Roughly one-third of a person’s life is spent sleeping. Although some might see this as wasted time, it is one of the most important impactors of health and happiness. The better you sleep at night the better off you will be. Keeping this in mind, bed bugs are a huge threat to restful sleep. If you are worried about these pests invading your Richmond home but don’t know how to spot or stop them, here is everything you need to know.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are the type of pest that people don’t know about until after they have interacted with them directly. This is mostly due to how silently bed bugs invade and their adept ability to stay hidden when indoors. To help you better understand bed bugs, here are a few facts about these invasive sleep-wrecking pests:

Bed bugs do not fly, jump, and are not fast crawlers.
Bed bugs don’t just live around beds but are found anywhere people live or congregate.
Bed bugs are incredibly smart and use their intelligence to avoid danger and invade homes in clever ways.
Bed bug bites don’t hurt. When this pest feeds it injects an anesthetic every time it takes a new bite.
Bed bugs aren’t nocturnal. They adapt their feeding schedule to when you are asleep.
Bed bugs aren’t invisible, they are just really good at staying out of sight.

If you don’t know what a bed bug looks like, identify this pest by its reddish-brown, 5-7mm long, shield-shaped, body. When fully engorged with a blood meal, a bed bug can grow to be upwards of five times its original size, with most of this size increase happening in their abdomen.

The First Sign Of A Bed Bug Problem

Because bed bugs invade homes silently, live bed bugs are rarely the first sign of an infestation. Most often it is these pest’s bites that clue homeowners into an active infestation. One thing you should know is that bed bugs seldom bite just once.

If these pests are feeding on you at night, bites may appear on your skin in a straight line or zig-zag pattern. We say may because not everyone reacts the same to bed bug bites, and 30% of people don’t even react at all.

Other Signs Of Bed Bugs

The longer bed bugs are inside a home, the more signs they leave behind. To better help you identify these pests around your home, here are a few more signs to use:

Bloodstains on bed coverings and around sleeping areas
Dots of reddish-black fecal matter along baseboards, around outlets, and other spots bed bugs hide within homes
Pearly-white eggs inside cracks and crevices around your home
A musty odor in the air much like coriander
Live bed bugs

How To Deal With Bed Bugs

There are two sides to dealing with bed bug prevention and elimination. If your home is currently bed bug-free, the best thing to do to keep it this way is simply keeping your eye out for these pests. Check hotel rooms for signs of bed bugs when traveling, inspect used furniture and items before purchasing them, and let your family and friends know about these pests so they don’t bring them into your home.

To eliminate bed bugs around your Richmond home, your best option is to get the professionals at Pestmaster® Services of Richmond, VA involved. Our team has the advanced bed bug control strategies and industrial-grade equipment needed to quickly rid your property of bed bugs.

Contact us today to learn more about our comprehensive bed bug control or to schedule your Richmond home for a detailed inspection.