Say Goodbye To Bed Bugs: The Most Effective Treatment For Your Lexington Home

Doesn't it feel like we need to upgrade our phones, computers, or gaming consoles every few months? Usually, an upgrade involves a software update and some equipment updates automatically. However, there comes a point when we have to replace the units because they are too old and no longer accept updates. While we don't like to spend money buying new gear, we know we need it to do our jobs and navigate through this world.

We upgrade or update our equipment because we need those things to work efficiently. No one wants something to work part of the time, and the same is true when we encounter bed bugs. Eliminate bed bugs in your home with effective bed bug control in Lexington from Action Pest Control. Why should you trust us to solve your bed bug problem?

Action Pest Control is an award-winning company with over 70 highly-trained pest management professionals led by staff entomologists. Our dedication to ongoing training has resulted in our receiving the Technician of the Year Award from the National Pest Management Association. Since 2001, PCT magazine has published its list of the top pest control companies, and Action Pest Control has been in the top 100 companies in a field of over 15,000 registered pest control companies. We offer environmentally friendly service options, 24-hour emergency response, and convenient billing options.

Please keep reading to learn about bed bugs, how to prevent future infestations, and how Action Pest Control will stop the current invasion of bed bugs in your Lexington home.

Visual Clues: Identifying Bed Bugs By Appearance

Bed bugs are active at night. While you sleep, they crawl out of their hiding locations onto your body and feed using your blood. After five to ten minutes, they detach and return to the crack or crevice where they reside until they need more nutrition. Because bed bugs are elusive, many people don't know their characteristics or how to identify them.

Bed bugs are insects with six legs and two short antennae, and adults have 3/16 to 1/4-inch crinkly-looking three-part bodies (head, thorax, and abdomen). Their antennae are short and horizontal, and the back half of their bodies is considerably larger than their head and thorax combined.

Bed bugs have flat, broad, and oval mahogany-colored bodies when unfed. After enjoying a blood meal at your expense, their bodies become swollen, elongated, and reddish-brown. Despite having wing pads, bed bugs do not have wings and cannot fly.

Booklice, another bug often confused with bed bugs, have a long, thin, light brown bodies instead of the broad, dark bodies of bed bugs. One bug that has a similar-shaped body is the spider beetle, but they have much longer legs and antennae than bed bugs. Fleas have the same coloration as bed bugs, but unlike bed bugs, they can jump. The other way to identify bed bugs by their appearance is to understand their habits and behaviors. For example, bat bugs are similar to bed bugs but reside in caves where bats are present and not in bedrooms.

Under favorable conditions (>70? but <90?), bed bugs progress from the egg stage to adulthood in about 37 days. Finding bed bugs before they reach adulthood often requires a magnifying glass. Female bed bugs lay one to seven eggs for ten days after a blood meal. These eggs are 3/64-inch and white, but a black dot appears after five days on each egg. After a few days, the eggs hatch, and colorless nymphs emerge. Assuming a host is present, the offspring progress through five growth phases, known as instars, to shed their external skeleton (exoskeleton) to allow their bodies to expand.

Now that you have a description of bed bugs from egg to adulthood, here is where to look for them. Search for bed bugs in the cracks between baseboards, walls, flooring, nightstands, behind headboards and picture frames, underneath peeling wallpaper, mattress seams, box springs, and inside electrical outlets. Since you need magnification to find their eggs and the nymphs, use a magnifying glass during your investigation.

Action Pest Control provides bed bug pest control near you. Our trained technicians can determine if bed bugs are the cause of a pest infestation in your Lexington home.

Bites And Rashes: Symptoms Of A Bed Bug Invasion

Bed bugs are parasites, but they are not the only insect that needs blood for survival. How do you know if the red bumps on your body aren't the result of mosquitoes, fleas, or ticks? How do you know if the swollen areas are not the work of spiders or a stinging insect?

Although these insects and arachnids trigger histamine reactions when they bite or sting, the following are characteristics of bed bug bites:

Clusters
Patterns
Swelling, redness, and itchy
Exposed skin

We will unpack each of these items to help you better understand.

