I stepped outside today and it was…great. A solid, sunny day. Low seventies in the air, a nice cool breeze. And not a single pest insect on my skin. Winter is coming, and boy do I love winter in Florida. Less tourists, less bugs, less stress. But, not ALL pests go away in the wintertime. It’s a creeping, nearly unstoppable infestation once it gets rolling. Not only that, it thrives off drinking your blood when you sleep! No sir, down here in Florida we still get to deal with the dangerous bed bugs those tourists left behind.
In nature, dangerous bed bugs infest nests of birds, bats, and other animals. These flightless insects, which measure 1/4 inch at maturity, enter a house, motel or apartment building by hiding in luggage, clothing or fabric. Once in place, the bugs set about reproducing, which they can do with impressive speed. Female bed bugs lay between one and five tiny eggs per day. Hatchlings are no bigger than a poppy seed. Once hatched, according to the School of Public Health at Harvard University, a baby bed bug or “nymph” requires only a single blood feast to molt and move into its next stage of development, which occurs five times before adulthood.
Dangerous Bed Bugs: Overview
There was a similar study in support of this by Michael Levy, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatics and Epidemiology at the University Pennsylvania in the school of Medicine. They investigated and found out that bed bugs carry and transmit T. cruzi.
Dangerous Bed Bugs: Not So Dangerous?
So, it may honestly come down to the fact that they’re not the most dangerous pests in the world. But that doesn’t mean you should have to have them in your home. Just the thought of those insects being in your mattress should be enough to make you want to get into contact with a pest control specialist. They breed. A lot. And fast. This basically means that infestations can snowball over the course of a year, and you can end up with much more than you can handle on your plate. So even if they may not kill you outright, they can certainly lower your quality of life.
Because at the end of the day, who wants these apple-seed-sized blood suckers playing on your skin at night? Not me, certainly.
Infestation Signs
Now, by the time you realize you have bed bugs, it’s usually too late for the layman. But, hopefully, with this guide, you can at least find out why you’re waking up so itchy. They’ve been crawling over you all night during your sleep, and due to their small size and gentle bites, you’d have no idea what had just happened!
Bedbugs may enter your home undetected through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, about the width of a credit card. Bedbugs do not have nests like ants or bees but tend to live in groups in hiding places. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy access to people to bite in the night.
Over time, however, they may scatter through the bedroom, moving into any crevice or protected location. They may also spread to nearby rooms or apartments.
Because bed bugs live solely on blood, having them in your home is not a sign of dirtiness. You are as likely to find them in immaculate homes and hotel rooms as in filthy ones.
What To Do?
Due to the nature of a bed bug infestation, there isn’t a ton you can do on your own. Even if you take your whole mattress out to the back and throw it in a ditch, you’re still likely to have lurkers that have infested other parts of your home, such as electrical sockets or wooden frames. Prevention is key with these things, but once they’re established, they’re established. So if you need help, give us at Earth’ s Best a call at 1-800-634-1313 for a consultation and lets get your home free from these Blood Sucking Pests. There’s no need to wake up another night with a blood-sucking insect crawling all over your skin, so call today!
