Bed bugs are an insect (not an arachnid such as the tick) belonging to the family Cimicidae. It mainly feeds off human blood and often during the night. The bite can cause skin irritation, mental distress, and allergic reactions. Bed bugs are in Boise and other parts of Idaho and can easily be transferred house to house, even office to your home, and home to your office. Most people think you can only get them from hotels, being their name, but you can get them as simple as riding in a cab or other rideshare vehicle.
Most people with bedbugs don’t know that they have them. They can go weeks and possibly even months without getting bitten and then suddenly start itching and getting bit. If you live around Boise and suspect you may have a bed bug infestation, we highly recommend contacting us right away!
There are many signs of bed bugs; we will go over the most common signs:
1. Bed bug bites – One of the most common signs of bed bugs are getting bit by them. There are many different types of bite reactions, but they will typically cause itchiness and redness at the bite site
2. Blood dots on sheets – If you have a large enough problem with bed bugs, you may start to see expelled blood in their feces. These tiny droplets of blood on the sheets are a good indicator of a big problem.
3. Bed bug fecal matter – Another common sign of an infestation is dark dots, which are dried up bed bug feces or cast skins from molting
4. Bed bug eggs and eggshell casings – If you look very closely at your sheets and other fabrics, you can sometimes find bed bugs, which resemble coffee grounds. The other sign is the pink or clear eggshell casings left behind by bed bugs
5. Dead bed bugs –Eventually, if not caught early on enough, the bed bugs will die, and you’ll find dead bugs and their dried up shells in the crevices of your mattress
6. Live bed bugs on your furniture – If you look closely around your furniture, such as your mattress, pull back on the seems and take a look inside. You might find live bed bugs right there.
If you think you have an infestation, immediately contact EcoSense Pest Control! There are many ways to treat them, but it is best to call us right away. Please don’t wait too long, or they will multiply and worsen the problem.
Travel is considered to cause bed bug infestations. Bed bugs are known to hitchhike on people and luggage or other personal possessions and are taken accidentally to another place. Bedbugs are a nuisance for most of us. It can cause mental and physical distress. It can be challenging to sleep at night because you feel like bugs are crawling on your skin, but in this case, they might be!
We can never recommend a DIY method to get rid of bed bugs; these creatures can create a resistance to so many types of treatments that you need a professional licensed bed bug exterminator to get rid of them completely.
Bed bugs do not really “hide” on your body, they might hide in your clothing, but when it is time for them to eat, you typically do not even realize it. They can be anywhere in your surroundings, even inside furniture. They like to hide until feeding time, which is typical while asleep.
Infestations can grow very fast! If you think you have bed bugs, it is crucial to contact an exterminator right away. The longer they are in your house, the more challenging and costlier it will be to get rid of them.
Bed bug bites can either be small bumps or look like a small mosquito bite. They typically itch and may cause swelling. You will normally find them on the upper part of your body.
Bed bug bites will feel itchy, irritating, and sometimes painful. Like most insect bites, bed bug bites will resolve naturally over time without receiving medical attention, though you can take steps to attain relief.
You can typically treat bed bug bites without seeing your doctor; however, if the irritation persists for more than a just a few days, you may want to consult an allergist or dermatologist. Some people are highly allergic to bed bugs, and the reaction can be worse.
Bed bugs smell the carbon dioxide exhaled from our airways and are hungry for food. We squash it sometimes when we roll over when we sleep, but their chances of survival are small. Bed bugs know the light is associated with awakened individuals who move around. Then they stay in the dark for the rest of the time.
In some cases, they’ll hitch their way through luggage bags or anything else placed in soft or upholstered furniture. They can move between rooms of multi-unit buildings like apartments and hotels. They are brought into the home on suitcases, backpacks, or any daily item that is easily transported.
If your house has an infestation of bed bugs, call EcoSense Pest Control immediately. We have the license and experience along with the tools to help eliminate the problem right away. Don’t wait with bed bugs; the longer you wait to get rid of them, the worse they can become.
The adult bed bug is usually brown colored. The color varies from red to dark brown. These oval-shaped bugs can be roughly similar in size to flattened apple seeds, and their size varies from 3/16th to 1/4 in long. They can survive for months without feeding. They are extremely active at night, and you will see them crawling over your bedding or clothing to get their meal.
Bed bugs are still reported throughout all of the US states. There are no states that are immune to these insects, and the growth of the problem across the country and Boise does not seem to be slowing down.
Travel is most likely still the number one cause of bed bugs, although infestations are becoming more and more common among people that have not traveled. This could be from many other sources, including:
•Used Furniture: The bugs can be carried in used furniture, so when you buy used items, inspect them carefully for signs of the bed bug before bringing them into your home
•Clothes: Bed bugs can survive in your clothing, and they do not typically travel on their own. They need to find a food source to keep them alive, and that is why they pose a risk in clothing
•Other Items: When you move your items from one home to another, they may carry the bed bugs with them. This is why it is important for you to check any used furniture or other inventory that you take into your home
•Taxi’s and Rideshare vehicles: These places pose a high risk for anyone that has not inspected their car after the ride, and they can take your bed bugs with them into your car or home
•Neighbors that share a wall: Bed bugs can travel between apartments that share a wall or even through the walls themselves. This is their normal movement pattern, and they like to stay close to where people are moving around
•Work or other places: You can pick up bed bugs from visiting or working at an infested place such as a movie theatre, restaurant, hotel, etc.
This depends on several factors, including things such as the severity of the infestation, their current resistance level, the treatment method, and even how much clutter is in the home.
Female bedbugs lay an egg each day (on average), which doesn’t seem fast until you think about it. When you only have one bed bug, then the next day you have two, then four, no big deal, right? But then on day four, you can have eight, day five, 16, then 32, 64, and in a matter of just weeks, one bed bug could have hundreds and hundreds of these bugs. If half are female, you will cut that in half, but you can see the curve and how fast the number can climb into the thousands.
The bed bug eggs can take about a week to hatch, depending on the temperature and humidity levels of the home.
Bed bug bites may result in an allergic reaction, irritation, swelling, insomnia, or anaphylactic shock. They can also lead to secondary infections, skin irritation and rashes, and psychological effects such as anxiety or depression. In addition, the constant worry of finding bed bugs in your home may cause you mental stress.
If you want to slow the bed bugs down until you can get a professional treatment, you can use a warm steamer to kill bed bugs almost instantaneously. Apply steam slowly over the folded sheets and tufts of the mattresses and on bed edges and edges; bedbugs are usually hidden in sofas in beds. Unfortunately, bed bugs will hide in very hard-to-treat places, including inside walls, so it is best to have EcoSense Pest Control come out and take care of things for you.
Wash your bedding, clothing, and towels at high heat. Put them into the dryer at the highest temperature for 30 minutes. Put a steamer under beds and box springs or in beds where bedbugs are hiding. Pack up infested clothing into black garbage bags and leave it outdoors for as long as possible on hot days, bringing them in one at a time and going through this wash and dry heat cycle.
You really have to have a licensed pest control company such as EcoSense, with the training and certifications to eradicate the bed bugs and place a residual to ensure they do not come back. Then it is best to have a regular pest control plan in place so we can keep a monitor on the situation. There are times one treatment will do the trick, but you really want regular professional pest control services to ensure that they never return.
