Bed bugs are a widespread parasite that Manchester residents encounter because they thrive wherever people are. These pests have the main objective of finding the human blood that they need to survive and lay their eggs. Before a bed bug has fed, they are a nearly translucent amber color and resemble an apple seed. However, once an adult bed bug has had its blood meal, it becomes engorged, turns a shade of dark brown, and changes its shape to become long and stout.
Unfortunately, because few people ever actually see bed bugs when they have an infestation, there is still a lot that’s unknown about them. Luckily, EcoChoice Termite & Pest Control has prepared the following guide to help you understand what bed bugs are, why they’re an issue, and how pest control in Manchester can help both eliminate and prevent them. We hope that you find the information below helpful, and when you’re ready to engage in our bed bug removal services, we hope you’ll give us a call.
How Can I Tell If I Have Bed Bugs?
Part of the problem with having a bed bug infestation inside your home is that determining that you actually have an outbreak is one of the most difficult steps. Bed bugs could be considered lazy pests and don’t like to stray too far from their food source, which is likely you. In turn, this develops a bed bug population that is living out of sight, usually in the far reaches of your mattresses, couches, and upholstered items.
That said, there are still some telltale signs that may indicate that you are dealing with an outbreak of bed bugs. Those include:
- Getting clusters of little red bug bites that you don’t remember encountering, likely because they took place while you were asleep.
- Having an increase in allergies and asthma attacks, which come as a direct result of bed bugs leaving behind their molted skin and fecal matter.
- Finding blood stains on your sheets, which come from squishing bed bugs, as well as reddish brown smear marks resulting from bed bug feces containing blood.
- Noticing things like eggs, egg shells, nymphs or juvenile bed bugs, as well as adult bed bugs in your bedroom furniture, closets, and mattresses.
- Smelling a very potent odor that gets released from a bed bug’s pheromones.
If you’ve noticed any of the aforementioned signs, then you likely have bed bugs living in your home. The most effective way to address them is with professional help from EcoChoice Termite & Pest Control.
Our bed bug elimination system follows strict Integrated Pest Management guidelines, which means that the services we provide are deemed safe for people and their pets, and they will also create lasting relief from bed bugs. For more information on these services, please call us today.
How Did Bed Bugs Come Into My Home?
If you’ve found bed bugs in your home and wondered how they got there, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common questions that pest experts get about bed bugs in Manchester because they are stealthy parasites that travel by hitchhiking. What this means is that bed bugs locate a host and go for a free ride directly into your home. One of the most common hosts for bed bugs is actually your belongings. Bed bugs live comfortably wherever there are people, so if you’ve eaten at a restaurant, sent your kids to school, or even just run a few errands, you might have come into direct contact with bed bugs and allowed them to latch onto your clothes or bags.
Another way that you could have unknowingly brought bed bugs into your home is by acquiring secondhand furniture or mattresses without inspecting them carefully enough. Bed bugs very commonly live inside used sofas that have been kept in storage for extended periods of time.
It’s also very easy to develop a bed bug problem if you have neighbors, which many people in the area have. Whether you live in multi-unit housing or have a neighbor on the other side of your fence, if they are dealing with bed bugs, these pests can easily climb through shared walls or enter the cracks in your foundation.
Because bed bugs travel in such subtle ways, it’s important to always perform detailed inspections of your own belongings after traveling, and before you bring home that couch off of the curb, give it a thorough look and try to gather information about its prior whereabouts. We would also recommend professional bed bug prevention that focuses on exclusionary methods to stop bed bugs before they have a chance. At EcoChoice Termite & Pest Control, we provide our customers with effective bed bug services and the education required to keep these pests away for good.
Can Bed Bugs Spread?
Bed bugs, by nature, are capable of spreading. Whether that means throughout your home or throughout the neighborhood, it’s what they do. Spreading provides bed bugs with the food supply they need to survive, and spreading also allows them to find a place to call their own. One of the ways that bed bugs spread is when there isn’t enough room for any entire infestation in, say, a mattress. When this starts to happen, you are likely to find bed bugs and their eggs in your carpet, couches, closets, nightstands, and dresser drawers.
Bed bugs can also spread in the sense that they can move from one abode to another. They will likely do this when a food source has dried up. These pests are capable of climbing between walls that you might share with a neighbor, or they leave one home and slip through the cracks of another. Lastly, bed bugs spread just by existing. They are parasites, so they exist to spread. Bed bugs are always looking for the next food source. Say, for example, you operate a business, and one of your employees unknowingly brought bed bugs to your property. Those same pests might hop a ride with another employee or customer and move right into their home for the promise of something better.
If you’ve noticed bed bugs in various places around your home, you are likely dealing with a large-scale infestation. When this scenario presents itself, look no further than EcoChoice Termite & Pest Control. We follow strict Integrated Pest Management methods to deliver bed bug removal in Manchester that is safe and highly effective. Because we’re experts in bed bug behavior, we know the patterns of where bed bugs spread, which is why we perform room-by-room inspections in order to locate the entirety of your infestation. For more information on these services and how they can benefit your home, call us today.
How Can I Get Bed Bugs Away From My Home For Good?
A bed bug problem in your Manchester home is far more trouble than you deserve to deal with, which is why you can take active steps to keep them away for good. There are really two main categories of prevention that you can take, and those include: dedication and professional help.
Here, we’ll break down the benefits of both:
- Dedication: When we say dedication, we mean being focused on the role that your behavior plays in the development of bed bug outbreaks. As we’ve shown, daily life is a key factor in whether or not you’ll end with a bed bug outbreak. In order to limit the chance of developing an issue in your home, you’ll want to always inspect your clothes after riding the bus or seeing a movie, and if you’re considering decorating with any used furniture, whether it’s from the thrift store or off the street, always look for any signs of bed bugs or other parasites like fleas. If you’ve been traveling, always store your worn clothes in a sealed container and wash them immediately upon returning home. You’ll then want to dry them on the highest setting because extreme heat is known to kill off bed bugs. Lastly, look closely at your foundation and seal up any crevices you find with caulk, insert door sweeps on loose doors, and apply weatherstripping around windows and doors that need it.
- Professional help: If you’ve developed a bed bug infestation, the swiftest and most trusted way to get rid of it is with help from a pest expert. You’ll be hard-pressed to find the source of your bed bug outbreak, and the treatments that you can pick up at the hardware store are costly and don’t come with the amount of training and expertise that a professional will have. Bed bugs can also reproduce rapidly, laying approximately seven eggs a day for ten days after feasting. Professional help is the only way to stop these infestations from exponential growth.
For more information on our residential and commercial pest control services in Manchester including bed bug elimination, call EcoChoice Termite & Pest Control today.