Bed bugs-just the utterance of it, and shivers run down many spines. Tiny, elusive, and incredibly persistent, bed bugs have been surprising us by finding ways into our homes and lives.
But where are these tiny critters coming from, and what is drawing them in to make choices for your bed? In this blog, we explore, bed bugs sources, behaviors, and what factors make your home a prime target.
Due to their nature, hotels and motels remain potential hosts to bed bug infestations because guests and their luggage are always coming and going. Bed bugs have easy mobility and can conveniently hitch a ride onto bags, clothing, and even personal items like laptops.
Once introduced into a hotel room, they may easily spread if not promptly identified and treated. Hotel rooms provide ideal conditions for bed bugs to thrive: a warm bed and plenty of hiding places.
Forms of public transportation, such as buses, trains, and taxis are also capable of transporting bed bugs. These insects can immediately latch onto merchandise brought by passengers or hitch a ride onto one's person on clothing.
This insect can maneuver easily around, and in a full-on situation concerning public transportation, they can spread even faster because people and their personal belongings often come into close contact with one another. Seats and storage areas in public transport provide ideal points for bed bugs to hide effectively.
Second-hand furniture items, like mattresses and upholstered things, may be the usual carriers of these bed bugs. The pests can easily hide in seams, folds, and internal padding. "The risk is greater when the items are not checked or treated appropriately before buying."
Bed bugs can remain dormant for months and can travel with furniture from one location to another. If buying secondhand furniture, especially from online marketplaces, thrift stores, or garage sales, make sure to inspect for bed bugs.
Bed bugs can become an ongoing problem within the rental house or apartment because of shared walls, floors, and common areas that afford them greater ease in migration. The infestation can move from unit to unit through fissures, pipes, and electrical wiring.
An infestation in one unit can easily migrate to other neighboring units if not caught in time. It's a common occurrence for these bugs to be introduced into a home or building by previous tenants. If the property isn't cleaned appropriately or treated between tenancies, then the pests will continue to survive.
There is tremendous vulnerability regarding infestation with bed bugs in institutions such as dorms, apartments, and other shared living quarters because of the high density of people and how close to each other the living quarters are. Bed bugs can easily move between rooms and units through shared walls, plumbing systems, and electrical systems.
The movement of individuals and personal belongings in these environments increases the risk of spreading the bugs. These latter places require periodic check-ups and prevention.
Bed bugs can be unintentionally brought into movie theatres and other public areas. They can come in with patrons and then spread into the seating areas. The upholstered seating and dark, sometimes dirty areas make for a perfect place for bed bugs to hide.
When public places are infested with bed bugs, they will leave patrons to reinfect other locations. Public venues could periodically inspect their seating and other areas where bed bugs might be found and clean as appropriate.
The bed bug infestation can be at hospitals and health facilities. Continuous traffic among patients, visitors, and health professionals promotes the potential bed bug problem. There is usually a high turnover in these places.
In health care settings, bed bugs may hide in the patient rooms and even the waiting areas or sometimes even in medical equipment. Facilities should establish extremely strict cleaning procedures and conduct routine inspections to curtail risks stemming from bed bugs.
They can also infest office buildings and workplaces. This pest enters the workplace on personal items, second-hand furniture, and even employees' clothes. Compared to other places, bed bugs seem to be more hidden from sight in offices as they can hide in desks, chairs, and other office furniture.
In that light, proper regular cleaning and monitoring should be implemented to control bed bug risks at workplaces. For this, the employees should be educated about bed bugs and encouraged to report when suspected of an infestation.
Traveling is one of the most common ways bed bugs propagate. Bed bugs use luggage, backpacks, and even clothes for transport from infested hostels, public transportation, or any other place to your home.
Bed bugs can be transported on personal items and secondarily cause a new infestation in your home. To decrease the possibility of bringing bed bugs into your home, inspect and clean your luggage after travel. Also, try not to place your luggage on hotel beds and floors.
The most common places to look are antique shops and thrift stores. Most items that have been previously used are found in these shops and some of them may be infested with bed bugs. Furniture, clothes, and other household goods can be a host for bed bugs that have lived in them for some period.
Seams and folds of antiques and secondhand items sometimes provide a bed bug with a very undetectable place to hide. When purchasing items from second-hand stores or antique shops, inspect for signs of bed bugs.
Bed bugs are blood-sucking insects; hence, human is the primary substance that helps them survive and grow. Bed bugs feed by piercing the skin using their distinctive mouthparts to suck blood from their host.
Their enticement toward human blood serves as the highest driving factor for infestation in homes, especially in areas where people sleep. The warmth and stillness of a sleeping individual offer bed bugs the perfect route to feed undisturbed.
Bed bugs locate their hosts primarily by detecting carbon dioxide emissions. Human beings exhale CO2, a natural by-product of respiration, and bed bugs can detect this emission from a distance. It is very likely that when carbon dioxide in the air is at a higher concentration, it signals a higher possibility of potential hosts in the vicinity.
This is one of the reasons it would come out when you are sleeping or lying still for a long time. Bed bugs congregate in areas where the levels of carbon dioxide are high, such as around your bed or in your sleeping vicinity.
Bed bugs are also drawn to the temperature of the human body. Being ectothermic cold-blooded-bed bugs rely on something else to generate heat for them. They use the temperature of a human body as some sort of guideline when they go looking for their host.
When you sleep, your body heat radiates through the bedding, drawing bed bugs closer. The only combination of body heat and carbon dioxide informs the bed bugs that a host is nearby, making access to feeding easier.
Amazingly, dirty laundry can even attract bed bugs due to residual human sweat and natural body oils left on it. Bed bugs will be attracted by the odors of used apparel, which mimics a potential human host.
