It’s that time of year again. Vacation season is winding down, college students are gearing up to head back to school after a summer at home, and younger kids are heading back to school as well.
Whether you have one last summer trip planned, a child heading to school, or are staying home with no plans to go anywhere, you are still at risk for picking up some of the most frequent travelers of the season: bed bugs!
With so many people on the move, summer is the peak season for bed bugs to travel around as well. Bed bugs are amazing hitchhikers and commonly hitch rides on our clothing, shoes, luggage, backpacks, and more. This means that bed bugs can be found just about anywhere this time of year so it’s important for you to take precautions against bed bugs and be aware of the signs that bed bugs are present!
When you’re out in any public place, there is always a possibility that bed bugs are present. Though they don’t typically come out during the day, knowing where they tend to hide will put you a step ahead when looking for them.
Despite their name, bed bugs don’t just stick to beds. They can often be found in the crevices of furniture, behind picture frames, or in the cracks of walls or windows. If you find small bugs in these areas, you’ll want to be able to identify them to determine whether or not they are bed bugs.
Bed bugs can range from the size of a pencil point to the size of a pea, depending on what larval stage they are in. Their color also depends on their stage of development, though they are typically range in color from a light yellowish-brown to darker reddish-brown color. Their bodies are flat and oval-shaped.
When at home, look for bed bugs in the same places as you would in public, but also include mattresses, box springs, and both headboards and footboards.
It’s possible to see other signs of bed bugs before you see the bugs themselves. Bed bugs feed during the night, so if you wake up with a tight cluster or line of bug bites or see tiny drops of blood on your sheets, you may have bed bugs.
Finding small brown or black streaks of excrement on your bedding or your bed clothes could also indicate the presence of bed bugs. You may also find shed skins left behind as they go through their larval stages or notice a musty odor.
There are many reasons to avoid a bed bug infestation. Until recently, bed bugs were not known to spread disease. However, they have now been linked to the spread of Chagas disease, which is reason enough to avoid these parasitic pests! In addition, their bites can range from being a minor itchy annoyance to causing an allergic reaction. Considering that female bed bugs can lay five eggs a day, if left untreated, a small problem of just one or two bed bugs can quickly grow to the stuff that horror films are made of! Bed bugs have also been shown to leave histamines that can linger for months, even after the bugs are gone. Though these histamines have not yet been shown to cause any health problems, anyone with allergies knows that histamines are bad news.
Even if you’ve followed the advice above and been vigilant in watching for bed bugs, it’s still possible that they will end up invading your home. If they do, call Viking Pest Control as soon as possible! At Viking Pest, we offer the bed bug control services needed to completely eradicate your bed bug infestation. Don’t wait until your small bed bug problem gets out of control!
Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about our bed bug extermination treatments, or get a fast, free quote online today!