If there is one insect that can be compared to a horror movie bad guy, it is the bed bug. These insects are incredibly hard to eliminate with insecticides and have a way of repeatedly coming back if improperly treated. In addition to being difficult to treat, they are prolific breeders. One pregnant female can produce an infestation of over 5000 bed bugs in a 6-month period.

Bedbugs can go up 400 days without eating. Unfortunately, waiting them out is not a practical solution either.

There are multiple reasons as to why bed begs are difficult to treat. One of the top reasons is reinfestation, it is not unusual for people to not know how they became infested in the first place since these insects do a great job of concealing themselves into the nooks and crannies of a living area. A person may accidentally revisit the unknown infested area and transfer the bedbugs back to their home which would make any previous treatment ineffective.

As for treating bedbugs via chemical controls, they have become resistant to many insecticides. Also, a large amount of the insecticides on the market have shown mixed results which can be frustrating to customers with this issue. Typically for chemical treatments, multiple treatments have to be performed to control the different stages of life that the bed bug goes through. In addition, many of these treatments have to be directly sprayed onto the bed bug for them to be eliminated. For an insect that is not one that spends a large portion of its life out in the open this requires a skilled pest control technician to identify harborage areas to treat.

As they say in sports, “The best offense if a good defense”. Ideally the best defense to stop these insects from stowing away and making it in your home is understanding what to look for in situations where bed bugs may be present. One important thing to know about bed bugs is that they are what we call in the pest control industry, domestic insects. The bed bugs that mainly affect humans depend heavily on our home environment and prefer to feed on humans, but they have also been known to feed on cats, dogs, rodents, and birds.

Tips to prevent bed bugs:

1. When staying or sleeping in a new place such as a hotel or airbnb, inspect the bed for the telltale signs of a bed bug infestation. The major two are small blood staining on the linens and black staining in the creases of the bed mattress (fecal matter). Use a flashlight or the one on your phone to inspect prior to turning in for the night.
2. Throw all your clothing in your dryer when returning from a trip and run the dryer on high heat for at least 30 minutes.
3. Vacuum out your suitcase and remember to dispose of the bag properly.
4. Never bring secondhand furniture, especially mattresses or box springs, into your home without first properly examining for signs of an infestation. A large portion of bed bug infestations come from people bringing in pre-owned furniture into their homes from donation centers or from the side of the road.
5. Place mattress protectors on all mattresses in your home. In the event of an infestation, the protectors will act as a barrier to the bed bugs forcing them to hide in other areas.
6. Do not let friends or family into your home that have a bed bug problem. I know this can be difficult but the possibility of transferring these insects is very high and are very costly to treat.
7. Bed bugs treatments typically cost in the thousands of dollars and usually come with very short, guaranteed time frames due to the high possibility of reintroduction reinfestation.

What happens if you find yourself infested with bed bugs? First, we highly recommend reaching out to a pest control professional to inspect the area and come up with a plan of action to control the infestation. More often than not customers that try to self-treat end up wasting money on ineffective pest control products and in turn make the problem worse. Reach out to us today and we can discuss all the options that are available in the field today to make this issue as painless as possible.