Bedbugs
How to spot bedbugs
Bedbugs are small blood sucking insects that can live in dark cracks in and around your bed. Attracted by your body heat, they crawl out at night to bite your skin and feed on your blood, just as mosquitoes do.
Signs of bedbugs include:
itchy bites or bumps that appear after being in bed
black spots on your mattress, bed frame, skirting boards and other furniture – this could be their dried faeces
small blood spots on your sheets where you may have rolled over and squashed a bug
Treat bedbugs yourself
It can be very difficult to get rid of bedbugs yourself, so it’s wise to get professional help.
If you want to try treating the bedbugs you can:
wash bed sheets at 60 degrees or put them in a dryer on a hot setting for 30 minutes to kill the bugs
use a vacuum cleaner to suck up any bugs you can see
use an insecticide spray made for bedbugs – always read instructions on the label
Prevention tips
It can be difficult to prevent bedbugs as they can be brought into a property easily.
To try and prevent bedbugs you can:
inspect your mattress regularly for signs and take action if needed
avoid buying second-hand mattresses
replace old beds you might be using in rented accommodation
keep your bedroom tidy, especially under your bed, to reduce the amount of hiding places for bedbugs
Ultimate Bed Bugs Guide | Signs, Bites, Causes & Remedies To Kill
Before we get too far into this guide, please realize that we are not experts on bed bugs or insects. But we are experts on mattresses, so we know how personal they are to each individual and how expensive they are to replace. Sleeping is very important to every day function and your mattress is arguably the most important tool for sleep, so you want to protect it. Hopefully this guide will help you ditch those bed bugs, or maybe even prevent them in the first place.
What Causes Or Attracts Bed Bugs?
Bed beds are attracted to warmth, blood, and carbon dioxide. Basically, our living bodies. While many people think that a filthy or dirty environment attracts them, the truth is that bed bugs can live anywhere, as long as there are people around to provide food for them.
Where Do Bed Bugs Come From?
Bed bugs can be found in all 50 states in America, and all over the world. Bed bugs can come from transportation such as buses, trains, planes, cruise liners, and taxi cabs. They can also be found in nursing homes, daycares, schools, hospitals, hotels… I think you get the picture. Since bed bugs are “hitchhiking” insects, they can be found anywhere, at any time
How To Prevent Bed Bugs
1. Store clothing in airtight bags or containers. If it’s airtight, they can’t get in. This is very important when traveling, so that the bed bugs can’t come home with you.
2. Cover your power outlets. Bed bugs can hide in power outlets, and in really bad infestations, travel through your walls to travel to other areas of your home or office.
3. Always check used items. This obviously applies to clothes and furniture, but check your electronics, as well. Things like video game consoles, DVD players, laptops, etc. have vents in them that are perfect for bed bugs to hide in.
4. Vacuum often. Bed bugs can hide in your carpet, so make sure to vacuum your floor (especially where the floor meets the wall), your mattress, and even your box spring if you can. If you suspect you may have bed bugs, be sure to dispose of your vacuum bag properly.
5. Pets! Your pets are susceptible to bed bugs, too. Wash your pet’s bed in hot water every couple of months to help prevent bugs.
6. Cover your mattress. Mattress protectors are cheap and also keep your mattress clean. Note that a mattress protector will help prevent against an infestation, not help to get rid of a current one. You may also want to cover your box spring, as well, as bed bugs like to live in there, too.
Are There Bed Bug Mattress Protectors And Covers?
Yes there are, but be careful with which type of protector you use. Studies have shown that bed bugs can move through closed zippers if they’re not tight enough, and the material used for the cover must be strong enough, as well, or else you could possibly be protecting and fostering the bed bugs instead of starving them out. We recommend the Protect-A-Bed brand mattress protector
Bed Bug
Found throughout the world, bed bugs (cimex lectularius) are blood-sucking insects that feed mostly on people, but are also known to attack birds, bats and other animals. Bites occur mostly at night and are generally painless when inflicted. However, fluids that are injected during feeding often produce painful welts on the skin that itch and may become severely irritated. As pest numbers increase, more bites occur, and the problem can become progressively worse, often very quickly.
Identification
Adults (1/4 – 3/8 inch long) are oval-shaped, reddish brown insects that are wingless and flat. After a meal, they become swollen and elongated when engorged with blood. Eggs are white and are about 1/32 inch long. Newly hatched nymphs are the same shape as adults, but are yellowish-white in color.
Life Cycle
Active at night, female bed bugs lay white eggs in batches of 10 to 50 on bedding and in cracks and crevices. Under favorable conditions one adult female can lay as many as 200-250 eggs over her lifetime. Young nymphs hatch in about 10 days and use their beak-like mouthparts to feed on hosts. It takes 1-2 months for nymphs to become mature adults. Adult bugs can live a year or longer (most live about 10-11 months) and there may be three or more overlapping generations per year.
