Bed bugs are a small wingless insect that feed upon the blood of animals including humans. These small, wingless pests infest homes, hotels, cruise ships and dormitories and make sleeping a major pain, literally. At night, the bed bugs go to work, revealing themselves and crawling out while humans are fast asleep. The bugs then began to suck on the blood of warm-blooded creatures, specifically sleeping humans. The next morning, people wake up complaining of all sorts of little bug bites which lead to rashes, itching and other complications.
Bed bugs come from the insect family known as Cimicidae. They stay alive through feeding on human blood or the blood of other warm-blooded hosts. The bed bug is no bigger than 1/4 of an inch in length, and has an oval shape to it. The smaller hatchling versions of the bed bug are the size of a poppy seed, very unnoticeable to the human eye. These bugs can range in color from white to tan to deep brown or reddish-orange colors. Their color may even reflect the dark blood of the animal or human it was feeding on.
Detection of bedbugs can be difficult seeing as they are very small, hide often, and usually make their way out at night time. One sign that you may have a bedbug infestation is if you are noticing bites when you wake up in the morning. Another way, is to take a flashlight to bed, and if you are suddenly woken during the night, you can try to shine the light on you to see if you spot a bed bug. They are fast and may scurry away from the light. You can also try spotting the debris left by bed bugs. Generally if you see reddish, brown, or black spots or streaks on your mattress, sheets, bedding or suspected areas, this may indicate a bed bug infestation with fecal matter and blood accidentally released. A final way to find the bed bugs is by putting double sided sticky tape around the edges of your mattress or box spring and on the floor as well. Within about 1 week’s time you should see them caught on the tape if there truly is a bedbug problem in your home.
As far as how to get rid of bed bugs, you can take many approaches. One of the most common steps to take would be to replace the suspected mattress if you believe it is infected. You could replace the box spring, sheets, pillow cases and any furniture covers you suspect. Obviously this becomes quite expensive, so you may also choose to do some thorough cleaning including dry cleaning of suspected cloths and vacuuming of the mattress. Make sure to empty your vacuum cleaner’s bag outside after you’ve completed this, so the bugs or their eggs don’t get back into the home.
Getting rid of bed bugs is something that will take some work to do. Once you’ve identified that they do exist in your home and where they have created an infestation, you can then begin to take the proper steps to get rid of them. Once you do, you can return to a peaceful, pest-free night’s sleep!
