New Haven residents know how busy life can get. There’s plenty to do around here, and we all work hard for what we’ve got. That’s why sleep can be so important. However, if you’re allowing bed bugs to gain a foothold in your home, your sleep is the first thing that will be threatened.
How Did They Get In?
Most people think that bed bugs only invade dirty houses, and that if you just wash your sheets regularly and pick your stuff up, then you won’t incur an infestation. However, this is a dangerous misconception and can quickly lead to a problem. Bed bugs don’t care about the cleanliness of the home; they’re just worried about their next meal.
With small bodies measuring five millimeters in length at the most, bed bugs cannot move very quickly. That’s why they wait until you’re asleep to come out from your mattress or furniture cushions to feed on your blood.
Now, they may not be able to move quickly, but they’ll actually travel all over the world by hitchhiking on luggage. When travelers pick up bed bugs at hotels, these bed bugs can easily migrate to your bag if given the opportunity on an airplane, in the terminal, or in a train/bus station. That’s why these travel hubs are such hotspots for picking up bed bugs, and why you’ll want to be careful where you set your bag down.
Another high-risk activity for incurring bed bugs is buying secondhand furniture. Keep in mind that bed bugs will infest any residence or business. They don’t only occupy mattresses. If you buy an office chair or even a refrigerator, bed bugs could still be clinging to these items, and you might be walking them right through your front door.
Prevention And Eradication
When you are purchasing secondhand furniture or trying to figure out if your own home has bed bugs, you’ll want to check for the signs of infestation that generally occur. On furniture items, you’ll be able to notice:
Rust-colored excrement from bed bug activity.
Small bloodstains left behind from feeding.
A musty odor in most cases.
Now, if you have bed bugs in your own home, you might notice bed bugs bites before anything else. These are red, itchy bumps that appear the morning after an attack. They look like any other insect bite, besides one small detail: they’re almost always in a straight line or zig-zagged pattern.
It’s very important to notice these signs early, as a prolonged bed bug infestation has many harmful health effects. They aren’t linked to disease transfer, but prolonged infestations have been known to cause skin irritations that lead to permanent damage, along with the long-term effects of insomnia and anemia.
If you do notice these signs on a piece of furniture, you shouldn’t bring it into your home. However, if the bed bugs are already in your house, there isn’t much you can do about it on your own. Most homeowners simply multiply the health risks by trying to treat bed bugs on their own. By using store-bought sprays or vacuuming the surface of the mattress, you’ll only be able to get rid of the bed bugs on the surface. There could be many other bed bugs (and their eggs) buried deep within the mattresses or any other furniture in your home. Fortunately, though, there is one solution that works the first time: calling the professionals. If you do notice signs of bed bugs in your home, don’t wait around. Call the professionals at Connecticut Pest Elimination right away.