Bed Bug Identification & Prevention

Bed bugs look a lot like ticks and mites because of their flat, oval-shaped bodies and tiny heads. However, these external parasites might eat blood just like ticks, but they're actually insects. Whereas ticks are arachnids and have two body parts and eight legs, bed bugs have three body parts and six legs, though this can be difficult to see just by looking at them with the naked eye.

Bed bugs can be dangerous and not dangerous at the same time, depending on what you mean by the question. Bed bugs are not dangerous in the sense of spreading communicable diseases. Bed bugs are not known to carry any contagious illnesses as ticks and fleas do, so you're not likely to get any kind of primary infection from a bed bug bite.

However, you can get secondary infections from bed bug bites because they're so itchy. The scratching can irritate the skin and even break it, which can lead to a skin infection. Bed bugs can also cause anxiety surrounding sleep and insomnia. If this continues over a long period of time, it can cause all kinds of chronic illnesses, including diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. So in this sense, bed bugs are absolutely dangerous.

Most of the time, you can end up with a bed bug infestation through two primary methods of transfer — traveling and secondhand shopping. Bed bugs are sneaky little hitchhikers; they can crawl into your luggage and hitch a ride home with you anytime you travel. And don't think you're safe just because you stay at a nice hotel. Because guests come in and out so frequently, no hotel is truly safe from bed bugs.

Bed bugs are also frequent visitors to secondhand shops like thrift stores. It's very easy for homeowners to sell things to thrift stores without realizing they have a bed bug problem in their house. They can easily sell infested items to stores without anyone realizing it. Some thrift stores implement stringent commercial pest control measures, but many don't. And that's to say nothing about buying directly from homeowners, like at a garage sale. If you buy a bed bug-infested item, you've just infested your own house.

Part of what makes controlling bed bugs so difficult is that they can hide anywhere. Of course, they feed on you at night while you're sleeping, so your bed is the most convenient place for them. However, bed bug infestations can grow and spread at an alarming rate. Once this happens, your bed might run out of room for all the bugs, and they'll start hiding in other places. Bed bugs have been found in some pretty insane hiding spots, including behind light switch covers, in between carpet fibers, and even under laptop keyboard keys.

It can be virtually impossible for homeowners to get rid of bed bugs once they already have an infestation. Store-bought products like bed bug fumigation sprays, dusts, and foggers rarely work because most of these products must make direct contact with bed bugs, and bed bugs hide all over your house.

You're much better off contacting professional home pest control services. Here at Southern Home & Outdoor Services, our pest control services in Melbourne, FL, go a lot farther than any over-the-counter product can. That means only we can help truly rid your home of every bed bug it contains.