By now we’ve all heard enough about bed bugs to know that they love to feed on our blood. We also know that they come out at night and have a feast that can sustain them for weeks on end. We’ve all learned that bed bugs are most often found in hotels and can travel home with us in our suitcases. We now know how to check the crevices of mattresses for their tell-tale blood stains and little brown bodies. We are aware that they can hide in drawers, behind headboards, inside cracks in the walls or behind peeling wallpaper, and even behind picture frames.
However, we’ve discovered some interesting, lesser-known facts about bed bugs that we thought we’d share with you:
- Bed bugs have an anesthetic in their saliva. That is why these sneaky suckers don’t wake us up when they bite us during the night. They essentially numb us as they are feeding so we don’t feel it.
- Bed bugs can live anywhere. It’s not just hotels and mattresses we need to be afraid of. Bed bugs can live in movie theater seats, public transportation, dorm rooms, restaurant carpets, airplanes, and more. Bed bugs can essentially be anywhere people are located.
- Bed bugs do not transmit diseases. As disgusting as we think they are, there has been no confirmation that bed bugs carry nor spread disease. Their bites might be itchy and could become infected but that’s not because of the bed bugs themselves.
- Cheap global travel may have contributed to the spread of bed bugs. Before the year 2000, bed bugs were rarely found in developed countries. As travel to underdeveloped and exotic locations became more affordable, the rise in bed bug infestations to countries like Canada, the UK, and the US have increased. Coincidence? We think not.
- Bed bugs like dirty laundry. Recent studies have found that bed bugs are more attracted to dirty clothes than clean clothes. The thought is that they can smell the scent of the human host and a gravitate toward that scent. Keep your dirty laundry sealed in plastic bags when traveling to avoid attracting these pests.
What Can You Do About Bed Bugs?
If you’ve found yourself with a bed bug infestation, you need to get some professional help. At Parkway Pest Services, we offer same day service on Long Island, the 5 Boroughs, Westchester County, NY, and Fairfield County, CT so you can get help right away.
We use a variety of methods to get rid of bed bugs from your home for good, including conventional chemical treatments and noninvasive methods like steam treatment and mattress and box spring encasement. We also use K-9 bug inspection to sniff out where the bed bug infestations may be in your home. Getting rid of bed bugs is a tough job, one that we are happy to handle for you and your family.