Bed Bug Eradication Made Easy: The Ultimate Guide For Louisville Homeowners

Have you walked into the garage or climbed into the attic and thought, "There is too much junk up here." So, you choose the day to remove the items and begin the clean-up effort. At first, you may not want to remove the unused items, but then you become slightly addicted to throwing away things. Before the day is over, you are tossing out far more than you thought you would because you came to the point where you said, "Everything must go!"

Perhaps you have found this article because you think bed bugs are in your house, and sharing space with these parasites does not make you happy. So, you've been researching how to remove these insects because, like old, discarded items, the bed bugs "must go." We will teach you how to know if bed bugs are in your home, and we will arm you with the information you need to end an infestation.

Learn how to eradicate bed bugs from the Louisville pest control experts at Action Pest Control. For over twenty years, PCT magazine has ranked us in the top 100 pest control companies, and when you consider we are competing against 15,000 pest control companies, that is quite an achievement!

Telltale Signs Of A Bed Bug Infestation

Bed bugs are tiny insects that crawl onto a host and enjoy a blood meal between midnight and 5 am. Since they are active while you sleep, how do you know if they are the cause of bites on your body? Is it possible that you have a spider infestation, mosquitoes, or an issue with fleas? To determine if bed bugs are the problematic pest in your home, here is a list of bed bugs signs in a Louisville home:

Bed bugs
Bites
Stains
Shells
Eggs
Eggshells
Odor

Let's begin with examining obvious signs and end with ones that require help to find.

Although tiny, adult bed bugs are visible to the naked eye. An unfed fully-grown bed bug has a flat, oval 1/4-inch mahogany body, but after eating a blood meal, it becomes swollen, elongated, and reddish-brown. Bed bugs are insects, so look for bugs with six legs, two straight antennae, and a body with three parts (head, thorax, and abdomen). Unlike many insects that have a smooth appearance, a bed bug's body looks wrinkled. When a bed bug (nymph) hatches, it progresses through five growth stages (instars). Baby bed bugs are almost colorless and difficult to see without magnification during their early development phases.

After a host is asleep, bed bugs crawl out of their hiding places and crawl onto the host. The bed bug then begins to pierce the host's skin using a mouthpart known as a proboscis to find dense areas of capillaries to get good blood flow. Each time a bed bug inserts its sharp beak, it injects an anesthetic and an anticoagulant, and due to the numbing substance, the host does not feel the bite. Because bed bugs look for the best location to feed, they often pierce the skin numerous times before settling on an area. Thus, one characteristic of bed bug bites is they are in a row or cluster, unlike the random wounds of mosquitoes and fleas. A day after the bugs feed, bumps appear on the body – usually on the arms and legs.

Bed bugs defecate dried blood while they feed staining bed linens. Since bed bugs often hide in mattress seams and box springs, look in these spots for reddish-brown stains. Occasionally, the bed bugs will get squished when the host rolls over, which causes them to burst or secret feces.

Since bed bugs in Louisville are insects, their skeletons are outside of their bodies. For a bed bug to progress through each growth stage, it must shed its external skeleton (exoskeleton) to enable its body to expand. During the first few stages, the discarded shells are not noticeable without using a magnifying glass. However, you may be able to see discarded exoskeletons from later stages.

Insects lay eggs, and bed bugs are not an exception. We will share where to search for these creamy-white 1/32-inch eggs. When the bed bugs hatch, they leave behind the eggshells, another sign of an infestation.

Usually, an infestation must be large and confined to an area, and if it is, you may notice a musty odor. Bed bugs have glands that secrete pheromones for communication purposes. You may smell an aroma if there are numerous bed bugs in an area.

Now that we have identified the early signs of bed bugs, you must know where to investigate. Look for these indicators in mattress seams, box springs, bed linens, electrical outlets, nightstands, wallpaper seams, behind headboards, picture frames, and wood floor cracks.

If you find some or all of these items, it is time to use Action Pest Control to eradicate the bed bugs in your Louisville home. Our trained technicians know all the signs of a bed bug infestation.

Why Bed Bugs Like To Bite Sleeping People

Unlike other biting insects that feed on nectar, fruit juices, or insects, bed bugs are parasites that feed only on the blood of humans or animals. The carbon dioxide and body heat from sleeping humans alert bed bugs of their presence. Once they sense these indicators, they move from their hiding locations in the room and crawl onto their unsuspecting hosts.

Humans experience bed bug bites because bed bugs need protein, amino acids, iron, and other nutrients in the blood to sustain their lives and enable procreation. After a 5 to 10-minute feeding session, the bugs detach and return to their hiding spots, where the males quickly become interested in mating.

Once fertilized, the female bed bug requires a blood meal for egg development. The more access the fertilized female has to a host, the more eggs she produces. Once the fertilized female enjoys a blood meal, she will deliver one to five eggs daily for ten days. After ten days, she will require the nutrients from another meal to produce another batch of eggs.

Action Pest Control provides bed bug control in Louisville, so you don't become a blood meal provider for these tiny insects. Our technicians will eradicate bed bugs hiding in your room so you can sleep comfortably at night without fearing bed bugs crawling onto your body.

Don't Waste Your Time And Money On DIY Bed Bug Products

When faced with a problem, we all want to fix it as quickly as possible, and bed bugs are no exception. So, many people rush to the store to purchase a product that promises to remove bed bugs; however, the following are some of the many problems with the do-it-yourself approach:

Bed bugs can avoid treated areas
Bed bugs are resilient to many treatment products
Bed bugs rapidly reproduce

Bed bugs can sense many consumer-grade products and avoid treated areas. Furthermore, over the last one hundred years, bed bugs have developed a resistance to pyrethroid insecticides and other chemical treatments, so what used to be effective no longer works.

Although these first two issues are some reasons a DIY seldom works, the main reason is their quick reproduction rate.

Over the next ten days after a feeding session, a fertilized female produces 5 to 20 eggs. Within three weeks after laying the eggs, the nymphs emerge and begin progressing through five growth stages. If a host is nearby and temperatures are 70℉, a bed bug moves from egg to reproducing adult in about 37 days. Under optimal conditions, a bed bug population can double every 16 days, and a house can contain three generations of bed bugs within a year.

If you want to keep bed bugs out of your home, you need Action Pest Control because we get rid of bed bugs when DIY methods fail.

The Best Way To Eradicate A Bed Bug Infestation

Action Pest Control is your answer when you need bed bug control near you. We will dispatch a trained technician to your location when you contact us about a bed bug problem. Our technicians know all the signs of a bed bug infestation, but if they are not visible, that doesn't mean that bed bugs are hiding in your house. That is why we have an army of trained bed bug dogs certified by North American Canine Pest Inspectors. Our canines can detect bed bugs hidden in walls, floors, and other areas.

The safest method of eradicating bed bugs is utilizing heat. A heat treatment from Action Pest Control kills bed bugs at all stages, is non-toxic, and eliminates them no matter where they are hiding in the house. This method avoids chemical usage, can be accomplished in one day, and allows you to enter the home the same day after treatment.

According to a survey of pest control professionals by the National Pest Management Association, 76% answered that bed bugs were the most difficult pest to eradicate. We know from experience how difficult removing these pests can be; therefore, we offer bed bug warranties to qualified customers. Contact us today to learn more and let us eradicate bed bugs from your house.