Did you know that bed bugs feed off of any warm-blooded mammals for anywhere between three and ten minutes, walk away engorged, and go about their merry day? It is a disturbing thought and Oklahoma City homeowners will want to do anything they can to prevent an infestation.
Characteristics Of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are often confused for other insects or go unnoticed altogether. That said, there are a few traits that Oklahoma City residents can note to confirm whether or not they have bed bugs in their home:
- Color: Bed bugs can appear anywhere from reddish brown to dark brown in color.
- Size: Part of why bed bugs are so hard to spot is due to their small stature. Measuring a mere ¼ inch, they are hard to spot with the naked eye. And even smaller are their nymphs, at just a fraction of the size of adults. Homeowners will need to look very closely to determine if they have bed bugs.
- Shape: In the nymph stage, bed bugs look similar to an apple seed, oftentimes getting confused for ticks. As adults, they are small and oval-shaped with several sets of legs. It should be noted that bed bugs crawl, hence all of the legs, and do not fly. Additionally, bed bugs have one set of antennae and ridges on their backs, though they are often too small to determine these signs.
Visual Signs Of Bed Bugs
While bed bugs are difficult to spot, sometimes the few signs they leave behind make putting together the puzzle pieces of an infestation a little easier. Here are some of the most common signs that may lead to noting an infestation:
- Bites: Being bitten by a bed bug is one of the strongest tell-tale signs that an infestation is present. Bed bugs bite incessantly while they are feeding and these bites leave behind painful, itchy red welts in a pattern such as a line that are unmistakable. Oftentimes, if someone has been bitten by bed bugs, they are covered in welts.
- Stains: If your mattress and/or sheets have reddish brown stains, it may signal that there are bed bugs in your mattress and they have been crushed. This is why mattress covers are so important, they are a crucial barrier to protect you from these awful bites.
- Seeing a bed bug: The presence of bed bugs alone or their eggs means that there is an infestation. Bed bugs can lay anywhere from one to three eggs in a day and up to 500 in their lifetime, so where there is one bed bug, there are more.
- Excrement: Bed bugs are messy houseguests and leave tiny fecal matter that looks like microscopic pellets. Their output is significantly smaller than they are, but still identifiable.
It should be noted that bed bugs will infest far more than just the bed. They can be found in furniture, luggage, shoes, or secondhand appliances. As parasitical hitchhikers, they get a free ride into your home and will most likely stay put and infest what initially brought them inside.
Bed bugs are not a pest that homeowners can handle themselves. Infestations can grow rampant and are nearly impossible to eradicate. Due to the difficulty and hazards that bed bugs pose, homeowners should call the professionals at Guaranteed Pest Service of Oklahoma right away.
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