Bed bugs are small, oval, and flat. They are brown and can hide in seams the width of a credit card. They live on blood and after a meal, they are swollen and red. Bed bugs are equal-opportunity parasites and are found in spotless homes as well as dirty ones. Bed bugs can hitchhike into homes on clothes, luggage, backpacks, used furniture, and used mattresses. It is easy for them to climb onto such items when they are in places where lots of people stay, such as Aiken apartments, hotels, and homeless shelters.
Preventing Bed Bugs
There are things you can do that make bed bugs much less likely to infest your house. Picking bedbugs up while traveling is a frequent problem. When you enter a hotel room, follow these hints:
- Put luggage in the bathtub.
- Do not sit on anything, especially the bed until you have checked the room.
- Check the seams of the mattress and bedsprings for spots of feces and blood and small, apple seed-sized bed bugs.
- Check the webbing of the luggage rack.
- Check the linens on your bed for spots of feces or blood.
- If you don’t find these things, it is safe to put your luggage on the luggage rack and relax.
- If you find signs of bed bugs, grab your luggage and leave the room immediately.
- Ask for another room and repeat the cycle.
Bed bugs can be carried in on backpacks even if you are over at a friend’s when you set the backpack down. Check your backpack along the seams to see if you see bed bugs before entering the house. Wash your clothes in hot water, then dry at high heat. Put stuffed toys and other fabric-covered items that can’t be washed in a hot dryer for at least 30 minutes.
Be Careful When Bring Used Furniture Or Bedding In The House
Buying used clothes, furniture, appliances, mattresses, and box springs is economical, but if you do not inspect items before bringing them into your house, you may get more than you bargained for. For furniture and bedding, check along each seam for bed bug feces, blood spots, and actual bed bugs. Check tufts and under cushions. Even if you do not see anything, it is a good idea to vacuum every inch of the furniture, especially the seams and bottom. This can help to remove eggs, shed skins, and bed bugs. Make sure you empty the vacuum into the outside trash, not indoors.
Used clothes should be immediately washed in the hottest water they can stand and then dried for at least 30 minutes on high heat. For appliances, think of electronics in someone’s bedroom. Anything close to the bed can get infested. Take the cover off the item and look for bed bugs, their feces, blood spots, shed skins, and eggs. If you find signs of bed bugs there, the electronics can be treated by a professional before they come into your house.
Get Professional Help For Bed Bugs
Bed bugs have become so common that it is more of a matter of when you get bed bugs rather than if you will get them. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to get rid of bed bugs on your own. They do not respond well to DIY pest control.
When you get bed bugs, call Aiken Pest Control for help. We will give you a free quote when you call. We use heat treatment, which is 99.99% effective. The heaters we use are environmentally safe when used by professionals. The heated air slips into the small cracks and crevasses that bed bugs hide in and kill them. Give Aiken Pest Control a call at (803) 889-0952 today to get rid of your bed bugs.