Do You Have Bed Bugs?
The mere mention of bed bugs is enough to strike fear into the heart of homeowners and for good reason. Bed bugs can be extremely difficult to eradicate. These pests can cause a significant amount of damage to furniture and negatively affect the health of your family.
The sooner you contact an exterminator, the easier it will be to rid your home of bed bugs. Be on the lookout for these signs and symptoms that you have a bed bug infestation growing within your home.
1. Musty Odor
If you are unable to spot bed bugs in your home, you will be able to smell them if they are there. Bed bugs emit a pheromone that can become more noticeable as they grow in numbers. This pheromone has a unique scent that resembles the smell of a musty towel.
If you walk into your bedroom (or any other room in your home) and it smells like a locker room, bed bugs could be to blame. Have a professional exterminator examine your home to determine if the scent is coming from a colony of bed bugs.
2. Bloodstains
Another tell-tale sign that your home is infested with bed bugs is the presence of bloodstains on your bed. These stains can be easy for homeowners to overlook because they are very small and tend to be concentrated in the corners of a mattress and near any seams within the mattress.
Once bed bugs are done feeding on you during the night, they retreat back into their hiding places. While exiting your vicinity, they leave behind small bloodstains. These stains resemble rust spots and should be taken as a sign that you need an exterminator to rid your home of bed bugs.
3. Itchy Bites
Bed bugs feed on the blood of humans. They are most active at night when you (their primary source of food) are in the bed with them. If you have bed bugs in your home, you will notice that you wake up with itchy red welts on the skin that you left exposed during the night.
These bites will usually be located on your arms and shoulders. The bites will either appear in a zigzag line or in small clusters. A bed bug bite can be very itchy and uncomfortable. If you are waking up with itchy bites, call a professional bed bug extermination service to help you find relief from bed bugs.