You might think that your problems are the things keeping you awake at night, but you haven’t experienced sleeplessness until you experience a bed bug infestation. Imagine trying to fall asleep every night knowing that bed bugs are waiting to feed on you. A bed bug infestation is truly the stuff of nightmares, and it brings a variety of more serious issues along with it.

Thieves In The Night

Bed bugs are very small, about five millimeters around, at the most. However, their persistence and pack mentality can make them a troublesome presence in your home. Bed bugs feed on human blood, but they move very slowly. That’s why they have to wait until you’re asleep to enjoy their meal. Using a feeding tube, they’ll make small, red bite marks on your skin that typically appear in straight lines or zig-zag patterns. If more than one bug feeds at once, you will see multiple bites in one area and possibly a rash.

That’s the first thing you’ll notice if you have an infestation. Bed bugs are so tiny and slow-moving, you might not see them at first. However, you’ll notice other signs over time. These include a musty odor, rust-colored excrement, or tiny bloodstains from droplets of blood spilled during feeding.

Travelers With Bad Intentions

Along with understanding the signs, it’s important to know how bed bugs enter your home. Many people think that bed bugs only enter your home if you don’t wash the sheets or if you don’t keep your home tidy. Bed bugs, however, are equal opportunity pests. As long as you have blood in your veins, they want to invade your house and colonize your furniture.

So what makes them wind up in your home? Just sheer bad luck (and maybe a little carelessness). Bed bugs may not move quickly, but they’ll hitch a ride on anything that will enter your home, from clothes and shoes to pets and luggage. That’s why traveling can be risky. If you leave your bag next to other bags in an airport terminal or bus station, bed bugs can migrate from one bag to another when given enough time. You could also pick up bed bugs in a hotel room by leaving your suitcase on the mattress as you unpack.

Another high-risk activity for incurring a bed bug infestation is buying used furniture items. No matter what you’re buying, even if it’s an office chair or a refrigerator, bed bugs could use the item to hitch a ride into your house. Bed bugs are also an issue in places without beds. Just because you’re buying a couch from an office building doesn’t mean you don’t need to monitor the item for bed bug activity before you bring it into the house.

Prevention Practices

Bed bugs can pop up so unexpectedly that you might be tempted to try and get rid of them yourself. However, getting them out on your own is much more difficult than you might think, and it also opens you up to a number of health risks.

The Internet may tell you that you can use store-bought sprays or a vacuum to eradicate a bed bug problem, but that will simply get rid of the pests on the surface. Most infestations involve dozens more bed bugs in the cushions of your mattress and furniture, along with their eggs. Once they resurface, you’ll begin waking up with bites once again.

As the cycle of infestation continues, you’ll be at risk for skin irritations from excessive scratching. More concerning, though, is the effect on your sleep cycle. Many bed bug victims report insomnia that lasts long after the infestation is eradicated and anemia in cases of prolonged infestation. So, why would you trust anything other than a professional bed bug control? Get results that work the first time: if you do spot signs of bed bugs, call the professionals at Arenz Pest Management Solutions right away.

Tags: bed bug control | bed bug prevention | st.louis bed bug control |

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