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Preventing Bed Bug Mis-identification
We believe in empowering people with knowledge to identify a bed bug problem while giving you peace of mind. One of the biggest mistakes people make is mis-identification of the bed bug.
Many times, people mistake other bugs for bed bugs. The most common “mistaken identity” is carpet beetles. You can visit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bugs-often-mistaken-bed-denise-donovan to see different types of bugs that are accused of being a bed bug.
Bed Bug Life Cycle and Feeding Pattern
These are bed bugs with and without blood meals. The adult male and female are the top middle.
The bed bug feeds for approximately 5 to 10 minutes and engorge themselves as you can see in this picture.
They wander back to their hiding place, digest their meal, and come back in 5 to 7 days for another blood meal.
They normally feed at night but will adjust their eating pattern to your hours of sleeping.
The female may lay 2 to 500 eggs over her lifetime and attach them to surfaces with a sticky substance.
The eggs take approximately 7 to 10 days to hatch (temperature dependent). Once hatched, they go through five stages of development (21-39 days or longer) before they become breeding adults. They require a blood meal between each stage of development.
As you can see, an “infestation” doesn’t happen overnight and takes time to build. So, if you are seeing clusters and large areas of shed skins and fecal stains, they’ve been around for a while.
Finding Bed Bugs Early
The most important time to discover bed bugs is when they are first introduced. Yet because of their size and hidden nature, many people will experience their bites but can’t find anything. NOTE: If you experience any type of bites, don’t assume a flea or mosquito and check for bed bugs. Check your bed and sleeping areas often for signs of bed bugs. (Blood smears, fecal stains, cast skins, eggs or any size live bugs).
When you find bed bugs early they are easy to eliminate. Be very careful not to use store bought pesticides or bed bug bombs that spread them. If you are being bitten and suspect you might have bed bugs, we can come in with our detection dog team and check to see if you have them. Always take immediate action to eliminate them and avoid infestations from growing.
Target Bed Bugs Hiding Placed
The joy about our detection dogs is, they “target” the area where the bugs are. This allows you to concentrate your efforts in that area to get rid of them before they spread to other parts of your home. They also help cut down on extermination expenses.
Since bed bugs are a people problem, those who live in apartments or who have large families may experience bed bugs more often than those who don’t. Also, certain vocations are at higher risk for picking up bed bugs. (Those that work in home healthcare, hospitals, fire and EMT’s, teachers, offices, call centers or those who work in high trafficked “people” environments)
All these environments can greatly benefit from regular inspections with bed bug dogs. As infestations build in these environments; bed bugs can travel through the wall voids and wind up in a surrounding unit or be carried by residents to common or social areas.
Coming up next
The learning curve for bed bugs is important. We’ll teach you some simple prevention tips you can use to keep them out of your life.
We want you to have Peace of Mind and our blogs cover these helpful hints so come back often!
