March 10, 2023 - Bed Bugs
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One of the ways bed bugs get around is by hiding in travelers' luggage. And with so many people vacationing in Sacramento each year, it should be no surprise bed bugs often call Sacramento home. If you're combating a bed bug infestation, call the Sacramento pest control professionals at Explorer Pest Management.
Clear Signs of Bed Bugs in Your Home
When bed bugs in Sacramento first enter your home, it may feel like nothing is wrong. But once you know what to look for, you'll have no doubt. Catching the early signs of bed bugs can spare you a lot of grief:
The most obvious bed bug signs will be on your body. Bed bugs feed on blood and, in doing so, leave red, bumpy bite marks on your skin. Often, these marks appear in lines or clusters.
Another giveaway is blood stains left on the fabric. It's common for bed bugs to overfeed and expel blood when gorging. Such stains appear as rusty-colored or red splotches on your mattress, sheets, pillowcases, or blankets.
Finally, you should check the spots where bed bugs most likely hide. Their tiny bodies allow them to hide in seemingly insignificant holes and cracks throughout your home. In addition to hiding inside your mattress or box spring, bed bugs find furniture joints (like those in a picture frame or windowsill), fabric seams, electrical outlets, the fabric of your carpet, between floorboards, and even behind wallpaper.
If you've started seeing these common signs of bed bug presence around your home, it's time to call a professional immediately.
A Bed Bug Infestation Only Gets Worse With Time
Female bed bugs can lay up to seven eggs a day, every single day. While that's a low number by insect standards, bed bugs lay their eggs in the same hidden nooks and crannies where they themselves reside. This makes spotting them difficult before a full-blown bed bug infestation takes place.
A single bed bug can lay approximately two hundred and fifty eggs throughout its lifetime. Those eggs take one to two and a half weeks to hatch, after which they immediately start feeding. After hatching, bed bugs can begin reproducing as early as three weeks. Within a year, a single bed bug can become thousands.
Why Bed Bugs Are So Hard To Prevent
Bed bugs are flat and, according to the CDC, can grow up to 9/32 inches in length. Additionally, they prefer to spend their time in dark places when able and tend to only appear in the light when overtaken by the need to feed or when a desired hiding place has run out of room. These two factors are why quickly calling on professional bed bug control near you is vital to fighting an infestation.
Bed bugs are notorious for hiding in luggage or hitching a ride on someone's clothes. Assuming you were vigilant in inspecting your home for these pests, how likely are you to notice one in the folds of your shirt, or the cuffs of your pants, especially when you aren't explicitly looking for it?
In addition to being experts at infiltration, bed bugs are incredibly resilient. Adults can live for over a year without having to feed. A bed bug could be present in your home for a long time without leaving any evidence.
Complicating matters further is that prevention is often an afterthought to an infestation. Only after their first infestation do people think about preventing the next one. While there are several bed bug control techniques for your home, they aren't effective if bed bugs are already present.
The Best Way To Get Rid of Bed Bugs In Your Home
To end an infestation, you must kill every bed bug in your home. To do so, you need to call on the professionals at Explorer Pest Management. We provide quality local home pest control for bed bugs and other pests by working closely with our clients and listening to their needs. Reach out to us today to learn more.
