Bed bugs are back - and they’ve brought their annoying, itchy bites with them. They are repopulating throughout the whole world, hitch-hiking on our luggage or clothing when we travel, or taking rides in buses and vehicles.
While thankfully bed bugs aren’t known to carry diseases, their bites are extremely irritating. They also could cause mental anguish as no one likes the thought of having to share their bed with bugs. If you’re not kept awake by the itching, then even just the idea of the bugs being present may cause you stress, anxiety, or insomnia.
Bed bug infestations can be difficult to deal with alone. They bury themselves in tiny crevices in your clothes, mattresses, and furniture, which is why they can usually be easily missed. They can go without eating for 20-400 days depending on temperature and humidity, which means it’s hard for them to starve to death. Bed bugs are also prolific breeders - a single female can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime, usually laying 2-5 eggs each day. Eggs hatch after an average of 10 days, and within one month of hatching, the newborn nymphs have transformed into an adult, ready to start feeding and reproducing.
Trying to find bed bugs and exterminate them can be a difficult task. They often leave behind reddish brown spots on mattresses, bedding, and they also tend to stain wooden furniture. They enjoy hiding in other nooks and crannies, usually close to their blood source, which means your bed is often a main target. All around beds need to be carefully inspected, including behind the headboard, in carpet corners, under the bed, in closets and clothing, and other fabric items that come in contact with the floor.
Hunting these bugs can take hours of vacuuming, washing, cleaning, sealing grooves, loose wallpaper, shaking out books, and other wood places where they might like to hide, and then you also have to find all of the eggs that have been laid. This cycle has to be repeated every two weeks for several months to be sure that all bed bugs and eggs are gone.
At Imperial Pest Control, we have the powerful cleaning equipment, flashlights, bug sprays, and persistence needed to tackle the problem, which is why you should leave all of the hard work up to us. We may have to come back repeatedly to control your bed bug problem, but our technicians will see it through until your homes and bedrooms are bed bug free again.