How to Control
Determine if bed bugs are present with the First Response Trap. This monitoring device uses heat, pheromones and carbon dioxide to work quickly. It is safe and effective!
If present, wash linens, vacuum cracks and crevices to provide long-lasting protection against many insect pests.
Apply temporary barriers to keep crawling insects from migrating into the bed at night. Often this can be achieved by placing bed legs in containers full of soapy water or by spreading a 2-3 inch layer of petroleum jelly around them.
Caulk cracks and other daytime hiding places found around frames, floors and moldings.
Remove or eliminate animal nests, such as bird nests or bat roosts, from your house. These animal habitats may be the source of the infestation.
Spray Orange Guard, made from citrus peel extract, to kill on contact. Approved for organic use, Orange Guard is a broad spectrum insect killer that’s safe to use indoors and out. Repeat applications may be necessary.
Diatomaceous earth contains no toxic poisons and works quickly on contact. Apply lightly around baseboards and in cracks and crevices where many pests are found.
Least-toxic botanical insecticides should be used as a last resort. Derived from plants which have insecticidal properties, these natural pesticides have fewer harmful side effects than synthetic chemicals and break down more quickly in the environment.
We caught bedbugs from traveling — and then the nightmare began
Before going to sleep at night, I would tear my bed apart — removing one layer of bedding at a time to examine every fold and indentation. I’d lift the mattress, rip off the pillowcases, inspect around the box springs and in the bug traps set around the house. I’d repeat the process again in the morning and expand my hunt to other locations around the house.
Disgusting, biting, bloodsucking bedbugs crawled into our luggage, came home with us and moved in without us noticing. And no, these evil creatures were not from a seedy motel or hostel.
Our battle against the bedbugs stretched for several months, and while I’d do my best to make light of the situation, it was truly awful. It was a mental, physical, emotional and financial drain to have an enemy in your home you rarely see, despite your best efforts. But, not seeing them didn’t stop them from easily finding and biting us (and our kids) while we slept.
How we caught bedbugs
I’ll cut to the chase: I’m not going to name the hotel where we got bedbugs, though I know with 100% confirmed certainty when and where it happened. I made the decision early on in this journey not to call out the location, as it largely defeats the purpose of the story since it can happen at any hotel. I don’t want you to feel false security by avoiding that one specific property, because the reality is that bedbugs are on the rise and it’s smart to take bedbug precautions no matter where you stay.
With that out of the way, our stay started like any other. After sleeping in the several-hundred-dollar-per-night hotel the first night, I woke up with a bite or two on my legs, but other than being mildly annoying and itchy, I didn’t think anything of it. The number of bites increased each morning over the course of our stay. For me, almost all of the bites were on the back of my thighs
Bed Bugs
What is a bed bug?
Bed bugs likely get their name from their habit of taking refuge in beds and feeding on humans while they sleep. Bed bugs feed only on blood and must have regular blood meals to survive and develop. Humans are not bed bugs’ only targets, they also will attack many warm-blooded animals, including poultry and other birds. Bed bugs have been associated with humans for more than 3,300 years and are found in virtually every place people tend to gather, including residences, hotels, schools, offices, retail stores and even public transportation.
Bed bugs are great “hitch hikers,” allowing them to travel long distances. They latch onto suitcases, clothes, and linens and can end up wherever these items are taken. This is why the spread of bed bugs occurs so easily. Furthermore, it’s often hard to identify bed bug bites, and they can easily be confused with bites from a different pest, making infestations difficult to detect and allowing populations to grow unnoticed.
How to Identify Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are an oval shape and only grow to about 3/16th of an inch in length. Prior to feeding, they are brown and flat. After feeding, bed bugs become more red in color, swollen, and elongated. Bed bugs have 6 legs and 2 antennae. Despite having reduced “wing pads,” bed bugs do not have wings and cannot fly.
Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation
Bed bugs are most easily identified by small reddish-brown fecal spots on mattresses, upholstery or walls. If these spots are found, it can indicate an infestation. Bites on the arms and legs are also a tell-tale sign of bed bugs. While these bites can be small, if they swell and become itchy, they are noticeable. It can take two to three days for these bites to appear, allowing the infestation to grow. However, bites alone do not indicate an infestation without other bed bug evidence.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are extremely elusive creatures so professional help should be sought out when dealing with an infestation. Bed bugs are a very difficult pest to treat. In fact, 76 percent of pest professionals say they are the hardest bug to eradicate according to a recent NPMA survey. If you suspect or discover an infestation, contact a licensed professional to address the issue.