Bed Bug Control
Summer is prime time for bed bug infestations. Unfortunately, even with the pandemic, bed bugs remain a problem. These tiny pests have evolved to prey on humans. They drink our blood while we sleep. That is how they got their name.
From Where Do Bed Bugs Come?
The spreading of bed bugs is from human to human. What that means is that someone with bed bugs leaves them in a spot where other humans frequent. These can be hotel rooms, trains, taxis, airplanes, school busses, summer camps, five-star hotels, etc. Because bed bugs only care that people come to these places, the quality and cleanliness of each are unimportant. So if you want to find bed bugs, you go to where many different people come and go.
Why Is It So Hard To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs?
There are a few factors that make it very difficult to get rid of bed bugs:
- They are nocturnal.
- Because they only come out at night, they tend to hide from the light. Unfortunately, they are very good at hiding too.
- Where they hide makes it challenging to use any chemicals on them.
After all, nobody wants to sleep in a bed sprayed with pesticides.
It is essential that care be the first part of any plan to irradicate bed bugs. To safeguard the house and those that live there while treating bed bug infestations, steam and tenting are often the treatment of choice.
Steam, of course, is not toxic, but at higher temperatures, it kills bed bugs, their eggs, and any pupa they may have. Tenting helps to raise the temperature inside the house so that adult bed bugs die.
How Did Bed Bugs Get Into Our Home?
The short answer is that someone brought them into your home. Not on purpose; They probably did not know they had them. Bed bugs often travel in luggage and dirty clothing. If you go to a hotel, it is possible that they crawled into your luggage. If you left dirty clothes on the floor of the hotel, they might have crept into those. When you put those clothes in your suitcase, you packed bed bugs too. If your child goes to school or went to summer camp, they brought them home from either of those places. Out-of-town guests, who stay at your home, can bring bed bugs with them. If you travel for work or vacation a lot, the risk of bringing bed bugs home is higher.
As you can see, bed bugs can come from many places. They have a presence on every continent of the world, except Antarctica. They are in the best hotels, the most impoverished homes, the wealthiest neighborhoods, and every other place in between. Bed bugs do not care where you live, how much you make, or who you know. They care only about feeding on human blood once you go to bed.
If you need to learn more about bed bugs and if they are in your home, give us a call. We are happy to answer your questions or schedule an inspection.