Allowing dirty laundry to be out, especially around sleeping areas, can invite the bugs in. This trap is even more worry in infested houses, as these bed bugs can take dirty clothes and odors to locate their next host dwelling place.
Bed bugs can be given many places to hide in cluttered areas; hence, cluttered areas make identification and elimination difficult. Piles of clothes, stacked books, and general clutter produce dark, secluded places in a room that may be used by bed bugs to hide during the day.
The more cluttered the room is, the more difficult it will be to locate and eliminate the bed bugs. Clutter not only gives bed bugs a place to hide but also considerably makes the treatment process difficult.
Bed bugs are nocturnal insects that like to hide during the day in dark secluded areas. They find tiny cracks, small crevices, and tight spaces to accommodate themselves in furniture, walls, and floors.
Bed bugs are found especially in the seams of mattresses, behind baseboards, inside electrical outlets, and within joints of furniture. Their preference for darkness and hiding places renders them invisible until an acute outbreak of the bugs has occurred.
Shared dwellings that include apartments, dormitories, and hotels put one at risk of bed bug infestation. They can pass from one unit to the next through shared walls, floors, and ceilings. Bed bugs even can transfer from one unit to another through common areas such as laundry rooms and lounges.
When you have multiple people in side-by-side living situations with each other, another person's bed bug problem is quickly everybody's problem if it is not taken care of promptly. This lack of control can make vigilance and routine inspection foremost methods in shared living areas to avoid bed bugs altogether.
Traveling is one of the many ways bed bugs spread from place to place. Bed bugs can hitch a ride on luggage, clothing, and personal items; hence, travelers are one of the most prone to bringing the insects home after a trip.
These highly vulnerable places for exposure include hotels, motels, and vacation rentals due to the high turnovers with inconsistent cleanliness. Immediately after traveling, one should always check their luggage and clothes for any bed bug traces.
Used furniture is the most common source of bed bugs, but particularly upholstered furniture and mattresses. The bugs can be inside the seams, cushions, and internal structure of these items, and often are passed undetected until a full infestation of your home occurs.
Bed bugs can go for months in a state of dormancy, and are very difficult to find at the time you may be purchasing used furniture. Always carefully inspect any used item before bringing it into your home.
Bed bugs love warm weather; therefore, a temperature range of 70 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which is between 21 to 32 degrees Celsius, is the best range for reproduction and survival of bed bugs.
Such warm temperatures speed up the life cycle of bed bugs, thus making them breed faster and giving a high possibility of infestation, therefore. Homes that uphold warm temperatures throughout favor the multiplication of bed bugs.
Bed bugs have a penchant for soft furnishings: bedding, settees, curtains, and carpets. These fabrics provide several hiding spots and are generally found close to or near the floor where most people spend a great deal of their time, thus making them a prime target for bed bug infestation.
The insects will burrow into the fabric itself, thereby making them very difficult to find. Regular cleaning and vacuuming of soft furnishings can help in reducing the risk of bed bugs. Besides, mattress and pillow protectors can prevent bed bugs from infesting.
Though not proven yet, it is considered that bed bugs may have a preference for a particular blood type. While studies are still ongoing, some research has indicated that bed bugs find people with Type O blood most appealing. However, the preference isn't strong enough to be much of a big deterrent or method of prevention.
No matter the blood type, bed bugs will feed on whatever human host is present in front of them. Therefore, regardless of the blood type, it is never too late to try and prevent the infestation or eliminate it.
Bed bugs are night-active insects during which people sleep. This habit has made them adapt easily to the sleeping patterns of humans. They are attracted by the stillness and warmth of a sleeping individual, which provides them with an unruffled opportunity to feed.
They will know exactly when you sleep and come out to feed. The regular sleeping cycle makes your body quite predictable for bed bugs. In order not to be bitten by bed bugs, you should periodically examine your bedding or use bed bug-proof mattress covers.
Bed bugs don't require much moisture to survive, but they still are attracted to a more humid environment. The bugs will be more comfortable in a moist environment and will be more active. High humidity, especially in homes with bedrooms and bathrooms, could make your home inviting to bed bugs.
Using dehumidifiers will decrease the appeal of your home, and all rooms should be well-ventilated. Keeping your home dry and well-ventilated will discourage bed bugs as well as other pests that love moist conditions.
Regular inspection is the bed bug infestation prevention key. Without inspection in your house, it allows the development and continuous spreading of bed bugs, which otherwise would have gotten noticed.
The earlier you detect these bugs, the better it is to avoid a minor issue from turning into a complete infestation. Check your regular bedding, furniture, and other areas where bed bugs might be hiding for signs of the bugs, including bloodstains, fecal spots, and shed skins.
Calling a professional pest control service is often the most effective and reliable way to eliminate a bed bug infestation, especially when you're unsure how you get bed bugs or how do bed bugs start. How do you get bed bugs?
Bed bugs are notorious hitchhikers and can enter your home in various ways, whether from travel, secondhand furniture, or even neighboring units. Understanding where bed bugs come from and how do bed bugs begin is key to preventing future infestations.
They can be picked up from hotels, public transportation, or infested homes, and once they invade, they spread rapidly. Where can bed bugs come from? It's often from areas with high human traffic, making professional intervention crucial.
Exterminators have the expertise, equipment, and specialized treatments to tackle bed bugs at all life stages, addressing the issue right from where do bed bugs come from.
They often start unnoticed, but professionals may use methods such as heat treatments, raising the temperature in infested areas to a lethal level, or chemical insecticides specifically designed to target these pests.
A professional service can also help ensure that the infestation is thoroughly eradicated and provide guidance on preventing future issues, helping you understand how do you get bed bugs and ensuring it doesn't happen again.
