How To Tell If It's Bed Bugs In Your Manatee County Home

Ew, bed bugs are gross! Just the mention of them makes most folks itch all over. And the name, bed bugs! They are in your bed! Most readers will be checking their beds tonight before they crawl in and close their eyes. These disgusting creatures were first reported in Ancient Egypt, yet another plague to be sure. By the 1950s, the advent of vacuum cleaners and electric dryers put a huge kibosh on the bed bug population. In 1990, a resurgence of their numbers made headlines. A survey of pest control companies nationwide reported that 99% of those who responded had treated an infestation. And Florida leads the pack. The top five cities for bed bug problems are Miami, Tampa, Cape Canaveral, Fort Myers, and Orlando.

Mistaken Identity

You’re on the right track. Educating yourself can save you money in the long run. Obviously, you need to be able to tell the difference between a bed bug and any other bug before you start any treatment. For example, carpet beetles are often time misidentified as bed bugs. This can be a costly and time-consuming mistake. The longer it takes to make the correct identification, the more time they have to multiply and spread. Descriptions vary from region to region. Keller’s Pest Control has compiled a list that should help you properly identify bed bugs common to Florida.

Description Of Bed Bugs

Knowing what you are looking for is half the battle. This list should help you.

• About the size of an apple seed (5-7 mm or 3/16 - 1/4 inch long).
• If not fed recently, they are long and brown, with a flat, oval-shaped body.
• If fed recently, they are balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated.
• The bugs in Florida normally have a mottled appearance on their backs. Brown with black mottling.
• Smelly, with a “musty-sweetish” odor produced through glands on the lower side of the body.
• Young bed bugs (also called nymphs), in general, are smaller, translucent, or whitish-yellow, and, if not recently fed, can be nearly invisible to the naked eye because of coloring and size.
• Bed bug eggs are generally tiny, about the size of a pinhead, pearl-white, and marked by an eyespot if they are more than five days old.

Where Do The Bed Bugs Live?

The two easiest ways to discern that you are facing a bed bug infestation would be the bite marks on your skin, coupled with tiny blood specks on your sheets, mattress cover, and pillowcases. Once you suspect you have become infested, most people will attempt to search them out. They are notoriously difficult to find, and you shouldn’t let the name bed bug fool you into thinking they will reside only in your bed. You will find them hiding in any of these locations:

• The seams of the mattress, and between the mattress and box spring.
• In bed frames or headboard joints.
• Behind baseboards and in the seams between baseboards and carpeting.
• Behind lifted edges of wallpaper.
• In your dresser drawers or your linen closets.
• In your wall outlets.

They are hitchhikers, which is why you seem to have an infestation spontaneously. They are easily picked up in hotels, dorm rooms, public transportation, and while visiting a friend or riding in their car. You really can be exposed almost anywhere.

Call In The Keller’s Pest Control Team

There are a multitude of over-the-counter pesticides that claim to rid your Manatee County property of these unwelcome guests, but this is one pest that is truly only eradicated with professional help. Keller’s Pest Control offers an innovative Hydronic Heat Treatment that is chemical-free. Our team will arrive at 7 AM and begin the process, which is closely monitored throughout to ensure it works quickly and efficiently. Call for your free estimate today, and to learn more about our bed bug control services.