Q: SIGNS OF BED BUGS
Bed bugs can be difficult to spot, but common signs include small rust-colored stains on bedding, tiny eggs or eggshells, shed skins, and itchy red bite marks on your skin. You may also notice a musty odor in heavily infested areas.
Q: WHAT ARE THE SIGNS BED BUGS ARE PRESENT?
In addition to visually identifying adult bed bugs and eggs, bed bugs may leave other signs of their presence behind. It is not uncommon for them to be squished by their human hosts when sleeping, so if there are small unexplained blood spots on bedding, that may be a sign bed bugs are present.
You may also find caste skins of immature bed bugs on your bedding, mattress, box spring or other furniture because they shed skin as they grow.
Finally, you may find black spots on your bedding/furniture that resemble black ink – this is the bed bug fecal matter.
Q: WHERE ARE BED BUGS HIDING?
Bed bugs live in cracks and crevices, electrical outlets, wall voids, behind wallpaper, base boards and picture frames, mattresses, box springs and headboards, and bedding materials and other upholstered furniture.
Q: HOW TO CHECK FOR BED BUGS?
Start by inspecting the seams of mattresses, box springs, and furniture for tiny rust-colored stains or live bed bugs. Check cracks and crevices in bed frames, headboards, and baseboards. Use a flashlight to spot bed bugs hiding in dark corners or folds of fabric.
Q: CAUSES OF BED BUGS
Bed bugs are commonly spread by traveling, staying in infested hotels, or bringing used furniture into your home. They can also hitch a ride on clothing, luggage, or personal items from infested areas.
Q: WHY DO I HAVE BED BUGS?
Bed bugs are attracted to warmth and carbon dioxide and feed on warm-blooded hosts, usually humans, but potentially other warm-blooded animals when humans are not around.
These hitchhikers travel from host to host by crawling from personal belongings or people into shared areas or other belongings. They can be picked up almost anywhere, although it’s most common to pick them up in hotels, from neighbors in a multi-unit complex, or from second-hand furniture. Bed bugs do not discriminate based on age, race, income or any other factor.
They are just as likely to be found at a 1-star motel as they are at a 5-star resort.
Q: WHERE DO BED BUGS COME FROM?
Bed bugs often originate from infested hotels, apartments, or used furniture. They can also come from public places like offices, movie theaters, or public transportation.
Q: WHAT ATTRACTS BED BUGS?
Bed bugs are attracted to warmth, carbon dioxide, and human blood. They seek out sleeping humans, as body heat and breath guide them to their food source.
Q: HOW DO BED BUGS SPREAD?
Bed bugs are hitch-hikers – they crawl into purses and bags, move into furniture and generally transfer via close contact. At home, remove clutter that makes bed bugs hard to find and treat. Carefully inspect any second-hand furniture before bringing it inside your home.
Inspect hotel rooms and luggage when you travel to ensure you don’t have any surprise visitors coming home with you.
Q: BED BUG BITES
Bed bug bites are one of the first signs of an infestation. These bites can cause itching and irritation, and may appear in clusters or lines on exposed skin. Understanding what bed bug bites look like and how they affect you is important in identifying and addressing an infestation early.
Q: ARE BED BUGS DANGEROUS?
While bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases, their bites can cause itching, discomfort, and allergic reactions in some individuals.
Q: WHAT DO BED BUG BITES LOOK LIKE?
Bites may not be visible for some people. For others, a small, red irritated and/or itchy spot will appear. Bed bugs are not known to carry diseases and their bites usually do not require medical treatment unless symptoms are severe or persistent.
Q: WILL I KNOW WHEN I AM BEING BITTEN BY A BED BUG?
Bed bugs feed for 2-5 minutes and are not felt by humans while biting.
Q: BED BUGS VS. FLEA BITES
Bed bug bites appear in clusters or lines, while flea bites are more random and often concentrated around the ankles. Flea bites have a central red spot, while bed bug bites are red, swollen, and don’t typically show a central puncture.
