Bed bugs can vary a bit in appearance depending on if they’re adults or nymphs and on how recently they’ve had a meal. These pests go through five nymph stages before becoming adults. In each stage, they become larger and darker in appearance, going from a milky white to light brown to mahogany brown, until they are full-sized adults.
An adult bed bug is about the size of an apple seed and has an oval-shaped body. When it hasn’t eaten, its body is broad, flat, and mahogany brown in color. After a meal, a bed bug becomes engorged, elongated, and redder in color.
Bed bug eggs are tiny, no bigger than a pinhead. Oval-shaped and creamy white, they are difficult to see without a magnifying device.
People tend to hear the words “bed bugs” and immediately start feeling itchy and uncomfortable. It’s true that bed bugs bite, and those bites are itchy, but are bed bugs dangerous?
Thankfully, although bed bug bites are itchy and could lead to a secondary infection if you scratch your skin raw, bed bugs are not known to be a danger to humans or pets. They don’t spread diseases, and they don’t cause major damage to your house.
Bed bugs are unique in the way they get into homes. While many other pests get inside on their own by exploiting openings around the exterior of your house, bed bugs take a lazier approach.
As indoor pests tend to live around humans since they need blood meals for survival, bed bugs usually get into homes by riding inside. They might be on a pant leg or in a backpack, in a suitcase, or quietly hiding under a shoelace.
How do bed bugs get onto these items in the first place? Anytime you go out in public, it’s possible to end up with a bed bug on your clothing or in your belongings. Public transportation, hotels, or even schools could have bed bugs in them. Anywhere people congregate could be locations where bed bugs are present. If even one bed bug climbs onto your pant leg, you might bring it home with you.
It’s a common misconception that bed bugs are only found in dirty homes. This myth likely came about because bed bugs are more easily able to hide in a cluttered home. When this happens, a bed bug infestation can grow for a longer period of time before being noticed. Oftentimes, the bed bug infestations that are most publicized are the ones that are completely out of control. In these cases, the home is often more dirty than the average house.
Unfortunately, the truth is that bed bugs will infest any home, dirty or clean. The good news is that if your house is relatively clean, you’ll probably notice there’s a problem before it gets too big or out of control.
Knowing the signs of a bed bug infestation is crucial to early detection. Look for these signs when inspecting for bed bugs:
If you see any of those signs, it’s likely that bed bugs are in your house.
A bed bug infestation can spread very quickly if conditions are right. With a steady food supply and warm temperatures, bed bugs will thrive and reproduce at a rapid rate. Females lay an average of one egg per day but can lay up to seven per day. Each female can produce over 100 eggs in a lifetime. Eggs will hatch in about a week’s time, and new bed bugs take a little over a month to develop into mature adults. When all is said and done, in ideal conditions, a bed bug infestation can double about every two weeks.
Many homeowners try to get rid of bed bugs on their own, and the vast majority of those homeowners end up having to contact a professional pest control company to take care of the problem later. Treating bed bugs on your own is difficult for a few reasons:
It’s best not to waste your time or money trying to treat a bed bug infestation yourself.
If you suspect that bed bugs have gotten into your home, contact got bugs? right away. We offer bed bug control services in Atlanta that completely eliminate bed bug infestations.
Bed bug control treatments vary in price, depending on several factors, such as the extent of the infestation. Contact got bugs? for more information or to request a quote.
Because of the way that bed bugs get into your house, it’s difficult to prevent an infestation. If you travel, we recommend carefully inspecting your belongings before bringing them back into your house. If you don’t see any bed bugs, it’s still wise to wash and dry all of your clothing in the hottest setting before putting it back in your drawers and closets.
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