Good news, Floridians! If you look at any list of the most bed bug-infested cities in the U.S., you won’t find many cities from The Sunshine State on it. A few cities like Tampa, Orlando, and Miami do show up on the list. But thankfully, they’re all the way towards the bottom of it. That doesn’t mean you won’t have to worry about bed bugs if you live in Florida, though. You might still find yourself having to Google “pest control near me” so that you can hire a local pest control company to assist you with a bed bug problem.
The key will be spotting signs of bed bugs early so that you can start searching for the best pest control service to help you ASAP. It’ll increase your chances of being able to eradicate bed bugs from your home if they ever set up shop in it.
Here are tips on how to check for bed bugs in your Florida home so that you’ll know when to reach out to a Bradenton pest control service.
Learn What Bed Bugs Look Like
First things first: If you’re going to check your Florida home for bed bugs, it’ll help to know what they look like. The last thing you want to do is freak out because you think you have bed bugs in your home only to later discover that you spotted a different kind of bug instead.
Bed bugs often go undetected in homes since they’re on the smaller side. Most adult bed bugs will only be about the size of apple seeds.
Here are several other things you should know about the appearance of bed bugs:
- Their bodies are long and brown
- They’re often flat and oval-shaped when they haven’t eaten in a while
- They’ll get larger and turn a reddish-brown color after eating
You’ll also typically see a bunch of bed bugs congregating in one part of your home as opposed to just one or two of them. They tend to multiply quickly, which is why you’ll want to Google “pest control near me” at the first sign of them and get help getting rid of them.
Keep an Eye Out for Bed Bug Bites
More often than not, seeing bed bugs won’t be the first indication that you might have them living in your home. Instead, you’ll usually be able to tell you might have bed bugs in your home based on the bed bug bites you’ll notice on your body.
Bed bugs feast on the blood of humans and animals. For this reason, you’re most likely going to wake up with bed bug bites all over your body if you have them in your Florida home.
Many times, you’ll find clusters of these itchy and irritating bites on your arms, legs, and midsection. You might not connect the dots right away and realize that these are bed bug bites. But once you’re waking up with bites every morning, it’ll start to make sense for you.
Fortunately, bed bugs aren’t known to carry and transmit any diseases at this point. But even still, you won’t want to live in a home that leaves you with bed bug bites all the time for long. If nothing else, the fact that you might have bed bugs biting you at night will be enough to send your anxiety levels through the roof and make you want to do something about your bed bug problem.
Look For Bed Bugs in the Right Rooms
It almost goes without saying that you should look for bed bugs in bedrooms. As we just mentioned, bed bugs need to consume the blood of humans and animals to survive, so they’ll usually make themselves right at home in bedrooms where they know they’ll be able to eat.
But with that being said, there are also other rooms throughout your house where you might have bed bugs. For example, you might see signs of bed bugs in:
- Living rooms, especially in and around couches and chairs
- Finished basements that have couches and other furniture in them
- Playrooms that have carpeting, furniture, etc.
Technically, you can find bed bugs in any part of your home. But you shouldn’t have to worry too much about seeing them in, say, your kitchen or even your bathrooms. There are better places for them to go when they’re on the hunt for food.
Check Bed Linens for Bed Bugs
When you believe there is a chance you might have bed bugs living in your home, you should focus your search on your bedroom and any other bedrooms in your house. This is probably where you’ll find the bulk of the bed bugs in your home if they’re living in it.
The first part of your bedroom that you should check is your bed linens. From your comforter to your sheets to your pillowcases, bed bugs might be crawling all over your linens without you even realizing it.
You should slowly check all your different bed linens to see if you can spot any bed bugs. Don’t be afraid to check every seam and flip all these linens inside out to find out if you have bed bugs hiding in them.
If you have a large bed bug infestation in your home, there is almost a 100% chance that you’ll find at least some bed bugs in your bed linens. These bed linens will give them the quickest and easiest access to you.
Inspect a Mattress From All Angles for Bed Bugs
Whether you’re able to find bed bugs or not, you should always bag up bed linens after inspecting them and wash them in the right way. It’ll give you an opportunity to kill any bed bugs that might be in your bed linens so that you can use them again.
