If you suspect bed bugs in your home, you may have an uphill battle ahead of you. Bed bugs breed fast and hide well. This guide will tell you how to discover whether you have a bed bug infestation, some prevention tips so you can avoid an infestation, why you shouldn't try to DIY a solution, and why it's best to call in a professional Aiken pest control company to deal with bed bugs.
How Do I Know If I Have A Bed Bug Infestation?
To know whether you have a bed bug infestation, you need to know how to find bed bugs. Unfortunately, they're masters at hide and seek. And since they're small – only ¼ inch long as adults – and very flat, they can hide just about anywhere
The first place you need to look is your mattress. Inspect the seams and buttons carefully. You're looking for:
- Red, brown, or black stains that are bed bug fecal matter
- Eggs the size of a pinhead
- Yellow or tan exoskeletons from when bed bugs shed their skin as they grow
- Actual bed bugs that resemble apple seeds
You may also notice a sweet, musty smell. Another sign of bed bugs is unexplained bites on your arms or legs. Bed bugs feed on blood and will bite you three to four times to get enough to tide them over until they need to eat again, so bites often appear in lines or tight clusters.
After you inspect your mattress, you should take a look at your box spring, headboard, other furniture, behind wall hangings, and around electronics like your TV, stereo, or computer. Bed bugs can also harbor behind light switch plates and inside electrical outlets.
Since there's no way you can get to all of them, eliminating bed bugs in your Aiken home requires help from bed bug experts.
Everyday Bed Bug Prevention Tips
Bed bugs in Aiken don't run very fast. They don't jump or fly. They have to hitchhike to get into your home. Unfortunately, they can be found anywhere people congregate, including:
- Schools
- Daycare centers
- Libraries
- Airports
- Theaters
- Churches
- Public transportation
When you get home, carefully check your clothes and bags for any bed bugs that may have crawled on your belongings in a public area. For that matter, check yourself when you get home from a friend's house – up to 33% of people with bed bugs won't say anything to guests in their home, even if the guests come in and sit down.
It's a good idea to keep your belongings off the floor and away from other people's bags in public locations, vacuum luggage when returning from a trip, and wash clothes and dry clothes in the highest setting when unpacking from vacation.
Because bed bugs are everywhere and hide so well on your person and belongings, you need the best bed bug control in Aiken to help you get rid of them.
Why DIY Bed Bug Control Usually Fails
Bed bugs are immune to most commercially available products designed to get rid of them. Even if a product is effective against adult bed bugs, it may not take care of bed bug eggs, which leads to an inevitable reinfestation. They're also so good at hide-and-seek that there's virtually no way for you to find them all to treat for them in the first place. If your efforts leave just one or two-bed bugs behind, they will quickly repopulate your home.
At Aiken Pest Control, we know how to get rid of bed bugs for good without using any products at all.
Why It Is Best To Contact The Bed Bug Professionals
The best way we know how to get rid of bed bugs is via heat. Bed bugs can't survive temperatures above 120 degrees. At Aiken Pest Control, we bring in special heaters that will increase the temperature in your home to 120 to 135 degrees. That gets rid of all stages of bed bugs: eggs, nymphs, and full-grown bed bugs. Hot air goes everywhere, so you don't have to worry about us missing any bed bugs.
At Aiken Pest Control, we also offer conventional bed bug treatments, mattress and box spring encasements, and inspections with a specially trained dog that can smell bed bugs. We've been in the pest control business since 1967, and we've got a long list of happy customers. We're looking forward to adding your name to that list.