Q: DO BED BUG BITES ITCH?
Yes, bed bug bites can be extremely itchy. The bites often cause red, inflamed skin and can worsen with scratching.
Q: WHERE DO BED BUGS BITE?
Bed bugs bite exposed areas of skin, such as the face, neck, arms, and legs, targeting areas not covered by clothing while you sleep.
Typically, bed bug bites appear as small, red, itchy welts, often grouped together or in a line.
Q: TREATING BED BUGS
Treating bed bugs involves a combination of professional pest control services and proper home preparation. Methods include chemical treatments, heat treatments, and vacuuming to eliminate bed bugs and prevent their return.
Q: HOW LONG DOES A HEAT TREATMENT TAKE?
A Terminix Wil-Kil heat treatment will last about 8-10 hours depending on infestation levels. Our heat team arrives between 6:30 AM and 7:00 AM to make sure we have time to address extreme infestation levels.
Clients can generally return to their home in the early evening.
Q: DO I NEED TO THROW AWAY ALL MY FURNITURE AND PULL EVERYTHING OUT OF MY CLOSETS TO PREPARE FOR HEAT TREATMENT?
No, that is generally not necessary. Trying to remove infested furniture can actually cause bed bugs to spread further because you are carrying infested furniture through hallways, where bed bugs may crawl or drop off and relocate.
All infested items should stay in the space to be heat treated. In some cases, heavily infested furniture may need to be discarded, but it should either be treated first or wrapped very securely. Your Terminix Wil-Kil technician can provide guidance on this matter.
Clothing and other items should remain in closets for treatment. You will, however, receive a list of items prior to treatment that need to be put aside for your technician to inspect by hand and then remove from the space before the heating begins.
Extreme clutter in closets can prohibit treatment from covering the entire area though, so make sure your home is neat, tidy and allows for air flow.
Q: I HAVE A LOT OF “STUFF” IN MY HOME. WHAT SHOULD I DO?
If you have multiple furniture items and a lot of other clutter in your home, a heat treatment may not be effective due to limits of the heating systems, but all situations are different and a heat technician will help you assess the situation.
Q: CAN I GET RID OF BED BUGS MYSELF?
Many DIY sites will tell you that you can kill bed bugs by using natural home remedies, including rubbing alcohol or essential oils like lavender, tea tree or peppermint oils. Where some of these home remedies have merit, these solutions require that you see each individual pest and apply the products directly to them.
Bed bugs are great at finding hiding places – it’s how they’ve survived all these years. The chances that you will find every single bed bug and apply a home remedy directly to them is virtually impossible.
Applying your own treatments can also be dangerous. If you are not applying them properly, and in the appropriate location, you could not only miss the bed bugs, but also cause harm to your home, business, or the people in them.
Q: DOES BED BUG SPRAY WORK?
There are tons of bed bug sprays and insecticides on the market. Much like DIY solutions, they usually aren’t very effective unless you know the exact location of the bed bugs and their hiding places.
Bed bugs have also built up a resistance over the years to several pesticides, so depending on what you use, it can be ineffective.
It can also be dangerous for homeowners or business owners to try to solve a problem themselves because they are not trained in proper application techniques for pest control products. This can lead to unnecessary over-exposure.
Q: WHAT DO EXTERMINATORS USE TO GET RID OF BED BUGS?
The first step is always to inspect a home or business and validate that a bed bug issue is present.
Technicians can do visual inspections, and at Terminix Wil-Kil, we even have a canine inspection unit to help us sniff out the various spots bed bugs may be hiding!
Once a problem is validated, exterminators use a variety of strategies to get rid of bed bugs such as heat treatment, mattress encasements, crack and crevice injection/spot treatment and pesticides.
Q: BEHAVIORS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BED BUGS
Bed bugs are small, flat, and reddish-brown insects that hide in cracks, crevices, and bedding. They feed on human blood, primarily at night, and can go months without a meal.
