The Trick To Not Bringing Bed Bugs Into Your West Palm Beach Home

December 24, 2020

The bed is the coziest place in the home. Unfortunately, bed bugs agree. These insects are notorious for biting your skin, staining your sheets, and staying in your West Palm Beach home. The good news is, bed bug problems can be cured. Whether you’re dealing with bed bugs or worried about catching them, here’s how these nasty critters end up in your West Palm Beach household.

Florida’s Bed Bug Identification Tips

Usually, West Palm Beach homeowners don’t know they have a bed bug infestation because they see the pests themselves. Rather, homeowners wake up with small, itchy welts that last a week. But what do these pests actually look like?

Bed bugs grow to about 5mm long, or about ? of an inch. These pests look reddish-brown in color and often grow darker once they’ve ingested blood. Overnight, these nocturnal insects drink blood from exposed skin on your body, usually your forearms and shins.

Additionally, bed bugs have a small head and larger, appleseed-shaped body, as well as six legs and two short antennae. Because they are so small and blend in so easily, you may not notice them until it’s too late, which is why preventing them is your best option.

How Did Bed Bugs Get In My West Palm Beach Home?

Bed bugs are slow, tiny creatures. They don’t jump, they don’t have wings, and they don’t move quickly. So, how do they get into so many West Palm properties? These insects are called hitchhikers because they move from place to place on other humans or animals. A bed bug will latch onto an article of clothing or a book bag and stay there until you get home. Only then does it crawl out and populate the couch or bed.

Bed bugs can be picked up in high-traffic areas, such as hotels, airports, bus stops, schools, and libraries. Additionally, they might be hiding in a friend's furniture or appliances, or even in grocery bags or shipping boxes. Bed bugs are bound to happen in cities like West Palm Beach, with lots of residents, schools, and deliveries.

You can also get bed bugs from buying second-hand items, especially furniture. Always check for the signs of bed bugs on resold items and furniture. These signs include small pellets from bed bug excrement, reddish-brown stains on the furniture, or the discarded skins of these pests.

Once they get in the house, they can be nearly impossible to remove. Bed bugs can fit in the tiniest of spaces, they blend in easily with their surroundings, and they only come out when you’re asleep. Having bed bugs can cause lots of psychological stress, as most folks hate falling asleep in a bed with bugs in it.

Bed Bug Prevention Tips

Since bed bugs are so hard to remove, your best bet is to prevent them from getting in entirely. You can do this in a couple of ways:

• Reduce home clutter. Bed bugs like cool, dark spaces, so clutter is the perfect place for them during the day.
• Check your bags when you get home. If you bring your personal belongings to high-traffi places, bed bugs might latch onto these bags.
• Frequent vacuuming. When they aren’t hiding in closets or cracks, bed bugs might camp out in the carpeting, so vacuuming the house prevents them from latching on to your bed.

Unfortunately, bed bugs are some of the most common pests. If you keep waking up with itchy bumps every morning, don’t deal with the problem yourself; DIY methods won’t work. Rather, reach out to West Palm Beach’s best pest technicians at Native Pest Management, and we’ll remove your bed bugs for you.

Learn more about our West Palm Beach bed bug control process, and more pest control services in West Palm Beach, FL.