Bed Bugs Are Tenacious Pests & Breed Quickly

Bed bugs are small parasitic insects that feed on the blood of sleeping humans. These pests can be difficult to spot and move quickly over floors and furniture, and female bed bugs can lay hundreds of eggs in their lifetimes. Bed bugs often enter a home by being carried there from somewhere else. They will often hide in luggage and clothing, which they’ll use to establish a new population.

Bed bugs are very small and cannot fly, which means that they will usually try to live as close to their host as possible. It’s for this reason that these pests will live in groups inside mattresses, box springs, headboards, and bed frames. These insects usually feed for ten minutes at a time while the host is sleeping, after which they’ll crawl back to their hiding places. Bed bugs breed quickly, so even if they establish a population in one room, they may quickly spread to others.

Bed bug bites look like small, itchy red welts, which victims sometimes initially confuse for mosquito bites. If you have recently purchased used furniture, you may want to check for a few more concrete signs of a bed bug infestation. For example, keep a lookout for small spots of blood on your sheets or pillowcases, or for rust-colored spots of bed bug excrement on sheets, mattresses, walls, and bed clothing. These insects also give off a certain musty scent which may help you determine if these pests have begun to infest your home. Be sure to check for as many of these signs as possible, so that your local pest control professional will know where to start.

These can be very difficult pests to control, as they are difficult to spot and easily spread from room to room within a home. It’s obviously important to catch a bed bug infestation early on in order to mitigate the chance of it becoming even worse.

There are a few steps a homeowner can take to reduce the chances of an infestation. Removing clutter and furniture from a room, for example, will make bed bugs easier to spot. Washing and drying sheets, pillowcases, and other linens in hot water will also kill any bed bugs that may be hiding within the seams.

Since bed bugs are often transported into the home from other locations, it’s important to check all secondhand furniture and clothing that you may have recently purchased before bringing it into your home. With both international and domestic travel becoming increasingly common in all of our lives, it’s important to maintain vigilance when it comes to bed bug infestations, especially after returning home from trips.

Cantu Pest & Termite is proud to be the first company in Texas to offer a Cantu Green Service to our customers in search of a more prevention-based solution to their pest removal while minimizing the use of pesticides.

If bed bugs or other pests have made unwanted appearances around your home or business, call Cantu Pest & Termite and schedule an appointment today with one of our friendly, experienced bed bug removal experts.