Itchy Little Bloodsuckers: How do You Get Bed Bugs?

Many people are plagued by bed bugs every year. They feed off your blood and are extremely hard to get rid of. They’re more than just pests. They can cause serious psychological distress, especially because most people don’t understand: “How do you get bed bugs in the first place?”

That is because home is considered a safe haven, indoors and kept away even from minimum dust and whatnots. The last thing you would expect would be having these biting pests in your home, living along together with you and your family.

In order to understand how you get a bed bug infestation (and how to avoid it), you first have to understand what bed bugs are.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are blood-eating insects. They insects that live on the blood of animals or humans y locating its prey through heat. Our warm bodies are perfect targets for them.

Bedbugs are small, flat insects that are reddish-brown in color. Adult bedbugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, however, their bodies swell and are a reddish color.

Because of their flat shape, they can hide almost anywhere, which makes them hard to see. Some of the places you could potentially find bed bugs include:

Mattress
Box spring
Headboard
Cracks and crevices
Folded clothes
Anywhere near where someone sleeps. They stay close to you so they can come out and eat when you fall asleep.

Bedbugs do not fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Female bedbugs may lay hundreds of eggs, each of which is about the size of a speck of dust, over a lifetime.

Immature bedbugs, called nymphs, shed their skins five times before reaching maturity and require a meal of blood before each shedding. Under favorable conditions the bugs can develop fully in as little as a month and produce three or more generations per year.

You only get wind of their presence when you start to find the telltale little red bites all over after sleeping. They bite and feed on your blood while you’re sleeping soundly in your bedroom. Hence, the name bed bugs.

How do you get bed bugs

Where Do Bed Bugs Come From? Unfortunately, bed bugs can come from almost anywhere. They can be found in places where there is an abundant source of food – us. Bed bugs can be inside hotels, office buildings, schools, hospitals, convenience stores, movie theaters, libraries, museums, apartments, and even in your car or any type of public transportation.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Remember, bed bugs aren’t picky. They can also live for quite a while without a meal if necessary. They prefer to eat more often, but they can live months at room temperature without a meal. However, because they’re cold-blooded, their metabolism slows down when temperatures go down, which means they can last for much longer without feeding on a host.

How is it possible to get bed bugs into homes?

Bed bugs are perfect hitchhikers. This means, cross infestations happen anywhere outside, resulting in you bringing home the bed bugs to start an infestation when they feed and reproduce.

Bedbugs may enter your home undetected through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, about the width of a credit card. Bedbugs do not have nests like ants or bees, but tend to live in groups in hiding places. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy access to people to bite in the night.

Over time, however, they may scatter through the bedroom, moving into any crevice or protected location. They may also spread to nearby rooms or apartments.

Because bedbugs live solely on blood, having them in your home is not a sign of dirtiness. You are as likely to find them in immaculate homes and hotel rooms as in filthy ones.

When Bedbugs Bite

Bedbugs are active mainly at night and usually bite people while they are sleeping. They feed by piercing the skin and withdrawing blood through an elongated beak. The bugs feed from three to 10 minutes to become engorged and then crawl away unnoticed.

Most bedbug bites are painless at first, but later turn into itchy welts. Unlike flea bites that are mainly around the ankles, bedbug bites are on any area of skin exposed while sleeping. Also, the bites do not have a red spot in the center like flea bites do.

People who don’t realize they have a bedbug infestation may attribute the itching and welts to other causes, such as mosquitoes. To confirm bedbug bites, you must find and identify the bugs themselves.

Signs of bed bug Infestation

Because bed bugs are experts at hiding in bedding or in the folds of the bed, it’s hard to know if you have an infestation until you’ve been bitten. Unfortunately, sometimes these bites can take up to 14 days to show up, and by then you will have probably vacated the hotel room you were staying in. In the home, 14 days can mean the difference between a solo bug and an infestation.

Here are 5 ways to spot these creatures before you lay down to take a nap:

Bed bugs are messy eaters. If you have small bloodstains on the pillow or sheets, you may be infested.
You may also see dark specks on your sheets or rusty dots; that could be bed bug excrement. (Sorry.)
Bed bugs grow by shedding their exoskeletons. Check the corners and seams of your mattress for tiny yellow skin flakes, or even, for the bugs themselves.
You may also notice a smell on your sheets that is slightly musty.
Even check the walls or nightstand around your bed; bed bugs can flatten themselves to the width of a credit card and they are expert at hiding. But you may spot rusty stains that signify they’re hiding nearby.

If you wake up with itchy areas you didn’t have when you went to sleep, you may have bedbugs, particularly if you got a used bed or other used furniture around the time the bites started.

