Clues That You Are Infested with Bed Bugs

By Jack Hanley

Bed bugs were not a problem for the sixty years following World War II. The introduction of DDT practically eradicated bed bugs in the United States. However with the banning of DDT, the problem started to grow again, and now you need to be careful that you do not develop a bed bug problem. There increase in population has made it imperative that you know about bed bug detection.

Bed bugs are approximately the same size and shape of an apple seed. The make their home in furniture, especially mattresses, but will live anywhere that humans are likely to sleep or nap. That is because you are their favorite midnight snack. When it gets dark at night, they like to come out to eat. Once they are full, they scurry back to their favorite hiding place so that you are unaware of their presence.

Bed bugs can travel into your home by means of your clothing, luggage or used furniture. They may have found their way onto your person at the office or at a movie theater. Once one bug gets into your home she may lay hundreds of eggs over her lifetime. Her offspring may also reproduce many other bugs. In a short time your entire home may become infested. With bed bugs, keeping a clean home does not seem to matter. All bed bugs need is a meal on your blood. If you are not available, they will feast on your pets. Try to put all clothing that has been in a hotel room immediately into the laundry. Store luggage sealed in plastic bags away from your bedroom until the next trip.

Once a home is fully infested with bugs, you may note a foul musty odor. There are dogs that have been trained to detect bed bugs by their smell that are often used in hotels. There are also other signs that you can look for that will get the problem under control before it becomes a full fledged infestation.

Bed bugs like to hide during the daytime, so look in cracks and crevasses on the bed. One of the first places you may find bed bugs is behind the headboard of the bed. In addition to these hiding spots and looking for the actual bugs, you will want to look for brown or rust colored spots along the edges of bedding.

You may also see egg shells or discarded skins as the bugs molt. A box spring offers many places where bed bugs can hide. They can spend most of their lives hidden by the dust cover underneath and remain undetected.

If you find bed bugs in the house, take immediate action to get rid of them. It will be a difficult task and you may need to call an exterminator, although many are inexperienced in dealing with bed bugs. Your mattress and box springs may need to be encased in a plastic zipper bag to prevent the bugs from eating. They will die without blood.

Many people feel that it is simpler to discard of an infested bed and replace it, however, you must also remove all clutter from the room and be sure that the bugs have been removed from the home before bring in a new bed that will also become infested. - 29953

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