Winter should be a time for traveling and enjoying moments with friends and family, not dealing with invasive bed bug infestations. As residents in Illinois travel this winter season, they increase their risk of encountering bed bugs in hotels. In fact, these nasty pests have made a home in the Prairie State. Knowing what to look for and how to deal with these pests can ensure a bed bug-free winter for your family.
Bed Bugs 101: Everything You Should Know
A bed bug isn’t like an ordinary pest that you’d find in your home or a business. It’s sneaky and can hide in the smallest crevices thanks to its extremely flat, brown body. It also feeds on human blood, much like a tick or a flea. To make matters worse, it can live for more than a year without food, which makes it able to survive transportation from one place to another no matter the distance.
These pests hide during the day and come out at night for food, attracted by the carbon dioxide in your breath and the warmth of your body. They dwell in mattresses, couch cushions, bed frames and baseboards, taking refuge in electrical switches and other cracks and crevices. Because it delivers a painless bite, a bed bug can go undetected for a long time.
Bed Bug Warning Signs
Some people will never show signs of a bite while others will develop redness and itching. These bugs bite the exposed areas of your skin as you sleep. If small, red spots have developed on your body overnight, it could be a sign of bed bug infestation. If you’re in a hotel, report the situation to the management as soon as possible. Because these bugs spread quickly, it will take a professional pest control company to eradicate them before they contaminate other rooms and attack more guests.
How to Avoid Bringing an Infestation Home
When you arrive at a hotel, take a moment to inspect your room. You can use a flashlight to check the mattress and bed frame, including areas around the baseboards, picture frames and carpeting. Until you’ve checked everything, it’s best to keep your belongings on a luggage rack, off the floor. When you get back home, unpack your clothing directly into the washing machine. Afterward, kill off any potential bugs in the dryer at high temperatures.
Traveler’s Tip: Use the Bed Bug Registry to look up different hotels to see if any bugs have been reported.
Bed Bug Pest Control to the Rescue
If a few bugs have slipped through the cracks into your home, contact Anderson Pest Solutions for immediate service. These bugs can survive most over-the-counter pest control products, so it takes more than do-it-yourself methods to eliminate them. At Anderson Pest Solutions, we take a systematic approach to bed bug control, from inspection and identification to treating your home or hotel, top to bottom. Our follow-up service will ensure the eradication of bed bugs and teach you how to prevent bothersome infestations in the future.
