Bed bugs can strike at any time. You can get them during the summer or in the middle of the coldest winter. These insects don’t live in your yard. They could be living in your neighbor’s home, the home of a relative, your kid’s friend’s house, the daycare where you drop your kids off every day, and even where you work. You don’t have to go on vacation to get bed bugs. This is one reason why they’re so difficult to get rid of. If you manage to do everything right and eradicate the bed bugs in your home, you can get them again. And again. If you’re currently battling a bed bug problem, you need to consider how you might have gotten bed bugs, and take steps to prevent bed bugs from continuing to hitchhike into your home.

The Challenges Of Bed Bug Prevention

If you currently have bed bugs, or you’d like to not have bed bugs, we have some prevention tips that will help you keep these insects from getting into your home. The secret weapon is behavior modification. Why? Because bed bugs are picked up and carried into your home.

Always do an inspection if you stay overnight somewhere. Look for black specks, shed insect skins, dried brown stains, black stains, tiny white eggs, or the presence of bed bugs. Look in tight spaces and dark places around beds, couches, and chairs.
If you stay overnight, keep your laundry items in a sealed plastic bag. Bed bugs are attracted to the scent of clothing that has touched the skin.
When you return home from spending the night somewhere, run all clothing through a 30-minute dryer cycle. This will eliminate bed bugs in all stages of development.
When you are out, always be on the lookout for bed bug bites. These can alert you to a threat. Bed bugs bite in a line or zig-zag. Often, several of these bugs bite at the same time in the same location. This will make the bites look like a rash on the skin.
You may smell bed bugs. The scent of bed bugs can be described as a damp towel that has been used after a good workout in the gym.
Check items for bed bugs. Look in seams, cracks, and pockets. If you find bed bugs, put the item in the dryer for 30 minutes if possible. This will kill those bugs.
Refrain from putting bags, clothing, and other items near the items of other people, or putting items in dark places. Bed bugs need darkness in order to spread.

The Challenges Of Bed Bug Extermination

If you currently have a bed bug infestation, it can be very difficult to get rid of it. While you can take steps that might work, these steps often fall short because of the way bed bugs invade your home. As an example:

You can encapsulate your mattress and box spring and still get bed bug bites because the bugs are living in cracks within the frame.
If you treat the frame with a pest control product and get every crack, you can still get bites. Bed bugs could continue to come from the infested item bed bugs used to get into your home, such as a piece of luggage, duffel bag, pocketbook, or sleeping bag.
If you throw items out that bed bugs have used to get into your home, you can still get bed bug bites. These bugs could be behind a baseboard, under the edge of your carpet, in your wall outlets or wall voids, or in any object in your room that has a void inside it, even your alarm clock.

Do you see the problem?

You could get lucky. It is possible to catch an infestation early and deal with it quickly. But far too often these bugs act in a way that makes them difficult to eliminate unless you have an education in bed bug control strategies. The best solution for bed bugs is to contact a licensed pest management professional. If you live in Texas, Innovative Pest Control can help you deal with your infestation quickly and discreetly. Contact us as the first sign of a bed bug problem. We’ll make sure those bed bugs are dead bugs.

Categories:

Bed Bug Control,
Bed Bug Prevention,
Bed Bugs in Texas,
Home Pest Control

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