Back-To-School Bed Bug Prevention Prep For Jacksonville Parents

Throughout the summer, families go on vacation. If you took your family on a trip this summer and stayed at a hotel or a friend’s house, or even in a tent, you may have been exposed to bed bugs. And even if you made it through summer without encountering bed bugs, you’re still not in the clear. As your child returns to school, they’ll be rubbing shoulders with friends who also spent the summer traveling. If even one classmate picked up bed bugs, they can pass those bugs on to your child. Your child could then bring bed bugs into your home.

Bed Bugs In School

Often people have the misconception that bed bugs only live in dirty, dingy hotels. This isn’t the case. Bed bugs don’t care whether a space is clean or dirty. All they care about is shelter, food, and water. They can find these easily in hotels, houses, and other sleeping locations. They can also find these in almost any public area, such as airplanes, buses, restaurants, stores--or schools.

Once a place is infested with bed bugs, the quick spread is inevitable. People unknowingly carry bed bugs on their clothes or backpacks, and while your kids are at school the bed bugs will be busy crawling from pack to pack waiting for a ride to your house. Because there are so many kids interacting at school, it’s the perfect place for bed bugs to spread.

What Steps Can You Take To Prevent Bed Bugs?

You’re probably wondering if there’s any way to guarantee that your kids don’t bring bed bugs home with them. While there’s no surefire way to stop bed bugs, there are some steps you can teach your kids that will help prevent an infestation.

• Instill in your children the importance of keeping track of their belongings. A sweater in lost-n-found is more likely to pick up bed bugs than a sweater neatly hanging in your child’s locker.
• Instruct your children to avoid putting their backpack on the floor since this can provide easy access for bed bugs.
• When your children come home from school, it’s a good idea to check over their belongings as soon as they step inside. Check for live or dead bed bugs as well as shed skins or dark streaks of excrement. If you see anything suspicious, wash everything in hot water immediately.
• Routinely wash your children’s school supplies, if possible. Washing their backpack often can be a safeguard against bed bugs.

Getting Rid Of Bed Bugs

If these steps fail and you find bed bugs in your home, you’ll want to call for professional help. Bed bugs can spread quickly. One female can lay up to five eggs a day, meaning that the growth of this bed bug population will be impossible to keep up with. You may attempt DIY methods, but you’re unlikely to get all bed bugs and they will continue to spread and multiply. Consider getting help from Lindsey Pest Services. We have years of experience dealing with bed bugs and professional tools and products that aren’t available for common use but are far more effective than DIY methods. You have enough worries when your kids go back to school, don’t let bed bugs be one of those worries.