BACK TO SCHOOL PEST THREATS

Bed bugs are common parasitic pests that can be anywhere there are large groups of people spending time together. Unfortunately, this means that your child’s school is an easy place for bed bugs to be picked up and introduced into your home. Bed bugs cannot fly or jump so in order to have access to new hosts they need to hitchhike. If your child is not careful, bed bugs could easily crawl into their backpack or clothing and then into your New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or Eastern Shore of Maryland home.

How Can I Prevent My Child Bringing Home Bed Bugs From School?

In order to make sure your child does not bring bed bugs along with their homework home from school this year, you should regularly empty and inspect their backpacks. Their backpack and outerwear should be washed in hot water on a routine basis. You may also want to have them change their clothes when they get home and then put the clothing right into the washer; this will hopefully eliminate any bed bugs along with the stains from lunch and the playground!

Along with bed bugs there are other pests that you will want to try to protect yourself and child from this school year, including the dreaded head lice. Lice do not fly or jump but they do crawl very efficiently, children often spend a lot of time very close to each other in school giving the lice ample opportunity to crawl onto a new host. Inspecting your child’s head for signs of lice regularly can help to protect your home and family from a lice infestation. If you see signs of lice you should immediately contact your child’s physician for treatment options.

In order to protect your child, family and home from a bed bug or other pest infestation this school year, the professionals at Viking Pest Control have a few pest prevention tips to share:

• Teach your child to never share clothing, hats, scarves, or brushes with their friends at school.
• Make sure that your child knows to always hangs their coats, hats, and scarves up and doesn’t leave them lying around the classroom floor.
• If possible, keep backpacks up off of the classroom floor.
• Outerwear should also be inspected and washed in hot water on a regular basis.
• If you do see signs of bed bugs or other pests in your home this school season immediately contact at professional pest control expert.

At Viking Pest control we can provide you with fast, effective bed bug treatment services along with year round residential pest control services for all your other pest control needs! With a few simple steps you can make sure that this school year is bug free and that the only thing you need to worry about is making sure homework is done and lunches are packed!