The mere thought of bed bugs crawling around your home can make you a little itchy. Although these oval-shaped insects are not dangerous, living with them for a long-time can cause you physical and financial damage. So, if you feel that these crawling insects have infested your home, we strongly advise you to hire a pest control service.
But, before hiring a pest control service as a preventive measure, it is essential to confirm your fear. Since you are less likely to have a trained eye to detect their presence at home, with this comprehensive guide, we offer help to you. This guide lists eight signs to look to confirm if your home is infested by bed bugs. Along with this, the guide will also explain to you when you need to call a pro for Bed Bug Pest Control.
However, getting a brief about pest control bed bugs, you need to know your enemy in and out! Knowing how they look, what they do, and the potential risks they cause will help you to understand why you need to eliminate or manage them.
Bed Bug: What are They
Starting with their look, as mentioned above they are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals or humans. They have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. Although they don’t fly, they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Female bed bugs lay hundreds of eggs over a lifetime.
These six-legged human bloodsuckers are active at night and bite people while they are sleeping. To enjoy a blood feast, they pierce the skin and withdraw blood through an elongated beak. Their feast program lasts for three to 10 minutes before they crawl away unnoticed. Though their bites are painless, the reaction differs from body to body.
Now, when you know the basics of bed bugs, we can move forward to signs of their infestation. Look for the following indications and once your fear is confirmed, “pest control bed bugs near me” – is going to be a frequent search in your browser history.
8 Important Signs of Bed Bug Infestation
- Waking Up to Unexplained Red-Itchy Spots
- Unexplained Blood Stains on Your Pillowcase/Sheets
- A Musty Smell on Your Fabric
- Rust-Colored Spots on Your Mattress
- Shell Casing
- The Presence of Bed Bug Eggs
- Your Neighbors/Friends have a Bed Bug Infestation
- Seeing a Bed Bug Crawling Live
1. Waking Up to Unexplained Red-Itchy Spots
As stated above, they live on human blood; so, the first place to examine their infestation is your skin. Observe your skin thoroughly and check if there are any unexplained red-itchy spots.
It could be tricky sometimes to distinguish between a mosquito bite and a bed bug bite. But, don’t worry, we have got your back. To differentiate, see if there is a pattern of these red spots at your exposed skin area, especially: your arms and shoulders. Note, bed bug bites usually occur in a line.
2. Unexplained Blood Stains on Your Pillowcase/Sheets
Remember, we informed you that bed bugs pierce the skin and withdraw blood to feed themselves? So, to do this process subtly, they inject an anticoagulant to help the blood flow easily, which causes a blood droplet to form at the feeding site; then transfers to your sheets.
3. A Musty Smell on Your Fabric
If you have a strong sense of smell, you are likely to identify this sign effortlessly. Interestingly bed bugs release pheromones, which is a strong, unpleasant, musty odor. And, when released in a large number this odor can be strong and easily detected.
4. Rust-Colored Spots on Your Mattress
Apart from the blood spots, these critters often leave fecal stains. These spots have an unpleasant odor and may smudge if you touch them. The spot left behind is similar to what a felt-tipped marker stain looks like. You may find these stains on your walls, especially behind pictures or in corners.
5. Shell Casing
Shell casings are an alarming sign of a growing bed bug infestation. They are yellowish-brown in color and translucent exoskeletons of juvenile bed bugs. You may find them anywhere that bed bugs hatch and breed such as mattress seams, upholstered furniture, and in holes, cracks, and crevices within wooden furniture. As bed bugs go through five lifecycle stages before acquiring adulthood, they clear their exoskeleton several times. And that’s why the shell casings are considered an early sign of bed bugs infestation.
6. The Presence of Bed Bug Eggs
In moderate to severe infestation, you are likely to find bed bugs in all life stages. This can be in the form of eggs too. Their eggs are pinhead-sized, and pearly white ovals around 1 mm in length; loosely stuck to various surfaces. Interesting fact: a female bed bug can lay between 1-7 eggs per day, and over 500 eggs in its lifespan.
7. Your Neighbors/Friends have a Bed Bug Infestation
Bed bugs love to travel until they find a warm host and plenty of space to hide. And, if your neighbors or friends have or had bed bug infestation, these crawling insects are likely to make a way to your home via them.
8. Seeing a Bed Bug Crawling Live
Now, this is the most obvious symptom of bed bugs infestation. Although bed bugs are active at night, you may see them crawling near you in the daytime. As they are quick movers, they might disappear from your sight before you can take appropriate action against them.
Though eliminating bed bugs completely is not possible, you can manage them with simple tricks. Among many others is the pest control service. A Bed Bug Pest Control provider is the best companion in the war against these critters.
HiCare: Best Bed Bug Pest Control Company
In our bed bugs treatment plan, HiCare has a lot to offer to our customers. Following services are provided under Hicare’s Bed Bug Treatment:
- 2-visit service
- Customized plan according to the size of your space
- Verified employees with 3-level COVID Kavach
- Use of chemicals safe for kids, elder people, and pets
- Complaint Service is free of cost
- Warranty
- Yearly service comes with year-long protection assurance
- An additional 5% discount on online payment
Simple Steps to Book HiCare’s Bed Bug Treatment
If you have spotted all the eight or majority of the signs listed here, follow the below steps to book a Bed Bug Treatment within a few minutes with HiCare:
- Visit HiCare’s website
- Enter your Pincode in the prompt
- Select Pest Control
- Select Bed Bug Treatment
- Select the size of your apartment/home/building
- Select the frequency of the service
- Hit “Book Now”
- Enter your details to schedule a service
Conclusion
Save your time from scrolling through the search answers to your query – pest control bed bugs – and book an efficient and affordable HiCare’s Bed Bug Pest Control within minutes!