Bed bugs reproduce quickly, and their resilience makes them difficult to eradicate without professional help. Despite their small size, they are experts at hiding, often going unnoticed until infestations are severe.
Q: WHAT DO BED BUGS LOOK LIKE?
Bed bug adults have six legs, are flat and oval shaped and are no more than ¼ inch in length.
Q: DO BED BUGS HAVE WINGS?
No, bed bugs do not have wings. They cannot fly or jump, relying instead on crawling to move between areas.
Q: CAN YOU SEE BED BUGS?
Bed bug adults are big enough to be seen; they are about the size of an apple seed. They Mature bed bugs are mahogany to rusty brown in their natural state and red after a blood meal.
Bed bug eggs and immature bed bugs are extremely difficult to see because they are much smaller and virtually transparent, but a trained individual can find them.
Q: DO BED BUGS FLY?
No, bed bugs cannot fly. They move by crawling and can spread by hitching rides on luggage, furniture, and clothing.
Q: ARE BED BUGS ONLY FOUND IN BEDS?
No, bed bugs are found anywhere humans are. Where beds are most common because that is where people rest, they can be found in any room of the house.
They can also live in any furniture in the house, it’s not uncommon to find them in a resident’s favorite lounge chair or sofa.
Bed bugs have also been found in areas outside the home where people spend a lot of time, such as movie theaters, busses, planes, and more.
Q: WHEN ARE BED BUGS MOST ACTIVE?
Bed bugs are typically nocturnal insects. They feed at night and hide during the day in most cases, though they can adapt to different habits if their human hosts have a different schedule
Q: DO BED BUGS JUMP?
No, bed bugs cannot jump. They move by crawling and rely on contact with people or items to spread.
Q: ARE BED BUGS FAST?
Bed bugs can move quickly for their size, reaching speeds of up to 3 feet per minute. However, they typically prefer to stay hidden until it’s time to feed.
Q: HOW LONG DO BED BUGS LIVE?
Under optimal conditions, adult bed bugs can live for several months to over a year, depending on factors like temperature and access to food.
Q: WHAT TEMPERATURE KILLS BED BUGS?
Bed bugs are killed at temperatures above 120°F (49°C) when exposed for at least 90 minutes. Extreme cold can also eliminate them if sustained below 0°F (-18°C) for several days.
Q: HOW LONG DO BED BUGS LIVE WITHOUT FOOD?
Bed bugs can survive without a blood meal for several months, typically between 2 to 6 months, depending on environmental conditions.
Q: HOW BIG IS A BED BUG?
Adult bed bugs are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long (6 to 12 mm) and roughly the size of an apple seed. They are oval-shaped and have a reddish-brown color.
Q: SPOTTING THE DIFFERENCE: BED BUGS VS. OTHER PESTS
Q: ARE BED BUGS & FLEAS THE SAME?
No, bed bugs and fleas are not the same. Bed bugs are larger, do not jump, and prefer to live in beds and furniture, while fleas are smaller, can jump, and primarily infest pets.
Q: CARPET BEETLES VS. BED BUGS
Carpet beetles are often mistaken for bed bugs but are different in appearance and behavior. Carpet beetles have a rounded shape and feed on natural fibers, while bed bugs feed on blood.
Q: BED BUGS VS. LICE
Bed bugs and lice are different pests. Lice are smaller, live on hair and feed on blood directly from the scalp, while bed bugs live in bedding and feed while the host sleeps.
Q: BED BUGS VS. CHIGGERS
Chiggers are tiny mites that cause itchy bites but differ from bed bugs in that they typically inhabit grassy or wooded areas, not homes. Bed bugs are larger and found in furniture and beds.
Q: BED BUGS VS. ROACHES
Bed bugs and roaches are distinct; bed bugs are blood-feeding pests found in sleeping areas, while roaches are scavengers often found in kitchens and bathrooms. They have different habits and appearances.
