There are very few places in the world with as much human foot traffic as New York City. No matter the time of day or weather conditions, people are crowding the streets and rushing around. What does this have to do with bed bugs? Well, you see, bed bugs are hitchhiking pests. Because they can’t fly, run, or jump, bed bugs are forced to use the items we carry around on a day-to-day basis to travel; the more people move about, the more opportunities bed bugs have to catch a ride. You can see why this would be a problem here in New York City.
WHAT BED BUGS LOOK LIKE
A common misconception is that bed bugs are too small to see, but this isn’t true. Although bed bugs are tiny – about the size of an apple seed – they are visible to the naked eye. The only reason they are hard to spot is that they tend to hide during the day. Luckily, they leave behind some noticeable signs you can use to identify a possible infestation:
LIVE BED BUGS
The most obvious sign of a bed bug infestation is finding live oval-shaped, reddish-brown bugs crawling around your home. After feeding, a bed bug can grow to five times its original size and will have a deeper red color.
BLOODSTAINS ON BED COVERS
As long as you have no recent injuries or opened scabs, bed bug bites will leave unexplained bloodstains in your bed.
A MUSTY ODOR IN THE AIR
Take a long sniff of the air in your room. Does it smell musty and stale? This odor could mean that bed bugs are nearby.
BITES ON YOUR SKIN
Bed bugs don’t bite just once. When you wake, check yourself for lines of red welts on your skin; these are a sign that you have a bed bug infestation.
FECAL MATTER AROUND YOUR ROOM
After bed bugs finish feeding, they will flee and hide throughout your room in areas around outlets, along baseboards, near the cracks of floorboards, and around other cracks and crevices throughout the room; it is around these hiding spots they will leave behind dots of reddish-black fecal matter.
WHERE YOU MAY FIND BED BUGS INSIDE YOUR HOME
Bed bugs are not only limited to beds and bedrooms; they also travel quite a bit while inside homes. Your entire home is open to a bed bug infestation. We find bed bugs in kitchens, bathrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, and even inside wall and ceiling voids.
WHY BED BUGS ARE SO HARD TO TREAT
Bed bugs are hard to treat for a number of reasons. As we have already mentioned, you can find bed bugs as well as their eggs in every room of your house, including within wall and ceiling voids – making DIY pest treatments easy for them to avoid. Once they hide, a bed bug can survive up to five months without a blood meal, meaning that if even a few bed bugs escape these treatments, they will be back eventually. For this reason, we highly recommend professional bed bug control.
WHY PROFESSIONAL BED BUG CONTROL IS RIGHT FOR YOU
With professional bed bug control, you don’t have to worry about bed bugs getting away. Here at Broadway Pest Services, we offer several options to handle your bed bug problems. From traditional chemical bed bug control to environmentally friendly and extremely effective heat treatments, we have everything necessary to eradicate these bloodsucking pests.
Don’t let bed bugs ruin your sleep. Reach out to us today to find out more about our services or to schedule a bed bug inspection for your New York City home.