Eliminating Bed Bugs Strategies For Effective Bed Bug Control For Your Home In Long Island

When bed bugs appear in Long Island homes, four questions arise. These four common questions address the entire problem of bed bugs. How do I find bed bugs? How bad are bed bug bites? How did I get bed bugs? And, of course, how do I get rid of bed bugs?
Whether you've found these bugs in your home or hope never to find them for as long as you live, knowing the answers to these four questions can be helpful. Join us at Parkway Pest Services today as we tackle these questions head-on and provide smart tips to help you deal with bed bugs in and around your home. As always, we're here if you need bed bug control in Long Island. Our QualityPro team is here to help you.

Bed Bug Detection: How To Spot And Confirm An Infestation

Knowing how to catch bed bug signs early is useful, not only at home but also when you're away. These are hitchhiking pests. If you catch them while away, you can prevent them from coming home with you. If you catch them in your home early, dealing with them will cost you less. Why? Because bed bugs grow their population and spread. When they spread, your technician must track down their locations and apply a treatment to each area. Sometimes, this is tricky—and costly. Here are a few ways you can locate and confirm an infestation.

Identifying The Bugs: The first way to detect bed bugs is to see them. Unfortunately, they are incredibly good at hiding from view, particularly the adult bugs. Here are some of their physical characteristics:

• Baby bed bugs are white. They are oval, have six legs, and measure approximately 1/26 of an inch long.
• After a bed bug has had a meal, its abdomen becomes red. If you see a tiny red bug attached to your skin in the evening, look at it closely, as it may be a bed bug. Keep in mind that seed ticks are often confused for bed bugs because they also have six legs in their larval stage. However, ticks are brown, like adult bed bugs, not white and red, like baby bed bugs.
• As they develop, bed bugs turn tan. These tan bed bugs may have an abdomen that contains black excrement or red blood.
• Adult bed bugs resemble apple seeds and grow to about 1/5 of an inch in length. They are reddish-brown with crease lines on the body. After eating, they appear reddish, whereas, before a meal, they appear more black.

Locating The Bugs: If you're in a dark space, you could see a bed bug crawling on you or find one attached to your skin, but it is more likely that you'll have to search for these bugs. Here are some common places bed bugs hide:

• In mattress and box spring seams
• Between mattress and box springs and under couch cushions
• Under labels
• Inside pockets
• Underneath the feet of furniture frames
• Within the gaps in furniture frames
• Along baseboards or carpet edges
• With the gaps found in painting and photo frames.
• In book bindings
• In luggage, book bags, duffel bags, and pocketbooks

Warning Signs: Even if you don't see live bed bugs, you can still detect them. Bed bugs leave behind fecal droppings, shed skins, and white eggs. Look for these in the locations listed above. For the droppings, you can also inspect pillowcases, sheets, bedding, curtains, carpets, surfaces, and clothing. Here's a brief list of what to look for:

• Bed bug droppings are black. When a bed bug leaves droppings, it may also leave blood. Therefore, the stains may appear black, black, or brown.
• Bed bug skins look like tiny, hollow bed bugs. A bed bug sheds its entire skin as it passes between its five instars.
• Bed bug eggs are white, like the nymphs inside. They're also about the same size as a newly hatched nymph, about 1/26 of an inch.   

Now that you know how to find bed bugs, we hope you never do. But, if you do, remember that you're never alone when dealing with these unpalatable pests. At the first sign of trouble in your Long Island home, contact Parkway Pest Services for bed bug removal. It will not only save you money, but it will also guard you from bed bug bites. How bad are those bites? It depends on a few factors. Mostly, bed bug bites are another warning sign you can use to detect bed bugs. Let's take a look. 

Bites And Rashes: Symptoms Of A Bed Bug Invasion

If you know what bed bugs look like, you'll have another way of detecting these insects while away from home. These bugs have a somewhat unique bite pattern. The pattern develops because of these three factors:

1. A bed bug usually bites three times during the night.
2. The bed bug crawls a short distance between bites.
3. Bed bugs often feed in the same area of the body as a group.

If you look at the bites on your skin and imagine one or more bugs biting you in this way, you may detect the pattern. Bed bug bites commonly leave a rash—though not always. The rash is often significant and surrounds more than one bite since they are so close together.

How bad are the bites? You might not notice them at first. You can get bed bug bites and have no bumps or rash. It depends on your skin type and sensitivity to the coagulant in bed bug saliva. But, just as with mosquitoes and other insects, your body may immediately react. If so, you'll have a bump, rash, and itch.

The good news about bed bug bites is that these pests are not currently known to transmit diseases to humans outside of laboratory studies. So, unlike mosquitoes or ticks, you don't have to worry about getting a disease. Of course, that doesn't mean you want bugs biting you while you sleep. Let's look at how you can prevent a bed bug infestation.

Proactive Measures: Implementing An Effective Bed Bug Prevention Plan

How does bed bug prevention work? Let's begin by saying it isn't simple. Bed bugs require a unique prevention strategy because there are four ways they can end up in your home. You have to counter each of them.

Used Furniture: Bed bugs hide in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, nightstands, clocks, computers, pianos, couches, and more. Always inspect any used items you purchase. Doing so may prevent bed bugs from using these items as a Trojan horse.

Walls: As an infestation grows, bed bugs can enter walls and move between rooms. If you live in an apartment or a home attached to another unit, you could be at risk of an infestation. Keep in touch with your neighbors and inform each other of bed bug problems. You can also use a caulking gun to seal gaps in your walls to prevent bed bugs from finding a pathway out.

On Your Person: It is possible to bring bed bugs home with you. Always watch for warning signs. Perform a quick inspection before spending the night. Protect your laundry, and wash and dry your clothes when you return from a trip.

Others: Teach your kids, friends, and family about bed bug prevention so they don't bring these pests into your home. 

Bed bugs are sneaky. If they find a way past your defenses, it's good to know who you can trust to get rid of them. If you live in Long Island, it pays to choose Parkway Pest Services. Let's look at a few reasons why.

Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite: Contact The Pros Right Away

When you contact Parkway Pest Services, we stand out from the competition in a few ways. As with all the facts on this page, it is good to know how we're different from other pest control companies and what it takes to eliminate bed bugs.

• We use highly trained technicians and K9 bed bug inspectorsto locate bed bugs before treatments and ensure that no bed bugs remain after treatments.
• We apply all-natural control methods, such as mattress and box spring encasements and steam treatments.
• We use targeted conventional treatments as necessary to target bed bugs and break the cycle of infestation.
• We offer a year-round monitoring program so you never have to deal with these frustrating pests in your home.

If your response to seeing bed bugs in your home is NOPE, contact Parkway Pest Services today for a bed bug inspection. We'll check your home, share our findings, and listen carefully to your concerns. Based on our initial visit, we'll apply a control plan that works the way you want it to. Our goal is always to meet and exceed your expectations. Contact us today to get started.