How Bedbugs Get Into Your House
Bedbugs are such irritating blood suckers that no one ever really wants a repeat infestation in their homes. Once you have had the unfortunate experience of having bedbugs, you do everything you can to rid yourself of them and to ensure that you never contact them. You itch, you burn, you can sleep and your skin develops odd looking bite marks that can be rather unsightly. So, how do people end up with bedbugs in their homes?
There are several ways through which you can unknowingly contract and bring bed bugs into your home. Most of these ways are completely accidental but some stem from pure carelessness on your part. Below, is a list of the different ways through which one can bring bed bugs into their home.
1. Adopting Dumpster Furniture
Almost everyone living on their own for the first time goes through this phase. You simply cannot pass up a perfectly good couch or Lazy boy seat that has been tossed out by the owner for no apparent reason. What most people do is they get a friend to help them move whatever piece of furniture they find in the dumpster into their residence. This is the most common way through which people get bed bugs into their living quarters. You have absolutely no idea why the owner threw out that seat. We always assume it is because they bought a new one and no longer need this seemingly perfect one any more. Sometimes, it is because it was infested with bed bugs and the owner simply did not know how to get rid of the little suckers so they decided to throw the baby out with the bath water. Once these little suckers come into your home, they will spread from that single couch to every other place in your home, mostly thanks to you and your friends. Suddenly, you have a full blown infestation in your hands.
2. Staying at Low End Motels
Low rate Motels are notorious for bed bug infestations. When on the road, you sometime have no choice but to stay at a cheap motel for a night or so. But by doing this, you may very well be opening yourself up to a hefty helping of bed bug infestation. So, what is one to do? Avoid Motels forever? No. The best thing you can do is to make a bed bug check list so that you may be able to tell whether or not your Motel room is infested with these tiny irritants.
Spot check your mattress by lifting it off the bed. Check the seams and the bed sheets too.
Check behind the headboard for tiny marks, translucent skin remnants or actual live bed bugs.
– Also check nearby furniture. Bed bugs tend to hide from the light and these are some of the places they will run to for that exercise in concealment.
– Keep your clothes in the closet space furthest from your bed.
– Use plastic bags to wrap your luggage in and keep them off the floor. This way, you minimize the chances of bed bugs getting a free ride into your home.
3. Buying Used Clothes
This is not to say that you should never buy used clothes. They happen to be a great way to save money. What you need to do however is wash them thoroughly before you bring them into your home. This will minimize the chances of contracting a bed bug infestation.
Buying old books and letting infested people enter your home are some of the other ways through which bed bugs make their way into your home. Once you get infested, however, there are steps you can take to rid yourself of these creatures. You could take matters into your own hand and buy a bed bug dusting kit or you could hire professional bug exterminators to do the job for you.
