You don’t like to wake up with bites all over your body that are all red, itchy and swelling. Most likely you are assuming that a small spider has been lurking within your bed sheets or a mosquito or another insect has flown into your house and attacked you during the night. In reality, it could actually be the dreaded bed bug!
So, you may be asking yourself, do I really have a bed bug infestation? How did bed bugs get into my house in the first place? What do bed bugs look like? Finally, you may be asking yourself, what do I do if I have a bed bug infestation?
Bed bugs travel on people and things from place to place. You can inadvertently pick them up at a public place, like a hotel or any public sleeping accommodations. You can get them on buses, trains and other public transportation from seats and headrests. Other places you can acquire bed bugs is in theaters, libraries, and restaurants. Bed bugs will attach to your luggage, shoes, clothing, and other things that you are carrying. When you arrive home, you bring them in and that’s when they start to reproduce rapidly and cause an annoying infestation.
As far as understanding what a bed bug bite looks like, it is important to note that you may not even know you’ve been bitten if you are not sensitive to the bite. You might not know you’ve been bitten until a day later due to the varying amounts of anticoagulant the bed bug injects into your skin. However, if you tend to get bitten multiple times, indoors and at night, it’s probably bed bugs. They feed many times each night, getting much-needed blood in order to reproduce. Bed bugs are nocturnal as well, only coming out at night to feed, which is why we hardly ever see them. They may also create a trail of bites as they move about to feed. Some people don’t have any reaction to bed bug bites, but if you do the symptoms don’t show up right away, but could turn into red, itchy, swollen welts around tiny dots, of which can become somewhat painful. In contrast, bites from other insects can be felt immediately, are usually more noticeable, bigger and do not create a trail of welts.
Bed bugs look like an apple seed and are about the same size. They are oval, flat and a reddish brown color. The nymphs will be just a smaller version of the adult, and the eggs are minuscule and white, making them difficult to see.
If you have a bed bug infestation, you may have bites as described above. You may also see tiny spots of blood on your bed sheets that are from the nighttime feedings and feces. You may see bed bug skins as they shed theirs to grow new ones. You may actually find live or deceased bed bugs as well. To find these skins or bed bugs themselves, look under beds, around frames, behind pictures, in seams or cording around mattresses.
The quicker you find any of these signs, the quicker you can get it taken care of. You can call on a trusted pest control service in your area. In New England, you can call on the experienced professionals at Big Blue Bug Solutions to take care of your bed bug problems, with their effective and efficient methods. Call us at Big Blue Bug Solutions today.