Saturday, May 22, 2021

How You Could Be Bringing Bed Bugs Into Your Home

Bed bugs are a terrible nuisance, and they’re sadly becoming increasingly widespread all around the world. Once they appear in your home, these blood-sucking pests spread like wildfire, infecting upholstered furniture, plush toys, luggage, and clothing, where they can survive for months without feeding. For that reason, getting rid of bed bugs is extremely challenging and time-consuming.
 
Even if you don’t have a bed bug problem at this point in time, you should be aware of these dangers and mindful of the ways bed bugs can get in your home. After all, prevention is even more important than early detection and pest elimination, especially since it’s often us, the homeowners, who end up unwittingly introducing these pests into our homes. 
 
How can bed bugs get into your home?
Bed Bugs on a hand
Bed bugs are tiny brown bugs that are widespread in every continent where humans live. Scientists found them in human dwellings that are over three thousand years old. But how did these pesky insects manage to spread and pester humans for so long? For an insect that’s about the size of an apple seed, it’s relatively easy to hide in a bag, plush toy, or latch onto clothing without being noticed. 
 
In the past, bed bugs were only found in hotels and other communal living spaces, but they are now increasingly common at residential dwellings, shopping centers, offices, and restaurants. Below, we list 9 common scenarios through which you could end up with a bed bug problem: 
 
Travel accommodations: As we’ve already mentioned, hotels, hostels, and the like are a place where bed bugs reside quite often. They could be hiding in the mattress or the carpet and make their way into your luggage, shoes, or clothing. So, you could end up bringing more than just a few souvenirs from your trip home...

Communal living situations: Students living in dorms, older adults who reside at retirement homes, and anyone living in an apartment building are at a higher risk of getting bed bugs. Bed bugs can spread from one apartment or room into another one through electrical boxes, outlets, and shared spaces like laundry rooms. So, if one of the new residents or someone visiting them brought in a few bed bugs, the entire building may end up having them soon. 
 
Work, retail locations, and public transportation: You don’t have to stay somewhere for a long time to pick up bed bugs. Offices, schools, gyms, shopping centers, clothing stores, and even public transportation like airplanes or buses are all prime locations for bed bugs to congregate.
Bed Bugs vintage clothing store
Furniture: Purchasing vintage or second-hand furniture is an excellent way to refresh your interior in a cost-effective manner, but you must be wary that some pieces could be infested with bed bugs. Although rare, even new furniture that is moved in the same vehicle used to haul away old furniture could become infested. 
 
Yard sales: Don’t get us wrong, we love a good bargain just like the other person, but when you’re purchasing used items, you should always be wary of bed bugs. Even though these pests prefer fabric or fur, they can survive inside electronic appliances, books, shoe boxes, and any dark places where they can hide.

Animals: Humans are not the only victim of bed bugs. Quite often, bed bugs feed on farm animals, especially chickens, as well as your pet cats and dogs. The pests can also live in cat castles, pet carriers, and pet beds, so make sure to inspect these items before you introduce them into your home, especially if you’ve purchased a used item. 
 
Guests: Have family or friends from out of town decided to visit you for a couple of days? Unfortunately, this too can result in a bed bug infestation. Students returning from a dorm for the holidays, as well as friends who took a plane or any other public transportation to get to your home, could arrive with “uninvited guests.” 
 
Bed Bug Prevention Tips  
As you can see, these opportunistic pests will take any opportunity to infect a new home, and avoiding all of these potentially dangerous scenarios is often impossible. But is there a way you can protect yourself from an infestation? Yes, bed bug awareness and a few easy prevention tricks go a long way. Here are a few tips for you to consider: 
 
1. When traveling, avoid placing your bags, coats, and suitcases on beds, upholstered furniture, or on the floor. Hanging your clothing so that it doesn’t touch the walls or furniture, and keeping luggage on a stand or cabinet can be helpful. Upon returning home, inspect your luggage and its contents for bugs, wash your clothes, and put them in a hot dryer for 10-15 minutes.

2. When purchasing clothes, stuffed toys, or any textiles, especially second-hand ones, it’s a good idea to wash them first in hot water (122°F or 50°C) or dry them for 10-15 minutes on high heat. 
 
3. Inspect furniture or any second-hand items carefully before bringing them inside your home. Lift the cushions and look closely in-between the seams of upholstered furniture. 
 
4. Steam is a very effective way to eradicate bed bugs and their eggs. If you have a steamer, run it over any items you suspect could be infected. Make sure to hold the steamer as closely to the surface as possible, and repeat in a month, just in case.

Read the next post to know Signs of bed bug problem
 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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