Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Bed Bugs - How They Enter Our Homes and How to Get Rid of Them

By Alyssa Cook

Bed bugs cause unnecessary annoyance to family members in numerous homes. These bugs are infamous bloodsuckers and have a preference for warm blooded animals like cats, dogs and humans, with humans being their first choice. Pest control efforts should be carried out seriously if this problem is to be eliminated.

Bed bugs infestation is mainly spread through travellers, but once these vicious bugs reach a new place they adapt to the new surroundings quickly. Holes and cracks in room furniture and carpets are the common places for bed bugs to take shelter and thrive.

An overwhelming majority of people harbour the wrong idea that bed bugs like places that are unhygienic. Bed bugs are pests that are thirsty for blood and not waste, and hence trash removal is not a very useful way to control them. But cleaner surroundings help in better spotting of these pests and thereby eradicating them becomes easier.

Another misconception about bed bugs is that they are too small to be seen with naked eyes. In fact, these pests can be seen without any difficulty, yet we rarely see them because they have flat bodies that help them vanish easily in narrow nooks of furniture or layers of fabric.

They will normally bite once a week or so, and they can really live for a long time without eating - commonly six months, but sometimes over a year.

Bed bugs in a house are best taken care of by experienced pest controllers, so it is advisable to hire the services of such experts. However, there are some home cures also to control their threat such as washing carpets, bed linens and other clothing items in warm water and then exposing them to the sun. Gaps in the walls must also be sealed, and furniture having too many holes and other potential breeding grounds for bed bugs must ideally be disposed off.

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