What Do Bed Bugs Look Like? | [company]

If you have bed bugs, there will come a time in the infestation when you will not have to wonder if the bugs that are plaguing you are bed bugs. These are blood eaters that crawl to get at you. That means you’ll see them crawling across your desk while you’re working on the computer. You’ll see them crawling on the arm of your chair. You’ll see them crawling across the couch. There will be no doubt that these bugs are zeroing in on you. Bed bugs are blood-eating insects. That means they have six legs, like all insects do, and they are attracted to warm-blooded creatures, like you. But the goal of this article is to help you recognize them before they get to a point where they are attacking you by the dozens while you’re watching television, playing games on the computer, sleeping, or doing pretty much anything in your home.

Bed Bug Identification

  • First of all, these creatures are small. The average bed bug will not be larger than a pea. But long before they get that big, they will be plaguing you. Bed bugs go through five developmental stages (instars) before they get to adult size, and they must feed on blood to develop. Most often, bed bugs will hitchhike as larvae, since they can be much harder to see when they are smaller. So you’re looking for a bug that could be about the size of the tip on a pen. This is actually a much more helpful visual cue than you might imagine. There are few bugs this size that will crawl on you or sit in one place biting you.
  • Bed bugs crawl quickly. Since these pests are so small, the best way to identify them is by their behavior. They don’t jump like fleas. They don’t fly like mosquitoes. And they are much faster than ticks when they crawl. If you see a non-flying insect crawling quickly on your skin, there is a good chance it is a bed bug.
  • If you snatch something up off your skin and look at it closely, there are a few things you will quickly notice if the bug you are holding is a bed bug. It will have six legs, a hard insect casing, and horizontal indentations across its oval abdomen.
  • Bed bugs are usually blood red to black in color. This coloring will get darker as it develops toward adulthood.

If you find bed bugs in your Atlanta home, call Active Pest Control for the most advanced treatment options available. These are resilient and resourceful bugs that are extremely hard to get rid of.

Don’t let the bed bugs bite. When you have Active Pest Control, it’s all good.

Bed Bugs and Family Visits

Do you love it when family comes to stay? Do you look forward to those times when you can catch up? Family time is important; but, when family comes to spend the night, they can accidentally expose themselves, and your home, to bed bugs.

Here in Atlanta, bed bugs have grown into quite a problem; just as they have across the country. These blood eating pests get into homes, multiply and cause misery. One of the ways they do this is by hitching a ride with your family. Here are some examples.

  • When your family travels a great distance, they often stay in a hotel or motel along the way. These are prime locations to pick up these bugs. It doesn’t matter how nice or how clean their room is. Bed bugs are not attracted to filthy places. They are drawn to places where they can get a blood meal; and since they are a hitchhiking bug, hotels and motels are at constant risk of having these pests brought in on other guests.
  • Let’s say your family decides to take a flight. Does that mean they eliminate the risk of picking up bed bugs? Sadly, no. Bed bugs have been found inside airplanes. It is hard to keep these pests out of planes because bed bugs come in on passengers. Airplanes are also at risk because it can get dark on planes, people sleep on planes, and CO2 levels can increase substantially on planes. These are all conditions that invite bed bugs to infest.
  • How about travelling by bus? While buses definitely get more sunlight and your family may be able to travel entirely during the day, bed bugs can be active at all hours. They are able to bite humans even when they are fully awake. And, bed bug larvae can be as small as the tip of a pen. This has caused bed bug infestations to become a problem for bus lines, and it can become your problem if they crawl into your family’s belongings.

The truth is that it doesn’t matter how your family travels to your home, bed bugs have been found in all forms of public transportation. These pests can grow their populations inside many strange places.

Here is the worse news of all: bed bugs can come with your family, even if they take their own vehicle and they don’t stay anywhere. How? Your family could have an infestation at their home and not know it yet.

Whenever you have guests stay at your home, make sure to do a thorough inspection when they leave. If you find signs of bed bugs, call a professional. These clever and resilient bugs are extremely hard to get rid of without experience and knowledge.

