Travel season is about to pick up again, and that means bed bug season will start picking up too. While bed bugs are active all year long, your chances of getting them go up when overall travel rates increase. So when spring break and summer vacation roll around, you’d best watch out. It’s easy to pick up bed bugs in hotels, bus stations, airports, and anywhere else where lots of people move around carrying luggage and other items. That’s why you need to employ tried and true preventative bed bug control techniques for your home.
Do Bed Bugs Only Bite Certain People?
Bed bugs are pretty indiscriminate when it comes to whom they bite. Pretty much the only thing you need to be to get bitten by bed bugs is close by. Both the warmth of your blood and the carbon dioxide you exhale attract bed bugs. That means if you’re warm and breathing, you’re good enough for any bed bug.
This is both good news in the sense that you don’t have to worry about being “extra attractive” to bed bugs and bad news in that there’s not much you can do to make yourself less attractive to bed bugs. Since you can’t make yourself less attractive to bed bugs, you’ll need to take other preventative measures for bed bug control.
Easy-To-Spot Signs Of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs can be tough to spot because they’re so good at hiding. Contrary to popular belief, these bugs are not invisible to the naked eye. They are tiny, but they’re not so small you cannot see them. However, even though you can see them, you might not actually ever see them if you don’t go looking. But if you have a bed bug infestation, you’ll probably notice other signs like:
- Bed bug eggs or feces in your sheets or mattress.
- Exoskeletons in your bed.
- Bites on your body that appear in lines or clusters on exposed skin.
- Tiny brown stains on your sheets or other bedding.
If you notice these signs, you should contact bed bug control services in Mississippi right away. Both bed bug fumigation and heat treatments get more and more expensive the bigger the infestation grows. The quicker you nip it in the bud, the better.
Five Tips To Keep Bed Bugs Out Of Your Home
The good news is you don’t have to turn to a bunch of chemical sprays or granules to prevent bed bugs. Lifestyle changes and travel precautions are perfectly adequate natural pest control for bed bugs:
- Always check hotel mattresses before lying down on them. Remove sheets and protectors and look under creases and buttons.
- Never lay luggage or belongings on hotel beds or sofas – use the hard furniture instead.
- Always wash and dry clothes on the highest setting when unpacking after travel.
- If you buy items at a secondhand shop, check each purchase for signs of bugs.
- Vacuum and wash bedding on a regular basis.
While no one is immune to bed bugs, these steps will significantly minimize your chances of ending up with an infestation.
Professional Bed Bug Control For Bed Bug Prevention Month
If you wind up with bed bugs, never try to deal with them on your own. Bed bugs spread clandestinely, so by the time you notice you have a problem, it has likely spread beyond your bed, meaning treating your mattress won’t work. Fortunately, the best company in the Mississippi pest control business is on the case! If you’re ready to kick the bed bugs out of your bed, give Havard Pest Control a call or visit our contact page today!