If you’ve been waking up covered in itchy bites, you may have a bed bug infestation. There are several questions you can ask and investigate so you can determine if you have a bed bug problem in your Carson home.
Consider Any Traveling
If you have a new bedbug infestation, they must have come from somewhere. Did you recently go somewhere new? Consider not just vacations but any unusual chairs you may have sat in or rooms you’ve been around.
Don’t just think about yourself – if an apartment neighbor has traveled, bed bugs may have moved over to your Carson home too. Or maybe someone has stayed at your place recently.
Think about whether or not you have new, used furniture as well. A used mattress or chair can carry plenty of bugs.
Look At Your Bites
While bedtime bites seem like a sure sign of bedbugs, many different parasites can leave similar marks. Fleas, for example, look similar at first, but bite around the ankle and leave small red dots in their bite marks.
Bed bugs, on the other hand, bite anywhere that skin is exposed and leave bites that start as painless red bumps but eventually expand to welts.
Check For Blood Stains On Your Bed
Bed bugs often get crushed while you roll around in your sleep, so look for tiny blood stains. These can be red or take on a rusty color. Even if you don’t have bed bugs you probably want to call for mattress cleaning services to remove the blood stains.
Check For Bed Bug Excrement
Since bed bugs survive solely on blood, their excrement looks like blood stains, except smaller and darker. If you see rusty dots that bleed onto fabric, that could be bed bug excrement.
Check For Egg Shells
Bed bugs lay hundreds of eggs over their lifetimes, so an infestation produces many of them. They’re yellowish in color and about the size of a pinhead or speck of dust.
Check For Shed Skin
Bed bugs are one of many animals that shed skin as they grow, so during an infestation, you should be able to find plenty of shed bed bug skin. Like the eggs, they appear translucent and yellowish, looking like young bed bugs.
Check For A Musty Odor
Bed bugs have scent glands that can make an infested room smell musty. If you have a bad infestation, you should be able to eventually smell it.
Check For Live Bugs
Last, and most obviously, look around your mattress for live bugs. They are about the size of Lincoln’s head on a penny and have flat, circular bodies. You may also find them in chairs, curtains, and walls.
What To Do About Bed Bugs
If you find bed bugs, you need to deep clean your mattress anywhere they’ve infested. Remember that they can move in well beyond the mattress. Get your mattress steam cleaned by a Carson professional, and make sure they’re not living in walls, drawers, chairs, outlets, and any other spot in your room. You may want a Carson pest control expert to take a look, as well as your local Carson cleaning expert.