Sign of Bed Bugs

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Recognizing bed bugs can be tricky, difficult and hard to spot. You must first look for any sign of them ranging from brown streaks on the mattress to their tiny little larva in the mattress folds. Bed bugs can hide in any area, nook or cranny. Since they typically “work” at night, around 3a.m. -5 a.m. you will not usually see them during the day. Many insects in other classes of insects look very similar to bed bugs. When bed bugs are first born they are about the size of a poppy seed and by the time the reach adulthood they are about ¼ inch in length. They are typically oval in shape and very flat making it easier to creep and craw in all those hard to spot places. You may need to call an exterminator and have a professional properly identify the bed bugs for you. You will want tot make sure you are treating for the correct bug infestation

One way to find bed bugs is to examine the mattress, buttons, and bed sheets for signs of (brown stains) red blood or brown excrement. Seams in the mattress and buttons on the mattresses are favorite hiding places for these parasites. They lurk and sleep during the day and feed on our blood at night.

If you suspect a problem and it is in its early stages of an infestation, concentrate on the sleeping areas of the rooms of the house. Check the frame of the bed carefully as bed bugs will hide in cracks in the wood. Beds with metal frames won’t be infected as the bed bugs don’t like metal. Look around the seams of mattresses for little clusters of eggs. They are approximately the size of a pin head covered with a sticky substance. They look like little beads.

If you see puncture wounds that are small on your skin there is probably a bed bug infestation around and in your home. The interesting thing about bed bugs is that they bite in a line like a seam of a mattress. Not everyone will get the classic red bumps that look like mosquito bites. The first time you are bitten you may not get a reaction but the second or third time you might and the reaction is more intense every time you are bitten. If the bed bug infestation is curvier enough, you can receive hundreds of bed bug bites in a single evening. It one incident a women reported that after staying in a hotel she receiver over 500 bed bug bites in one night.

The final sign of a bed bug infestation is actually finding the bed bugs. The life cycle of a bed bug goes from an egg to a nymph, then to an adult in about three months. Nymphs are the color of straw while the adults are reddish brown and flat and about one quarter inch long. They start to change color just after molting. After they feed on their human host they are about thirty percent bigger. You can use a 3X magnifying glass and a flashlight to help you spot the bugs at night.

What you can do to manage bed bugs is be aware of your surrounding and pay attention to the signs around the house and home that are direct indicators of a bed bug infestation. Natural insecticides work very well in the control of bed bugs. Always consider a professional extermination company. Contact three companies and always get three quotes. In some parts of the country, exterminators can run into the thousands.

By: Bradley Skierkowski