What It Takes To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs In Your Jacksonville Home

We get a lot of questions about bed bugs. These questions arise because most people don't really know all that much about these pests. It is common knowledge that they hide in beds and come out of hiding to bite you while you sleep. But, when you look for bed bugs, you won't likely find them. They hide in tight spaces and dark voids. If you actually see a bed bug clinging to your skin, you may not realize it. What do bed bugs look like on your skin? We are going to answer this and several other common questions about bed bugs in Jacksonville, including how to get rid of bed bugs. If you want to speak with a trained pest professional about whether or not you have a bed bug infestation in your home, feel free to call us. Our service team is happy to help you find answers. Lindsey Pest Services provides advanced solutions for pest control in Jacksonville. 

What Bed Bugs Look Like

You may know that bed bugs are tiny, brown insects with six legs, two stubby antennae, and creases that run horizontally across the body. You may also know that a bed bug is smaller than an apple seed and kind of looks like one. These are famous bugs. They have gotten a lot of coverage in the media. But bed bugs don't always look like the bugs you may have seen. In fact, a bed bug is not likely to look like an apple seed bug when you find it clinging to your skin. A brown bed bug that is about 4.5 mm  long is an adult, and adults prefer to stay hidden. The bug you find attached to your skin is an immature nymph. Let's look at the physical characteristics of bed bugs as they develop.

Stage 1: An immature bed bug is white and about 1 mm long. It has six legs and is oval. When it attaches to the skin, it draws blood into its body. Its body is transparent, so the blood is visible. Finding a tiny red insect clinging to your skin is a warning sign of a bed bug infestation.

Stage 2: A growing bed bug becomes tan. After digesting a blood meal, it will start to have some black coloration in the abdomen as well. The black coloration is the fecal matter, which is visible in the body of the bug. If you find a growing nymph that has had a blood meal, you'll see red in the abdomen.

Stage 3: An adult bed bug is not as transparent as a nymph, but its color can change if it has blood inside. The blood will cause the bug to look brownish-red. If it has not had a recent blood meal, the bed bug may look black.

Along with the change in coloration, it is helpful to understand that the shape of a bed bug changes. Most of the time, bed bugs have a low profile, but after a blood meal, they become rounded. If you're looking for a flat, seed-shaped insect, a fully-fed bed bug may elude your identification.

Are you in Jacksonville? If so, we're happy to help you with identifying any insects you find in your bed, or in your home. Take a picture of it and send it to us. Our on-staff experts will take a look.

The Problem With Having Bed Bugs In Your Home

Another area in which Jacksonville residents don't know nearly enough about bed bugs is threat assessment. Some people get far too worried about the bed bugs in their homes and this leads to sleepless nights, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and depression. Others don't have any concerns about bed bugs and consider them harmless. But bed bugs have the potential to cause harm. If you're wondering about how bad bed bug bites are, consider these facts.

Diseases: Bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases to humans in the real world. What do we mean by the real world? Laboratory studies demonstrate the ability of bed bugs to carry and transmit diseases, but there are no documented cases outside of the laboratory. It may have to do with the behavior pattern of these bugs. They tend to stay in one location and bite the same person over and over if they can. They also don't prefer to bite dogs or cats, so they are somewhat resistant to zoonotic diseases.

Bed Bug Bites: While bed bugs don't spread diseases, they can still cause illness. Bed bugs can't help but bite. They feed on blood. Each bug bites more than once, typically three times. It doesn't take many bed bugs to cause a lot of bite wounds. These bugs will stay in your home and continually feed as they're able. Repeated exposure to bed bug bites can lead to anemia, which can have harmful symptoms if not addressed.

Social Impact: The greatest issue with bed bugs is that they can harm your social life. Friends and family will likely avoid coming over, leading to isolation. Your kids can have trouble with their friends, or get bullied at school. While it isn't necessary to avoid someone who has bed bugs, many people have an unnatural fear of these insects.

When you find bed bugs in your home, you need not fear them. While it is certainly disturbing to get bug bites while you're sleeping, bed bugs aren't nearly as dangerous as some other pests, like mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. However, they are not harmless, so it is a good idea to do something about them. How do you get rid of bed bugs? Should you buy control products and do it yourself? Let's take a look.

It's Very Difficult To Get Rid Of A Bed Bug Infestation On Your Own

There are many resources on the internet that offer bed bug control techniques for your home. Many of them are from reputable sources, such as pest industry resources, universities, and product manufacturers. The issue isn't that the products don't work (well, most of the time), the primary issue with bed bug control is that it requires a multi-pronged strategy to prevent bed bugs from eluding the treatments. 

We commonly hear stories of how residents have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at these pests, only to have them come back over and over. These stories are disheartening to hear. We wish we could give a simple solution, but bed bug control requires strict protocols and a knowledge of these pests. You need to know where they hide, how they behave, what materials work, what materials are known to not work, and how to use control methods for effective control. Along with control methods, you need to know how to monitor bed bug activity so you can detect the subtle signs of continued infestation. It is best to have a licensed pest control technician deal with your bed bug problem. 

Call Us At The First Sign Of Bed Bugs In Your Home

When you need bed bug control in Jacksonville, contact Lindsey Pest Services for assistance. We use several methods to address bed bugs. The methods we select depend upon the infestation we find.

• Steam treatment is a great all-purpose solution for eliminating bed bugs in cracks, seams, and other hiding places. It is all-natural and powerful enough to eliminate bed bugs up to ¾ of an inch in length within cushions and mattresses.
• Control materials are often used to address bed bugs that are hiding in walls, behind baseboards, and in other hiding places in the home. The products used have a residual impact, so bed bugs that hatch from their eggs after treatment don't live long enough to drive you crazy.
• When bed bugs get into furniture, electronics, and other items, direct treatment is often difficult. We use a portable heat chamber to address infested items. The items put in the chamber are raised to a temperature that is hot enough eliminate bed bugs in all stages of development.
• We vacuum beds and bed frames to directly remove bed bugs we find and employ other all-natural solutions like this.
• After treatment, we monitor your home using devices and professional inspections to catch any activity. If bed bugs remain, we will continue to work on the problem until you are completely free of these pests.

Are you in Jacksonville? Contact Lindsey Pest Services for environmentally friendly options, effective control, and results you can count on. We back our service with our bed bug guarantee for even more peace of mind. And, when we have complete cooperation, we guarantee your home will have no bed bugs for at least a year after your treatments are done. When you want to know that the bugs in your Jacksonville home are gone, Lindsey Pest Services is the right choice. Contact us by navigating to our contact page and filling out the short form, or just give us a call. You should find the number at the top of the page. We're here to help you find effective solutions for all your pest problems.