Have you seen bed bugs in your house? These are tiny reddish-brown insects, feed on human blood and prefer to hide within your bedding materials. Once infested, it is very hard to get rid of them. Many do not realize bed bug infestation for a long time since they take a little time to flourish. However, it sometimes depends on the level of sensitivity of your skin.
Do you think you might have bed bugs in your house? But not sure about it? End your struggle here, since in this article, we are going to discuss about common signs of bed bug infestation which will help you spot these bloodsuckers easily. Early detection plays a crucial role in bed bug removal. If you overlook them for longer, they will become more stubborn.
Scroll down to know how to locate bed bugs easily.
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Red Itchy Bites
After waking up, if you find red round scars scattered around your neck, shoulder things, arms or any other area that were touched the bed while sleeping, look around for bed bugs. Start searching behind the beds since they prefer to hide within them. These bites can be itchy because bed bugs inject a liquid along with their saliva which acts as anesthesia. Because of this, you will not realize their bites in the first place.
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Itchiness During Night
If you suffer from sleepless nights due to itchiness, there may be bed bugs behind your bed. If you have sensitive skin, you may feel severe itchiness due to bed bites. But don’t be glad if you don’t have that type of skin, because in that case, you may miss your bed bug infestation unless they took prominence.
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Musty Smell
If you have a growing bed bug colony behind your bed, you get some musty smell after entering your room. This is due to shedding body parts of the bed bug colony and their droppings. Don’t overlook this type of smell, rather go and check your mattress for the presence of bed bugs.
How To Find Them?
As we mentioned before, it is daunting to find bed bugs in your home if you don’t know how to find them. Read this section of the article to know how to find them easily.
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Search Your Bed
Bed bugs love to stay closer to their food sources i.e., humans; that is why in most cases, you will find them under your mattress and pillow. Bed bugs are hard to find during the day as they prefer to hide, so search them at night. Don’t forget to take a torch!
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Search Your Luggage
After returning from your travel destination, always check your luggage before settling them in your personal space. Bed bugs that may hide within your hotel mattress may jump to your luggage, which you may carry to your home unknowingly. If you have a vacuum cleaner, run them through your luggage for better protection against bed bugs. Heat treatment will be extremely beneficial.
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Use Bed Bug Traps
If you want to take protective measures against bed bug infestation, install bed bug traps around your furniture legs. There are various bed bug traps available in the market, purchase a white one so that it will be easier for you to find dark brown bed bugs. These are easy to install and safe around children and pets. Once installed it can perform long. These are specially designed to withstand the heavyweight of your furniture.
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Use The Sunlight
Bed bugs don’t like any kind of light especially sunlight. If you think your mattress hide bed bugs take it out to the sunlight before applying any insecticides. Strong sunlight has the potential to kill adult bed bugs.
How To Remove Them?
If you are looking to remove bed bugs from your house, read this section of the article to get handy tips.
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Use Vacuum Cleaner
A vacuum cleaner is a great tool to detect and remove bed bugs from an infected area. Its strong vacuum can suck those little creatures from their hiding place so that you can get a clear idea about the hiding places of bed bugs.
There is a range of vacuum cleaner available in the market, from handy to large purchase one according to your requirements. A regular habit of using a vacuum cleaner will reduce the chances of bigger bed bug infestation as you can detect their presence in the first place.
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Seal The Cracks
Bed bugs tend to hide within cracks and crevices, their tiny size and extremely agile body parts help them in doing so. So, if you have severe cracks in your house, you may struggle to remove bed bugs. Even chemical insecticides struggle to reach those cracks. So, seal them immediately if you don’t want to compromise with bed bugs.
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Use Bed Bug Spray
One of the easiest ways to get rid of bed bugs is to use bed bug spray. There are various sprays available in the market that claim to kill bed bugs successfully. Don’t just purchase anyone without knowing its ingredients and side effect. Remember these chemicals may create a mess in your house. Be extra careful if you live with children and pets. Avoid using bed bug sprays if you have asthma or any other respiratory problem.
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Use Heat Treatment
One of the most effective methods to remove bed bugs from your house is to apply heat. For that, you need to hire an exterminator since it requires special equipment. If you choose to purchase them, it will cost you much, besides it requires special skills to operate. So, it will be better to hire an expert for successful bed bug removal.
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Hire An Exterminator
If you are completely sure about having bed bugs, call an exterminator for the initial inspection. They can suggest proper treatment procedures for bed bug removal. Instead of creating a mess with chemical insecticides hiring an exterminator can save you from stubborn bloodsuckers.
Bed bugs are often mistaken with water bugs and flies due to their similar physical approach. Hope at the end of the article; you will detect and remove them easily.
Author: Tanaya is a Senior Content Developer at PestTactics, who helped to build the content of the site along with several other sites with her compassionate SEO driven content. She is also a HubSpot, certified Content Marketer. She brings her five years of experience to her current role, where she is dedicated to developing the content of different websites.
