Bed Bugs: Your Residential Reference Guide – Fairfax …

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are flat, wingless, blood-sucking insects less than long. They range in color from light brown to reddish-brown. Bed bugs lay up to 540 eggs in a lifetime, and each baby can be ready to reproduce in only 21 days. Bed bugs are a nuisance pest only and are not known to spread disease.

If you have bed bugs, do not panic. Bed bugs can be contained and eliminated from your home with the proper course of action.

It is recommended to hire a pest management company to locate all bed bug hiding areas and apply a treatment that will effectively eliminate the population.

Bed bugs may originate in furniture brought from other locations.

Bed bugs may crawl through walls and enter new rooms. Lines indicate where people may transfer bed bugs to other locations of their house. Bed bugs are moved either by transferring them on their person or by moving them around in other items, such as laundry. Note: A laundry room in a different part of the house, could become a prime transfer location, as clothing from an infested room comes into contact with clothing going to other rooms.

Bedbugs are "lazy" insects. They do not run, travel long distances on their own, or fly. In fact, they may stay in the same location without food for up to one year!

Decades ago bed bugs were eliminated in the United States by certain pesticides, such as DDT, which have since been banned by the Environmental Protection Agency. Recently, with increased traveling, domestic and international, bed bug activity also began to resurge in this country as people moved around more. Although more environmental-friendly pesticides are on the market, some bed bug populations are becoming resistant to these chemicals. Until an effective pest management strategy can be developed, bed bugs are on the rise.

Bed bugs may crawl into or attach themselves to clothing, luggage, furniture, or any other item a person leaves in an infested area. Wherever this newly infested item is moved, bed bugs can make a new home and stay.

Fact: Bed bugs are on the rise! They can be found any time, anywhere, and when you least expect them. You just dont know what other people bring with them.

Myth: Bed bugs are associated with filth. Truthfully, it does not matter to a bedbug how clean your house is. They are bloodsucking insects and are not attracted to food products.

Fact: Bed bugs do not carry disease. To date, there has been no proof that bedbugs carry disease pathogens or are able to transmit blood related disorders.

Myth: Bed bugs chew their way into your mattress or bore their way into your furniture. Truthfully, bedbugs cannot chew at all. They have mouthparts much like that of a mosquito. Therefore, they will only be found on the outside of your mattress, provided there are no holes already there. They also can crawl in between furniture seams, where two pieces are nailed together, but don't create new holes in furniture.

Fact: Bed bugs are nocturnal, meaning they are active (and bite) only at night. Bed bugs do hide during daylight hours and shy away from direct sunlight.

If you have an established problem with bed bugs in your home or establishment, you should contact a qualified pest management company.

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Bed Bugs: Your Residential Reference Guide - Fairfax ...