Just thinking about bed bugs is enough to get most people feeling itchy and squirmy. Finding out you have them can be devastating. Bed bugs are parasitic, blood-sucking insects that have learned to live in a place where meals are guaranteed every night: your bed.
Discovering bed bugs in your home has nothing to do with cleanliness or hygiene. Bed bugs can enter your home in used furniture, in your luggage coming back from a trip, and they can even ride in on your clothes. All it takes is one fertile female, who can lay up to 5 eggs a day, for an infestation to start. That’s also the reason they are hard to get rid of – if you leave behind just one female, the process can start all over again.
Identifying Bed bugs
There are two main ways to detect a bed bug infestation. You may notice symptoms on yourself or household members, or you may find the bedbugs themselves on your mattress.
Because bed bugs bite humans to take a blood meal, medical symptoms can occur to victims of a bed bug infestation:
- Itching excessively, especially at night.
- Red welts on your body; can be in clusters or in a zig-zag pattern. Most people report bites on body parts that are most likely exposed in bed, like shoulders, arms, and neck.
- Skin infections from scratching welts.
- Some people can develop systemic allergic reactions to bed bug bites, including hives and anaphylaxis.
- Some people can smell a musty or mildew smell in their bed that has been associated with a bed bug infestation.
Physical evidence of a bed bug infestation can be found in the seams, crevices, and edges of your mattress, or in the folds and wrinkles of your sheets and blankets. The evidence consists of:
- Red, black, or brown insects, ranging from a few millimeters to the size of an apple seed.
- Very small red or brown stains, which may be left when bed bugs are squashed.
- Bed bug feces – it will look like bits of brown or black dirt.
- Whitish or yellowish egg casings or molted skins.
Will a Home Remedy Work?
If you have found evidence of a bed bug infestation in your home, you may want to know what you can do yourself to get rid of them for good. There are many different home remedies that are offered on the internet, ranging from over-the-counter insecticides to spraying your bedding in tea tree oil.
Some of these remedies may help, but others can be dangerous or wholly ineffective. In order to get rid of a bed bug infestation completely, every bed bug must be killed and removed, or the process may start all over again. Bed bugs are crafty and can hide in even the tiniest places, they are hearty and can survive many of the home remedy treatments suggested, and have become resistant to many of the most common insecticides. Therefore, many of the home remedies fail because they don’t cover the entire infected area, or are not strong enough to kill all of the bed bugs.
The most effective method for eradicating bed bugs for good is professional treatments by a licensed pest control company, using safe, proven treatments, sometimes in tandem, to make sure there are no bed bugs left behind.
Professional Bed Bug Removal and Prevention
Bug Evictors uses equipment and treatment options providing eco-friendly and effective control of bed bugs. Treatments may differ from one home to another, depending on circumstances and severity. All of the products we use for bed bug treatment are insecticides registered for this purpose only – and the most effective and environmentally-friendly treatment products available:
- Heat Treatment System – Heat is a very effective bed bug killing system. We use this treatment in conjunction with our other treatments, or sometimes as a stand-alone treatment, depending on each individual circumstance. Heat is non-toxic and can kill all bed bugs’ life stages, including their eggs. Our Heat Treatment is one of the most effective tools we provide for controlling bed bugs. Call us TODAY for details and a free inspection. 904-783-2425
- Vacuum System – Bug Evictors uses a high-quality HEPA filtration system that traps 99.99% of all particles as tiny as 0.3 microns, including bed bugs and their eggs.
- Steamers – Our steamers produce steam more than 200°F –more than enough to kill bed bugs and their eggs on contact.
- Mother Earth D Pest Control Dust – An organic, broad-spectrum desiccant dust containing 100% high purity, fresh water diatomaceous earth, which naturally cuts insects’ protective shells like sharp ground-up glass and kills them.
- Active Guard™ Mattress Liners – After treatment, we recommend using these safe, pesticide-infused mattress liners in between your box spring and mattress to kill any missed bugs or eggs and to prevent your mattresses from being reinfested.
- Bed Bug Moat –Since bed bugs can easily climb up legs and into your bed or furniture, we place Bed Bug Moats at the base of all your furniture legs. Bed bugs climb the specially designed rough outer wall then drop into the slick inner part and become trapped.
- Mattress Cover – Different from the liner, we also recommend buying and installing an approved bed bug mattress cover after the completion of the bed bug treatment to prevent reinfestation.
We provide bed bug treatments for homes, hotels and motels, apartment complexes and multi-unit dwellings, hospitals, long-term care facilities – anywhere bed bug activity occurs. If you suspect or know you have a bed bug infestation, contact us today at bugevictors1@gmail.com or 904-783-2425 to arrange for an in-home inspection or treatment. Our team will professionally and thoroughly eliminate this aggravating household pest from your home.