If you live in Atlanta, Active Pest Control has the answer you need. Our team uses state-of-the-art equipment and the most advanced pest measures known to the pest industry. When your family time is done, we’ll help you sleep tight and make sure those bed bugs don’t bite.

Bed Bugs In Rome

Though the bed bug, also known as Cimex lectularius, has a Roman name, this isn’t an article about the affliction these pests were in ancient Rome or how they got their name. Instead, we are going to take a look at how these bugs can affect us here in Rome, Georgia and some of the misconceptions people have about this pest that can sometimes create the conditions for even more frustration.

When bed bugs strike a business or public municipality, they can create a major problem. Here are a few of the reasons why.

There is a perception that bed bugs only inhabit nasty places. Though, this is not true, they can still foster a sense of embarrassment. This has a tendency to drive people to respond rashly, throwing out mattresses, couches, chairs and other furniture. This is actually not necessary. A bed bug heat treatment will kill bed bugs deep inside these items. It is also important to understand that if your business or organization receives donated furniture, you don’t have to require donations to be in the form of new furniture still in their packaging. It is understandable to want to go in this direction, but bed bugs are a hitchhiking bug. They can come inside bags and on clothing, not just inside furniture and mattresses.

For some people, these bugs can cause significant mental trauma. If you manage or run a property that has residents, a bed bug infestation can quickly lead to hysteria, and sometimes lawsuits. The key to prevention is routine inspections. Bed bug infestations can be stopped before they begin, but it requires the assistance of a professional.

These are elusive bugs. If treated improperly, bed bugs are adept at fleeing into the walls and into other parts of a building. This causes the infestation to spread or appear to be gone only to return in a few short months. At Active Pest Control, our technicians know how to corral bed bugs so they can’t escape during treatment.

Treatments disrupt residents and keep a property from being accessed for a period of time. For this reason, we work hard to make sure our treatments get the job done effectively, in as little time as possible.

Bed bug treatments cost money, and for a struggling business or municipality, this is an unwelcomed hardship. That’s why we keep our costs highly competitive and outline a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

If you’re dealing with bed bugs in Rome, Georgia, click here or give us a call. There are a lot of misconceptions about these tiny blood-eating insects. But we’ll give you the answers you need and outline a solution to effectively protect your property and your reputation from the harmful effects of bed bugs.

Beating Jacksonville’s Bed Bug Blues

Bed bugs can show up practically anywhere, including here in Jacksonville and the surrounding suburbs. They turn up at hotels as people travel to and from major hubs, carrying their luggage from their homes and unknowingly spreading them through their infested clothing. Even top tier accommodations can’t avoid bed bugs when someone brings them from another country and they end up contaminating the hotel.

People can also pick them up from furniture at furniture stores, as two Jacksonville area families claim they did when they purchased rented or bought furniture from Aaron’s, Inc. in 2014. Most local furniture stores work with Jacksonville pest control specialists to perform quality assurance review, but sometimes this may not be enough as they rest in crevices, only to later infest your home.

Bedbug treatments are notoriously difficult and expensive, often running more than $3,000 for a single-family unit. And, unfortunately, once you have them, you almost always need professional help to ensure the problem is completely eliminated.

At the University of Georgia, entomologists studying bed bugs say that the critters are becoming more commonplace as they become resistant to certain pesticides, particularly here in Georgia. While these researchers are trying to find new ways to eradicate these pests, it’s hard to know if we’ll ever be able to eliminate bed bugs completely. Prior to the recent resurgence, they had been mostly eradicated throughout the developed world since the 1940s.

Bed bugs are typically elusive and may hide in cracks and hidden areas throughout your home or business. People often don’t know they have bed bugs until they notice the bite marks, which typically have a red, swollen area with a darker center, and are grouped together in a single area or are in a straight line. In addition to leaving painful bites, they can also carry disease, so if you notice them it’s important to call an exterminator right away.

If you’re concerned about the threat of bed bugs in your Jacksonville area home, schedule an appointment with Active Pest Control’s Jacksonville pest control specialists via our quick service contact form. Our team of pest control professionals will eliminate insects starting at the source, and can offer your tips and suggestions to prevent further infestations.