Despite what you might thing, bed bugs don’t have a preference between a clean or dirty environment. As long as they have access to a food source, they will be happy as Larry. So the common misconception, that a source of a bed bug infestation is due to poor cleanliness or hygiene is unfounded.
Where do bed bugs live?
Bed bugs can live anywhere in your home home. They can live in cracks in furniture or in any type of textile, including upholstered furniture. Despite this bed bug infestations are most common in beds due to the readily available food source and the fact that they are most active at night. These pests may bite any exposed areas of skin while an individual is sleeping. Common locations for bed bug bites are the face, neck, hands, and arms.
How did the bed bugs appear in the first place?
It often seems that bed bugs appear from nowhere.
Bed bugs are a crawling insect, but it is more common for bed bugs to spread by hitching a ride on an unsuspecting human than simply by crawling long distances from room to room, although the latter can indeed happen.
Typically, you pick up one or more of these unwanted pests when you visit a hotel or home that already has an active bed bug infestation. Theys hide themselves in your clothing, luggage, furniture and other items, and you inadvertently introduce them to your own house when you return home.
Once bed bugs are introduced, they can crawl from room to room, or floor to floor via cracks and openings in walls, floors and ceilings.
How far can bed bugs travel?
Adult bed bugs can survive for over a year without food. This means that the pests can hide on furniture, clothing, footwear, luggage, and other materials you’ve brought. They can then wait until they’ve travelled great distances, only to be unpacked and brought into a new home with a fresh supply of food
Ultimately, it can take minutes for them to travel from room-to-room, with infestations growing in a matter of weeks or months. Every day, bed bugs can lay between one and 12 eggs, and anywhere from 200 to 500 eggs in a lifetime.
Bed bugs are great hitchhikers, so if you’re a frequent traveller, hotels, hostels, airplanes, cruise ships and public transportation are ideal places to pick up these uninvited guests.
So the answer to the question is very far indeed! You could be enjoying a family holiday in Australia one day, and be dealing with a bed bug infestation back in your London home the following week!
How do you know if you have bed bugs?
Faecal stains or rust-coloured dark spots, egg cases, and shed skins of bed bugs in crevices and cracks on or near beds are the primary signs of a bed bug infestation, but observing the bugs themselves can also confirm an active infestation. Where there is one, there is likely to be many! If in doubt, a professional pest-control company can help identify and remove bed bugs from your home.
How to stop the spread of bed bugs?
Stopping the spread of bed bugs is all about slowing and preventing the transmission of these pests as they migrate from location to location.
If you’re trying to stop the spread of bed bugs in the midst of an ongoing, current bed bug infestation, the following strategies are the most effective for keeping an infestation from spreading further:
- Place any infested household items in a tight, sealed plastic bag, and take them out of your home immediately. Use heat treatment, cold treatment, steam, or the help of a pest management professional like Terminix to treat these items.
- Vacuum common bed bug hiding spots, including the cracks and crevices of walls and baseboards as well as the areas around electrical outlets and light switches and the seams of furniture and mattresses. Discard the vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag.
- Seal all mattresses with plastic covers. Ideally, use a light-coloured plastic cover to make it easier to spot bed bugs or bed bug eggs on your bed.
- Seal any gaps or holes in your walls, both in terms of exterior walls and interior walls. This includes gaps around plumbing or cracks between the floor and the wall. You may also want to install tight-fitting door sweeps under each door. This helps prevent bed bugs from spreading from room-to-room.
Do you think you might have bed bugs?
If you believe you might be dealing with a bed bug infestation it’s important to tackle the problem as quickly as possible. If you’re looking for a professional bed bug exterminator near you, why not give Go-Pest a call. We’re able to provide discreet and effective bed bug pest control in London and the surrounding areas. Contact us today to schedule a free on-site inspection and we can get started on the treatment right away.