With the bed linens out of the way, you’ll also be able to carefully inspect your mattress from every angle for bed bugs. Don’t be afraid to get into every nook and cranny of your mattress to see if you can find evidence of bed bugs.
You might find bed bugs themselves on your mattress. You might also discover bed bug eggs that haven’t hatched yet. Either way, you’ll want to get in touch with a Sarasota pest control service at this point if you know bed bugs are present in your home.
It can be tricky to kill all the bed bugs and eliminate all the bed bug eggs that might be stuck in a mattress. It’ll help to have a safe pest control company on your side that knows the right approach to take.
Search a Bed Frame for Bed Bugs
Bed bugs aren’t going to limit themselves to only your bed linens and mattress. They’re also going to attack your bed frame if you have one.
In fact, this is where a lot of the bed bugs in your home might be if you have them. The bed frame will provide bed bugs with the protection they need while still allowing them to stay in close proximity to you.
Just like with a mattress, you should check a bed frame for signs of bed bugs from every angle. There might be some bed bugs on the bottom of the bed frame and others behind it. By looking at your bed frame from every angle, you should be able to uncover where bed bugs might be hiding from you.
See If Bedroom Furniture Contains Bed Bugs
If you have any bedroom furniture near your bed, including dressers and side tables, you shouldn’t be shy about seeing if they might have any bed bugs in them. If they’re close enough to your bed, they may have turned into a makeshift home for bed bugs.
You might not find the same large bed bug population in bedroom furniture that you will in your mattress and bed frame. But there is a pretty good chance that you’ll have at least a few bed bugs hanging out in furniture in your bedroom and waiting for the chance to strike.
Look in Less Obvious Spots for Bed Bugs
Generally speaking, most of the bed bugs that will appear in your bedroom will be within about 5 feet of your bed. It’ll keep them close enough to their food supply (you!).
You may, however, find that some bed bugs will spread out throughout your bedroom, especially if it starts to get crowded with bed bugs. You may find bed bugs hiding in places like:
- The creases in the curtains hanging up in your bedroom
- The electrical outlets on your bedroom walls
- The carpeting on your floors if you have it
Since you’re going to be conducting a thorough search for bed bugs in your Florida home anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to look under every stone so to speak for bed bugs. You never know where you might find them hiding.
Evaluate Couches, Chairs, Etc. for Bed Bugs
The bulk of your bed bug search should take place in your bedroom. But as we alluded to earlier, there may be some bed bugs that’ll hang out in other parts of your home where they’ll still be able to get access to food without having to be in your bedroom.
For instance, it isn’t uncommon at all for bed bugs to be in living rooms. The average American spends almost 5 hours per day watching TV, so it makes sense for bed bugs to hole up in couches, chairs, and other places where people might sit for long stretches of time.
You should always sneak a peak at any places where you or others might sit in your home. You may find that bed bugs will spread out throughout your house and attack you from all angles in some cases.
Call a Pest Control Company for a Bed Bug Inspection
Even if you know what bed bugs look like and know where to look for them, carrying out a successful search for them can be challenging. Bed bugs tend to move around a lot without being detected, so it might be easy for you to miss them.
If you have any reason to believe you may have bed bugs in your home, it would be worth Googling “pest control near me” and finding a guaranteed pest control company you can trust. They can inspect your home for bed bugs and help you get rid of them if they find them.
You might even want to go as far as to hire a quarterly pest control service to come out to your home every so often to inspect it for bed bugs. It’ll provide you with so much peace of mind and allow you to sleep better at night.
You’ll love knowing that your home doesn’t have bed bugs in it. You won’t ever have to worry about lying in bed at night wondering if bed bugs are on the prowl.
Google “Pest Control Near Me” for Help With Bed Bugs
Have you inspected your home and found bed bugs in it? Googling “pest control near me” is the first thing you should do. You’ll want to hire a pet-safe pest control service to help you with your problem.
Prodigy Pest Control is a company you can count on for dealing with a bed bug infestation. We can inspect your home for bed bugs, let you know whether or not bed bugs are living in it, and come up with a surefire plan for evicting them from the premises.
Touch base with us today to schedule an appointment for pest control services. We can also assist those who might be Googling “rodent control near me” right now.