevent them so that they don’t end up coming back. They are actually really common, so you shouldn’t feel bad about having them.
To keep them from coming back, you should try and clean up some of the clutter to avoid giving them more hiding places.
You should also change your sheets and wash them on a regular basis. Also, try and vacuum and dust regularly too.
Get a mattress cover that is labeled as an anti-allergy or anti-dust mites. These covers can help them from getting into your bedding or your mattress which may make them easier to remove if you do end up getting them again.
Learn More About How to Check for Bed Bugs
Learning how to check for bed bugs can help you from getting an infestation in your home.
If you follow these tips, you could avoid having to deal with bedbugs.
If you enjoyed this post, you should check out our other blog posts for tips on how to have a healthy and clean lifestyle!
