When you imagine bed bugs, you might think of a pest that is only found in dirty homes. It’s a common misconception that bed bugs in Indianapolis only infest cluttered buildings. The truth is that good or bad housekeeping has nothing to do with whether or not you’ll have a bed bug infestation.
In fact, bed bugs are a rather unique pest in some ways because they can happen to almost anyone. They can invade many residential homes as well as all kinds of commercial buildings. While they do prefer to have mattresses and bedding to live around, they can even survive in places without beds.
Where Bed Bugs Live
Bed bugs can hide in all kinds of small places throughout a house, such as in cracks in the walls, inside of electrical outlets, or on other kinds of furniture. Because of this, and because they come out at night to bite people, bed bugs can be particularly disturbing.
In order to help you keep these bugs away from your home, especially during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, this guide is here with prevention tips.
How Bed Bug Infestations Usually Start
Bed bugs can spread to so many areas because of the way they move around. They don’t just wander in from the outdoors. Instead, they are usually picked up while people are running errands or traveling. They don’t use humans as hosts, but they will become stowaways on luggage, bags, and more.
This means you can pick them up while at laundromats, hotels, airports, buses, and any other location with various people. And, with the holiday season, here again, there’s a lot of travel and a lot of chances to accidentally pick up these hitchhikers.
While picking up bed bugs during travel or while out and about is the most common way to get an infestation, bed bugs can also be carried in on second-hand items. Of course, mattresses and other bedding are the main culprits, but bed bugs can be living on other used furniture and even inside appliances.
Useful Bed Bug Prevention Tips
Bed bugs can present particular challenges when it comes to prevention as they are only about the size of an apple seed and can be found in so many places. However, there are still three main steps you can take to avoid picking them up during travel, such as:
- Try not to set luggage and bags down on the floor of public spaces or close to other people's luggage.
- Check hotel rooms for signs of bed bugs before settling in and ask to be moved immediately if there are any signs of bed bugs.
- Move laundry to and from laundromats in plastic bags and wash and dry all clothes on the highest heat setting when returning from travel.
Also, it’s a good idea to know the signs of bed bug activity in order to avoid bringing home any used items that are already infested. The main signs of bed bug activity include:
- Rusty blood stains on fabric
- Brown stains and marks on furniture or appliances
- Discarded eggshells and shed skins
What To Do Once Bed Bugs Are Inside Your Indianapolis Home
Bed bug prevention is never completely effective, especially during such a busy time of year. If you have bed bugs in your home, contact the professionals at Action Pest Control right away.
Professional home pest control is the only truly reliable way to remove bed bugs completely as they are so invasive. To find out more about our treatment options, give us a call today to get started.