“Good night, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
Sometimes even silly old sayings carry a lot of wisdom. These tiny, oval-shaped pests can become a real pain-in-the-butt if they aren’t dealt with. Though they don’t transmit diseases when they feed on people, they can leave you with a series of itchy welts and reddish spots all over your body. Believe it or not, they are even MORE annoying to try to get rid of for many reasons.
But why are they so hard to deal with? And what CAN you do to prevent their spread?
There are a couple of things you need to know about bedbugs. Here are some disturbing facts that explain why they can’t seem to go away.
- They reproduce like crazy. All it takes is a handful of the little buggers for you have a full-blown infestation at hand. The average female can lay over 500 eggs in their lifetime. This is why you want to control them early before they spread.
- Hidden in plain sight: An adult bedbug is about the size of an apple seed. Their tiny build is invaluable when it comes to avoiding detection. They can enter your house without you even knowing it, through your luggage, clothing, and other items. When they reach your home, they can hide in little cracks and crevices scattered throughout the place.
- They can get EVERYWHERE. A sort of natural consequence of the two previous points, combined. Bedbugs will typically start out settling in the springs and little openings on your mattress for feeding ease. Over time, however, they can end up settling in all sorts of hard-to-reach places in your house, from under the wallpaper, to inside the electrical outlets and so much more.
- They’re incredibly resilient. For such little creatures, they’re incredibly good at avoiding death. A bedbug can go months between their meals, not unlike bears. Attempting to “wait out” an infestation is simply out of the question.
Factors that Make Them Even Harder to Remove:
Depending on several living conditions and lifestyle choices, bed bugs can become even harder to remove (and isn’t THAT a chilling thought?) Just to name a couple of them:
- A cluttered environment. A bunch of messily-crammed-together items naturally gives bedbugs a wealth of hiding places. Consider this another reason to get started on the spring cleaning you promised yourself you’d do.
- Constant travel: COVID-19 isn’t the only thing you risk catching when you travel frequently. As you make visits to new places and sleep on different beds, there is a good chance new, unwanted “friends” will end up clinging to your clothes and luggage. There’s a good chance they’ll even follow you all the way home.
Hopefully by now, you fully grasp just how hard it can be to deal with bedbugs. Their resilience, sneakiness and sheer numbers make them a tough customer for anyone to deal with. It would be impressive if they weren’t so gross and annoying.
DEAL WITH YOUR BEDBUG INFESTATION NOW
Dismissing bed bugs as a mild nuisance would be a big mistake. Just because they don’t give you malaria, that doesn’t mean they can’t pose a surprisingly serious risk to your health. If left unchecked, you could very well end up suffering from the following:
- Sleep deprivation: The discomfort from their bites can seriously keep you up at night, leading to sleep deprivation as a result.
- Stress. The weight of trying and failing to contain the problem yourself can be overwhelming, especially if a lack of sleep exacerbates it.
- Infections: Excessive scratching of the itches can lead to those spots getting infected.
- Allergic Reaction: This is the most serious risk posed by a bedbug infestation. If you happen to be allergic, bites may cause you to have serious blisters, swelling and hives.
Clearly, bed bugs are a problem you shouldn’t leave unaddressed. This begs the question, though: HOW do you go about this difficult task? Well, ideally, you would be able to contain the problem early via some thorough home cleaning.
If the bedbug problem has spiralled when it has spiralled out-of-control, however, the best course of action would be to hire a professional exterminator. Don’t let these freeloaders feed off of you for a second longer. GTA Toronto Pest Control offers fantastic bed bug removal that exceeds expectations, without fail.
