If you’ve ever gone to sleep expecting a good night’s rest, only to wake up covered in little, red, itchy spots on your skin, chances are, you’ve got a bed bug problem. While they can be a troublesome problem, how much do you actually know about these little creatures that hide in your bed? It can be helpful to know more about bed bugs so that you can learn to guard against them in your home. Here are some little-known facts about bed bugs:
- Bed bugs don’t just infest dirty places
When you hear of bed bugs, you might think they only live in beds in unkempt and filthy areas. Unfortunately, that is not true. While they are called bed bugs, these bugs can also reside in other furniture or items such as articles of clothing and carpets. Bed bugs rely on a source of blood as their livelihoods, so they can be found anywhere where humans are found. This doesn’t limit them to occurring only in dirty places. Many people unwittingly bring back a family of bed bugs to their otherwise clean home, creating an infestation of bed bugs within a short time. It would be complacent to think that your home is immune to bed bugs just because you clean it regularly!
- Bed bugs are Robust
Bed bugs may be tiny, but they sure are mighty! The tiny pests can survive for up to 6 months without food. Thus, it not uncommon for people to think that the pests have been eliminated from their home, only to have them reappear again months later. And that is not all! Bed bugs are reported to be able to withstand temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius and remain active at cold temperatures reaching 7 degrees Celsius. Even at temperatures lower than that, bed bugs do not die, unless they are subjected to subzero temperatures for a prolonged period of time.
Bed bugs are also hardy against alcohol as a means to kill them, with one research showing that half the bed bugs that were sprayed with rubbing alcohol survived. As bed bugs are such tough pests to eliminate, people with an infestation in their home are recommended to seek professional bed bug control services to conduct thorough extermination.
- Bed bugs are excellent hiders
One reason why it is so hard to detect bed bugs is that they only launch their attacks at night. In the day, bed bugs are stashed away in narrow crevices, hiding from your preying eyes. Bed bugs can lie in wait anywhere from the box springs of your mattress, to cracks in the wall, and gaps in the joinery of your furniture. If you suspect a bed bug infestation in your home, you will need to check every possible spot for these creatures. Otherwise, you may be better off calling up professional pest control to do the work for you.
- Bed bugs do not wake the person while biting
Aside from their stealthy hiding habits, bed bugs also attack unnoticed. This explains why you can wake up in the morning covered in red spots, but have no recollection of how it happened during the night. Bed bug bites are painless at the point of attack due to the anaesthetic quality of the bug’s saliva. This works as a defence mechanism for the bed bugs, giving them enough time to feed on their host’s blood and escape before the host notices.
As bed bugs are common pests that can appear almost anywhere, it would be beneficial to have some knowledge of these pests so that you can better guard against them. In the case you have a bed bug infestation in your home, you are advised to consult a professional pest control company for the best results.