Everyone is at risk for getting bed bugs when visiting an infected area. However, anyone who travels frequently and shares living and sleeping quarters where other people have previously slept has a higher risk of being bitten and or spreading a bed bug infestation.
One out of five Americans has had a bed bug infestation in their home or knows someone who has encountered bed bugs at home or in a hotel.
Purchasing mattress and box spring encasements and bed bug interceptors are easy ways to protect yourself against any future bed bug-related hassle. Bed bug-proof encasements won't stop the critters from getting into your home, but they will make it easier to eliminate them if an infestation develops.
Bedbugs are a relatively common pest across Australia. Bedbugs can be difficult to remove because their eggs are difficult to see, have a significant incubation period and can quickly infest new sites. A combination of multiple non-chemical and chemical treatments is typically needed to control a bedbug infestation.
Travel – Bedbugs may find their way onto luggage in hotels and motels with a high number of occupants. If you have stayed at a hotel or other home recently, leave bags and clothes in the garage or somewhere far from upholstered surfaces, suggests Allan Bossel, to avoid unintentionally transporting them to your home.
Who is at risk? Any home is at risk of a bed bug infestation. Bed bugs are not a sign of a dirty home or poor personal hygiene. Bed bugs are hitchhikers - they travel to new places by hiding in furniture, suitcases, or other objects that get moved around.
Wash everything on a high temperature or sanitary cycle for at least 30 minutes. Placing everything in the dryer on the hottest setting for 30 minutes will also kill bed bugs and larvae. Immediately after you're finished putting clothing in the washer, tie up and throw out the empty garbage bag in an outdoor trash bin.
Bed bugs live throughout the year, but there is a particular time during each year when bed bug infestations become more common. In normal years, bed bug “season” peaks in the months of August and September when most families have returned from their travels, and bugs have a chance to gain a foothold.
Mattresses and pillows make potential habitats for bed bugs. Pillows may also be host to bed bug eggs, making them a potential point of bed bug infestations. A possible sign that bed bugs have infested pillows may be the appearance of bites.
A bed bug treatment using heat kills bed bugs immediately, but there is no residual. A chemical bed bug treatment can take a few weeks, but it leaves a residual which provides continued protection from bed bug re-infestation.
You may have them for a while, but may not notice them until weeks, or even months later. Bed bug eggs take anywhere from six to 12 days to hatch, and the adult life span can be anywhere from six months to a year. That's why it's important to know these early signs of an infestation.
Myth: Bed bugs transmit diseases. Reality: There have been no cases or studies that indicate bed bugs transmit diseases between humans. Myth: Bed bugs are not a public health pest. Reality: Bed bugs are a public health pest.
Bed bugs are natural hitchhikers, so it's likely that if you encounter an infestation, you could bring bed bugs home with you through your luggage or other belongings. Initially, once you learn you have been exposed to bed bugs you must not panic. Not everybody who encounters bed bugs will necessarily bring them home.
Bed bugs are mostly nocturnal, but their feeding habits can become a matter of convenience. People that work a night shift can be bitten during the day when the insects are near. The bugs can bite several times in a night to become full but only feed about once every one or two weeks.
They are visible to the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are usually brown in colour. When filled with blood, their colour ranges from red to dark brown. They are oval in shape and about the size of a flattened apple seed, 4 to 7 mm in length.
Rusty or reddish stains on bed sheets or mattresses caused by bed bugs being crushed. Dark spots (about this size: ), which are bed bug excrement and may bleed on the fabric like a marker would. Eggs and eggshells, which are tiny (about 1mm) and pale yellow skins that nymphs shed as they grow larger.
As bed bugs live for over a year without feeding, it can take months before they disappear completely. You will need bed bug extermination to deal with the infestation right away. Pest control professionals will know how to get bed bugs out of your bed and off your bedding quickly.
Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown, wingless, and about the size of an apple seed. They are flat with oval-shaped bodies. Young bedbugs, or nymphs, are smaller and can appear translucent or yellowish in color. If nymphs have not been recently fed, due to their coloring, they can be almost impossible to spot.
Most people believe that you get a bed bug infestation if your house is dirty, however, this is not the case. The truth is that bed bugs can make their way into any home, regardless of how clean or dirty your house is. To get bed bugs in your home all you have to do is to come in contact with them.
No. You should not throw out your mattress after a bed bug attack. Besides that being one of the easiest ways to spread the infestation even further, it also won't solve the problem. Unfortunately, bed bugs are not limited to mattresses.
Use small plastic bags to pack clothing, shoes and other personal items. This will help prevent any bed bugs that climb into your suitcase from getting into your house with your clothing. Bed bugs can also hide in books, cloth toiletry kits and other non-metal personal items.