Problems happen every day, and some are more noticeable than others. Pop a tire on your car, and you will know instantly. Cut your finger with a piece of copier paper, and it will hurt immediately. Accidentally step on your cat’s tail, and they will inform you immediately. If bed bugs invade your home, however, you might not even know there is a problem for months until it’s too late. To help you identify invasive and problematic bed bugs around your New York home, here are a few signs you should know.
Live Bed Bugs
The first and more obvious sign that your home has a bed bug problem is spotting a live bed bug. Identify this pest by its reddish-brown, 4-5mm long, shield-shaped body. One thing you should keep in mind is that bed bugs grow larger after feeding and take on a dark red coloration to their bloated abdomen.
Blood Stains
Bed bugs have a habit of overeating, causing them to dribble blood out of their mouths after feeding. If you keep finding bloodstains on your bed coverings and don’t have any open scabs or other wounds, there is a chance bed bugs are around.
Bite Marks
When bed bugs feed, they rarely bite just once. Instead, they take short pulls of blood and then crawl a short distance over skin to feed again. Depending on how much blood a bed bug pulls on each bite, they may repeat this process three, four times, or even more times.
Use these patterned bites as a clue that bed bugs might be around your New York home, but keep in mind that not everyone reacts the same to bites. Thirty percent of people will show no reaction to bed bug bites at all.
Fecal Matter
A bed bug takes three to ten minutes to process blood after a feeding event. Once they have absorbed all of the nutrients they can, these pests then excrete out what they don’t need.
Most often bed bugs will leave this reddish-black fecal matter around areas they hide such as along baseboards, around outlets, and in the crevices of mattresses and box springs.
Egg Castings
To reproduce, bed bugs have to lay eggs. These eggs are pearly-white in color and are typically laid in hard-to-reach areas. To spot these eggs, use a flashlight and check cracks and crevices around your home. Common areas you should look include around your sleeping areas, spacing around baseboards, and gaps in your floorboards.
How To Avoid Bed Bugs
Now that you know how to spot bed bugs, let’s talk a bit about how to avoid infestations in the future. The first thing you should know is that bed bugs could be found anywhere where people are. If you plan on leaving the house, keep these three things in mind: it only takes bed bugs 20 minutes to crawl onto one of your belongings, bed bugs are attracted to co2, which you produce, and bed bugs could be on any item you buy, especially used items.
Check rooms where you will be staying for these pests, always keep your eyes out and inform your friends and relatives of what they need to know to stay safe. All of these precautions will greatly reduce your chances of an infestation.
If you suspect your home has a current infestation of bed bugs, get the experts At BHB Pest Elimination involved. We have the industrial-grade equipment and treatments needed to properly eliminate bed bugs at all stages of their development. With our no bed bug left behind policy, you can be sure your problem will be handled.
Contact us today to learn more about our bed bug control plans and schedule a thorough pest inspection for your New York home.