Bed bugs are small reddish-brown insects that feed off the blood supply of other animals – including humans. They like to live amongst your sheets, comforters and pillows, where they can easily hide-away during the daylight hours and come out for a quick feast at night.
For most people living amidst these hungry little pests, the first evidence of their existence comes from the itching red bed bug bites discovered in the morning. However, when the world outside your own door is swarming with biting bugs of several varieties, how do you know what the source of the bite is? It’s not only other insect bites that cause confusion. Often the onset of the bed bug bites is so rapid after infestation, that people will mistake it for an allergic reaction, scabies, or something else entirely. As a result, time is allowed to pass and that spells even more trouble for the status
of their sheets and bedding.
On average, a bed bug lives for about ten months. Two bedbugs of differing sexes can produce approximately four eggs per day, which take approximately ten days to hatch. Taking into consideration that it does take about two months for the infant bed bugs to fully mature, two bugs can turn into more than one thousand in just three months’ time and more than ten thousand in four months! So, it is extremely important to call in the bed bugs experts as soon as you think your house may be infested. It also demonstrates how a small number of bed bugs has quickly led to a full scale bed bug resurgence across the US.
How do you know for sure that the bite is the result of a bed bug, though? Unfortunately, it is very difficult to tell. Getting bit does not result in the same effect on every person, plus, it is thought that sleeping habits will effect where and how often the bed bugs bite.
If the person moves a lot then the bedbug will bit several times, moving each time the person does. If the person remains still, there might only be one bite noted. Some people will swell more than others. Often, these bites will appear in large clusters on one area of the body because the bedbugs would rather feed in one location, as opposed to having to travel long distances across bedding. However, if you wake with bites that weren’t evident the night before, then you should inspect your mattress, looking for the rice-sized, reddish-brown bugs, their shed exoskeletons, and tiny blood spots that could have been left behind.
Finding only one bed bug is a sign that there are many others and it is time to pick up the phone and call a bed bug pest control company. Trained professionals are the only ones that have consistent success with getting rid of these pests, which seem to be able to survive the most lethal attacks. So, don’t wait. You don’t want to be stuck with growing numbers and a lack of sleep.