Does the thought of sharing your bed with bugs bother you? It should. Bugs are frightening, especially when their goal is to bite you and steal your blood. The question is, how can you know if bed bugs are crawling around inside your living areas? To help you identify bed bugs and keep them out of your Tampa home, this is what you need to know:
What Are Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are parasitic insects that feed on the blood of humans and, on occasion, animals, to survive. From birth to adulthood each bed bug goes through five stages of development. Between each stage of development, a bed bug has to feed and does so by climbing onto places while people are sleeping or resting. You can identify an adult bed bug by its reddish-brown, shield-shaped, apple seed-sized body. When fully engorged with a blood meal, this pest grows to be up to five times its original size and takes on a distinct dark red coloration in its bloated abdomen.
Why Do Bed Bugs Invade Homes?
A bed bug's body is not designed to survive outdoors in nature. For this reason, these pests invade homes and prefer living indoors with humans. It really is that simple. Bed bugs need you and will do just about anything to be able to feed on you, nightly.
How Do Bed Bugs Invade Homes?
There are fast pests. There are pests that fly. There are even some pests that jump far distances. Bed bugs are none of the above. These apple seed-sized insects are incredibly immobile and have a slow crawling speed. Despite this, however, they don’t find much difficulty getting around. What they do is crawl onto items people carry such as backpacks, used clothing, furniture, and other objects where it is easy to hide. Once aboard, bed bugs settle in and hope someone like you carries them to a new home.
Some Practical Ways To Avoid Bringing Bed Bugs Home
Since bed bugs do not invade homes directly, keeping them out is difficult. It is not, however, impossible. With a bit of knowledge about how these pests function, you should be able to avoid bringing them home with you. Here are a few great prevention tips our experts suggest you know:
- When traveling, check rooms you will be staying in for bed bugs before bringing your luggage or other items inside. To search for bed bugs, inspect bed coverings for bloodstains, mattress and box spring creases, and corners of the room, for reddish-black fecal droppings, and cracks and crevices for live bed bugs.
- Do not leave your bag, luggage, or any other item in a public place for more than 20 minutes. This is all the time it takes for a bed bug nearby to climb over and hitch a ride.
- Before traveling home from vacation, store used clothing in airtight bags. Wash this clothing on high heat immediately when you get home.
- Teach your family and friends about bed bugs and show them how they can avoid these tiny bugs in their daily life.
The Only Way To Effectively Handle Bed Bugs
Once bed bugs get into a home, they are incredibly difficult to get back out. If you suspect these pests are crawling onto your bed at night and keeping you awake, get the professionals at Bold Servicing involved. We have invested the money, time, and effort to call ourselves masters in our craft. Reach out to our team today to learn more about our bed bug control or to schedule a service visit for your Tampa home.