The summer sun is doing well for Alabama’s greenery and wildlife. Unfortunately, with that beneficial sunshine come many pests who thrive in the summer heat. Bed bugs are one of the main pest offenders that find their way into homes during warmer months. Havard Pest Control provides excellent pest control in Alabama, and we want you to know how stubborn these parasitic insects can be.
Why Bed Bugs Are Probably Here To Stay
There’s no nuisance bigger than bed bugs. When these pests get in, they’re in for the long haul. They predate humans, having been on this planet for 100 million years and outliving the dinosaurs. Some reasons bed bug control is so ineffective for the average homeowner are:
- They are incredibly talented at hiding. They’ll burrow into every fold of fabric, which insulates them from most over-the-counter toxins.
- They can survive for up to 400 days without a blood meal. Waiting for them to die out won’t work.
- They reproduce multiple times, daily. One female can lay one to five eggs in 24 hours.
- In a lifetime, female bed bugs can lay 500 eggs.
- If only one or two bed bugs survive, they can lay eggs and restart an entire infestation before you even notice them.
These pests are infamously persistent. They wait until you’re sleeping, detecting your heart rate, carbon dioxide emissions, and vibrations. That means they’ll wait until it’s safe, even if it’s a matter of days or weeks. Once bed bugs get in, it’s very hard to get them out without hiring professional bed bug control service for your home.
Four Bed Bug Warning Signs Everyone Ought To Know
When you have bed bugs, you won’t know it for some time. They start as smaller nymphs and avoid going out into plain sight until they sense it’s safe to do so. If you suspect they’re in your home, four signs can help you find out for sure:
- Clusters of bites in a line or zig-zag pattern on your skin
- Small droppings that look like ink spots (these are black and the size of a pen tip)
- Bloodstains on the sheets
- Eggs or shed skins from nymphs in fabric folds or under mattresses
When bed bugs bite you, they tend to stick to the same area on your skin. Bites will be in a bunch or rows lined diagonally. You may also see small white eggs, which can cling to things with a sticky coating secreted by the mother. Their excrement looks like tiny inky spots you might easily mistake for lint.
How Effective Are DIY Bed Bug Prevention Tips?
Consumer-bought bed bug control products may garner some dead pests, but there are no solutions that will eradicate an entire infestation. An infestation will be spread out around the home, and nests will crop up in unexpected places. If the bed bugs are being attacked, they’ll wise up and avoid the toxic areas, waiting it out for longer than you would imagine them capable.
Heat is one effective solution for how pest control can kill bed bugs. But professionals use it on a large scale with technology not safe for consumers. So throwing infested sheets in the dryer may kill a lot of the bed bugs, but if even one remains, they’ll be able to lay their eggs and start the infestation anew. That’s if they’re even sticking to sheets alone. Bed bugs dig in deep, burrowing into mattresses, finding alcoves and nooks behind outlets, in unused equipment or cloths, and under floorboards. Local pest control for bed bugs is the only way to be sure.
Benefits Of Professional Bed Bug Control
The only way to be sure that bed bugs are completely eliminated is to hire professional bed bug pest control. DIY methods will have you constantly second-guessing, and rightfully so. At Havard Pest Control, we provide the best bed bug control near you. We’ve been serving Alabama for more than 70 years, which means we have grown with the industry, keeping a standard of effective technology for any and all pests. Call us today.