What to do If you suspect an infestation?

If you suspect an infestation, remove all bedding and check it carefully for signs of the bugs or their excrement. Remove the dust cover over the bottom of the box springs and examine the seams in the wood framing. Peel back the fabric where it is stapled to the wood frame.

Also, check the area around the bed, including inside books, telephones or radios, the edge of the carpet, and even in electrical outlets. Check your closet, because bedbugs can attach to clothing. If you are uncertain about signs of bedbugs, call an exterminator, who will know what to look for.

If you find signs of infestation, begin steps to get rid of the bugs and prevent their return.

How to get rid of bed bugs

Getting rid of bedbugs begins with cleaning up the places where bedbugs live. This should include the following:

Clean bedding, linens, curtains, and clothing in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. Place stuffed animals, shoes, and other items that can’t be washed in the dryer and run on high for 30 minutes.
Use a stiff brush to scrub mattress seams to remove bedbugs and their eggs before vacuuming.
Vacuum your bed and surrounding area frequently. After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag and place in garbage can outdoors.
Encase mattress and box springs with a tightly woven, zippered cover to keep bedbugs from entering or escaping. Bedbugs may live up to a year without feeding, so keep the cover on your mattress for at least a year to make sure all bugs in the mattress are dead.
Repair cracks in plaster and glue down peeling wallpaper to get rid of places bedbugs can hide.
Get rid of clutter around the bed.
If your mattress is infested, you may want to get rid of it and get a new one, but take care to rid the rest of your home of bedbugs or they will infest your new mattress.
If you have furniture pieces that cannot be cleaned, you’ll need to get rid of them. Mark them for bed bugs so no one grabs the pieces off your curb.
After you’ve taken care of all the fabrics in the home, make sure you get rid of any other potential bed bug hideouts. They are particularly fond of books, magazines, piles of clothing, anything on your floor or around your bed.
Be careful not to take contaminated items into the clean rooms of your home or you can spread the infestation further. Seal up any potential hiding spots. Tape electrical outlets, move your bed away from the walls so desperate bed bugs can’t climb back on.

Bedbug Extermination:

While cleaning up infested areas will be helpful in controlling bedbugs, getting rid of them usually requires chemical treatments. Because treating your bed and bedroom with insecticides can be harmful, it is important to use products that can be used safely in bedrooms. Do not treat mattresses and bedding unless the label specifically says you can use them on bedding.

Generally it is safest and most effective to hire an experienced pest control professional for bedbug extermination.

How Can You Stop Bed Bugs From Getting Into Your House

Bed bugs are not so stealthy at all. In fact, you can easily see a bed bug slowly creeping into your luggage if you are really up to the task. An adult bed bug is about a quarter of an inch long or equivalent to the size of an apple seed.

If you are a frequent traveler, your itinerary will serve as an open invitation for bed bugs to invade your home. It would be wise to check on your luggage from time to time especially before heading back home. Use a suitcase stand to secure your travel bags throughout the duration of your stay inside a hotel, resort, serviced apartment, or any type of travel accommodation.
Secure all your clothes you have used in your travel in a sealed plastic bag and wash them immediately under at least a 60 degree temperature setting. This helps kill surviving bed bugs of all life stages as well as germs.
As mentioned earlier, conduct a thorough examination on any used furniture that you buy before moving it inside your house. As much as possible, use a powerful flashlight as you scour through the tiniest cracks and joints of the second-hand furniture.
The best defense is indeed a good offense, especially when it comes to bed bugs. Inside your house, you must be well organized and avoid any type and volume of clutter. This significantly diminishes the possible areas for bed bugs to hide and flourish.
In your bedroom, always use a special type of protective encasement for your pillows and mattress. Most of the time, these covers are moisture wicking and are equipped with fine zip-lock technology to prevent both bed bugs and dust mites to penetrate into your bedding.
Tea tree oil extract is a fine example of bed bug repellent. This essential oil has a strong scent that bed bugs really hate. However, extra precaution must be considered since using undiluted tea tree oil poses a serious threat to human health.
If you bring any new furniture into your home, always check the cracks and crevices for any signs of bed bugs. Dead bugs are an obvious sign, but be on the lookout for bed bug eggs and shed skins. If you notice any rust-colored dots on furniture, these could be a spot where a bug was crushed or a spot where there used to be bed bug excrement.

Conclusion

The best way to stop bed bugs is to catch them early before the infestation gets too intense. At the first signs of a bed bug, you should be calling a professional. Anyone can get bed bugs, don’t be embarrassed.

How do You Get Bed Bugs in the First Place?