Bed bugs. Is there a more disconcerting name for a residential pest? Your bed is supposed to be your safe haven, a place where you can feel comfortable and protected from the unpredictable factors in life. When these irritating pests invade your sacred space, disrupting your sleep and bringing several potential health problems with them, it’s time to take a stand. Bed bugs are an uncomfortable problem to have, and the signs and symptoms associated with an infestation can be difficult to detect early on and aren’t easy to treat on your own. If you don’t know what to look for, you may not even realize that bed bugs are your problem.
1st Choice Pest Solutions offers fast, effective, and safe bed bug pest removal services in the Eau Claire area. If you notice any of these red flags that indicate a bed bug problem, then it’s time to give us a call and set up an appointment. You should never have to deal with a pest stealing away your quality of sleep and causing health concerns for you and your loved ones. Contact us for immediate service and relief if you see any of these warning signs.
Itchy Red Bites
Many people don’t even realize they have a bed bug problem until it’s too late and they’ve begun to leave physical marks. What does a bed bug bite look like? Most people who have had to deal with bed bugs report the appearance of flat, red welts in small clusters on different parts of their bodies, particularly on their arms and legs. Sometimes these welts appear in zigzag patterns, lines, or clusters. While bed bugs don’t typically spread diseases to humans they feed on, their bites can be incredibly irritating, which can lead to people scratching the bites. When these bites are scratched, it can lead to further bleeding and can also leave the wounds vulnerable to infection.
Nights Spent Tossing and Turning
As their name would indicate, bed bugs are most commonly found in and around beds. Since people spend between five to nine hours a night in their beds, it makes sense that bed bugs would be most active during these late hours. If your nightly sleep routine has begun to be interrupted or disrupted by itchy welts that appear while you’re sleeping, it’s a pretty good bet that bed bugs are responsible. These irritating bites can make sleeping difficult, leading to uncomfortable tossing, turning, and itching when you should be sleeping soundly.
Strange Marks on Extremities
The easiest targets for bed bugs to attack are exposed areas of skin, particularly on the arms and shoulders. Many people sleep with these parts of their bodies exposed, so they are naturally a very common area to experience bites. This is an important distinction since there are other pests that can bite sleeping victims. While pests like fleas or mites tend to leave bite marks on feet and ankles, bed bugs almost always go for exposed extremities like arms and shoulders.
Unexplained Small Red Stains
Bed bug activity will leave behind certain telltale signs, but if you have dark sheets, some of these signs may be less obvious. After bed bugs feed on their human hosts, they leave behind small blood stains that look a bit like tiny rust spots. When bed bugs are responsible, you’ll usually find these strange spots near the corners and edges of your bed.
Bed bugs also molt several times as they mature, which is the process of shedding their exoskeleton. Upon close inspection of your sheets, you may discover small, discarded, oval-shaped, and brown-colored exoskeletons. Lovely, right?
A Troublesome Odor
Accompanying the previously mentioned stains and shed exoskeletons, the presence of bed bugs usually has a particular odor associated with it. The odor is usually described as a strong, musty, unpleasant odor, similar to an old wet towel. This foul odor is caused by pheromones which are released by bed bugs and can be quite noticeable when you are dealing with a large bed bug population. If your bedroom begins to smell more like a high school locker room rather than your safe home oasis, it would behoove you to perform a preliminary inspection for bed bugs.
Inspection Tips for Determining a Bed Bug Infestation
Perhaps you’ve experienced one or more of the aforementioned signs of a bed bug infestation. If that is the case, it’s time to perform some basic inspections. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to help confirm that your pest problem is due to a bed bug infestation:
Bed Inspection
If you have reason to believe that bed bugs have invaded your bedroom, the first thing you should thoroughly investigate is your bed. Strip the mattress and box spring completely and closely inspect all of the corners and seams. You may find it helpful to use a magnifying glass and a flashlight. Be on the lookout for the rust-colored stains caused by blood and/or the tiny brown molted exoskeletons of bed bugs.
Signs of Bed Bugs Throughout the Bedroom
Once you’ve inspected the bed, investigate any other upholstered piece of furniture in the bedroom. This can include chairs, couches, curtains, and even the edges of the carpet. Bed bugs are sneaky and like to reside in hard-to-reach places, so look in and behind dressers, under the bed, and behind the headboard. You’ll be searching for more of those rust-colored spots and exoskeletons.
Closet Inspection
Not being satisfied with invading your bed, bed bugs will sometimes cling to clothing as well. This is the primary method bed bugs use to travel from one location to another. Thoroughly search your closets and clothing. When bed bugs decide to hide in your clothing, it’s only a matter of time before they are residing in your bed.
The Next Step: Seeking Help From Pest Control
If you or your family members are getting bitten by bed bugs, or if you discover any of the signs of an infestation that we talked about, our best advice is to not delay in seeking professional assistance. Bed bugs multiply at an alarming rate. A female bed bug can lay 500 eggs throughout their lifetime and are usually deposited in hidden, hard-to-reach places. If you procrastinate in dealing with a bed bug problem, it will only become a larger and larger problem that is more difficult to deal with. Call 1st Choice Pest Solutions immediately if you suspect bed bugs! We can have a friendly pest control technician sent out to your residence promptly to investigate and determine the extent of your infestation, and then lay out a clear plan for dealing with these troublesome pests.
Infestations are very difficult to eradicate without professional treatment. You need an experienced bed bug exterminator who knows how to effectively eradicate all of these pests correctly the first time. Contact us today for professional bed bug pest control services throughout the Eau Claire region and get relief fast.