Here's Why You Should Call The Pros If You Are Seeing Bed Bugs Around Your Houston Property

They aren’t just figments of your nightmares. They don’t just live in dark corners of dirty motels but instead can be found everywhere that humans are. They can ruin your sleep and haunt your days. What are they? Bed bugs.

A bed bug infestation can happen in any home, no matter how clean. Don’t be caught off guard! Learn to identify these pests and find out what to do if they get in your home. We at Cantu Pest & Termite are here to help.

Signs Of Bed Bugs

The first step in protecting yourself and your family from bed bugs is to learn how to identify them. If you want to avoid endless bed bug bites, it’s best to stop them as soon as possible. To do this, you need to become familiar with the signs of their presence.

1. Bugs. If you see small black bugs crawling around your mattress, carpet, or furniture, they could be bed bugs.
2. Dead bugs. Bed bugs spend most of the day hiding, so you may not ever see them. However, you may see the bodies of dead bugs, or black bits from their shed skin.
3. Brown or black stains. If you have bed bugs, you may start to see stains on the mattress. These could be from their fecal matter, or it could be the guts of bugs you squished in your sleep.
4. Red stains. Dark red stains could be spills from the bed bugs’ latest blood meal. Bed bugs feed on human and animal blood, but they’re messy eaters, and you often will find evidence of their feast.
5. Bites. Even if you don’t see bloodstains, you may see evidence of a bed bug feast in the shape of red, itchy bumps. Bed bugs will bite anywhere you have exposed skin. You’ll often find many small, raised bumps, sometimes in a line.

To-Do Or Not To Do: Bed Bug Control

Once you suspect you have a bed bug infestation, the question becomes what to do about it. Many people make the incorrect decision to take care of the problem alone, but that just doesn't work. Here's why:

• DIY control can’t target the entire house. If bed bugs have spread across the entire house, there’s no way for an individual homeowner to treat them all. Most DIY bed bug control methods involve treating small batches of bedding or clothes. This won’t stop bed bugs that are in the carpet, mattress, couch, or walls.
• DIY control can’t kill all bed bugs. Many chemical bed bug treatments you can find won’t kill bed bugs in all stages of maturity. They may kill adult bed bugs but will leave eggs untouched. This means that you will have a second wave of bed bugs once the eggs hatch.
• DIY control is costly and time-consuming. The main reason people turn to DIY is that they think they can save time and money. With bed bug control, this just isn’t true. Many DIY treatments involve bagging up bedding and clothes and leaving them in the freezer or heating them for several days. These methods will extend the nights that you have to share a bed with bed bugs. Plus, many DIY methods require repeated actions, and the cost will add up more quickly than you realize.

The Difference In Professional Treatment

If DIY control isn’t the solution, what is? We suggest giving us a call. Cantu Pest & Termite has years of experience dealing with bed bugs and other pests. We know how to identify the scope of your infestation so that we can target every single place in your home that has bed bugs.

Once we’ve determined the spread, we can implement treatments that work on bed bugs in all stages of life. We’ll end the infestation once and for all, eliminating bed bugs in Houston of all sizes and ages, everywhere in your home. There’s no reason to share your bed with these nightmarish bugs. Call Cantu Pest & Termite for pest control in Houston.