Between midnight and 5 a.m., bed bugs in Lexington leave their hiding locations and crawl onto their sleeping host to search for exposed skin (neck, face, hands, and neck). Once they find a suitable site on the body, they use the claws on the ends of their six feet to anchor themselves while they probe the host's skin with their proboscis for capillary-rich areas.

Each time a bed bug inserts its mouthpart into the victim, it releases a mixture of an anticoagulant and anesthetic into the host. These two agents promote blood flow and temporarily numb the area so the host does not feel the bug puncturing the skin. The host's body recognizes these as foreign agents and dispatches histamines to the wound site, causing redness, swelling, and itching.

Because a bed bug may probe the host's body several times before finding a blood-rich area, the bumps are often in a cluster or straight line. Mosquitoes, spiders, fleas, and tick bites are not in groups or lines on the body; they often produce large red areas and more swelling than bed bugs. Another characteristic of a bed bug bite is it tends to have a darker spot in the center.

Fortunately, bed bugs are not vectors for disease transmission; however, continually scratching bed bug bites can cause infection. Furthermore, some individuals with allergy sensitivities can develop hives, blistering, or severe itching. Usually, over-the-counter oral and topical antihistamine medications will suffice, but in some cases, additional medical attention is necessary.

In addition to bites on your body, there are other signs of a bed bug infestation. Reddish-brown stains on bed linens, mattresses, upholstery, and walls from bed bug feces, discarded exoskeletons, eggs, eggshells, a musty, raspberry-like odor, and the bugs themselves are additional indicators of their presence in your Lexington home.

There is no need to spend your days scratching bed bug bites or going to bed fearing that you will wake up with more bites on your body because Action Pest Control provides the best pest control for bed bugs near you. We will eliminate bed bugs so you don't have discomfort.

Don't Let Bed Bugs Take Over Your Home: Call Us Right Away!

While our service management professional can identify the signs of a bed bug infestation, we go further by using K9 dogs. Although bed bugs are hard to see with the naked eye, they are no match for our canines' sensitive and trained noses. Our dogs can sniff out bed bugs whether they are in the egg, nymph, or adult development stage. Certified by the North American Canine Pest Inspectors, our dogs can detect bed bugs hiding in walls, floors, and other inaccessible areas.

Because bed bugs cannot survive in environments with sustained temperatures over 120?, heating a home is the most effective treatment strategy to eliminate bed bugs. Unlike sprays, heat can penetrate every crevice, including inaccessible areas. Heat kills bed bugs at all development stages, is non-toxic, and is chemical-free. Furthermore, we can complete a heat treatment in one day. Our bed bug warranties prove we believe in the effectiveness of our bed bug treatments.

Action Pest Control offers the best bed bug pest control in Lexington. When you partner with us, you can rest assured we will remove the bed bugs in your house.

Maintaining A Bed Bug-Free Home: Prevention Strategies

Bed bugs are hitchhikers. They use public venues and transportation as hubs to move from one home to the next. When you stay in a hotel or ride in a taxi cab, bus, or subway, there is a possibility that a bed bug may catch a ride home with you in your luggage, bags, or clothing.

Another way they enter homes is through used furniture purchased from an infested location.

The good news is that you do not have to live like a hermit to avoid bed bugs. The following tips will deter a future bed bug infestation in your Lexington home:

Inspect clothing, bags, and luggage upon returning from a trip.
Use the luggage rack in hotel rooms when visiting.
Store used clothing in airtight bags when traveling.
Immediately transfer clothing from baggage to the washer and dryer upon returning home.
Avoid purchasing used furniture from a location with a previous infestation.
Vacuum the house regularly.
Suction cracks, corners, and crevices.
Keep clothing from lying on the floor.
Place a bed bug cover over the mattress.

When an Action Pest Control service management professional conducts a bed bug inspection at your Lexington home, we can provide additional suggestions for your situation. Contact us today to learn more and to get a free, no-obligation quote.

“ Your PEST CONTROL deserves a ten star rating!!!!!”

David B.

“ I wanted to tell you that we really enjoy having Jason as our technician. He is polite, professional and easy to talk to about any issues or concerns. Please give him a pat on the back from us for his good work. Thanks very much.”