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Learn About Bedbugs

Posted in Bedbugs

Identify and Remove A Bedbug Infestation

Bedbugs can be difficult to remove without understanding them. Your best defense is to learn all you can about bedbugs. First and foremost, you should know that they feed on warm blooded animals but prefer human blood. You can have the best hotel in the world but if your guests are getting eaten while they visit, they are not coming back.

Bedbugs can be hard to find for a few reasons. First, they are small, about the size of an apple seed when full grown. Second, they are nocturnal and usually feed between midnight and five in the morning. After feeding for only five to ten minutes they return to their hiding place. Bedbugs hate sunlight but if hungry they will feed throughout the day. Lastly, they only come out of hiding to feed every five to ten days, but they can survive without eating for two months.

Stocking Their Victim

Like mosquitoes, they locate hosts by detecting carbon dioxide that we expel, and the body heat we radiate. Before feeding on your blood, bedbugs pierce the skin and inject their saliva which contains a numbing agent and a blood thinner (anticoagulant). As a result, their victims blood flows freely and they don’t feel a thing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it takes up to 14 days to detect the bite on your skin and infection is usually due to scratching the area not the bite itself. In fact, “Bed bugs are not known to spread disease.”

Bedbug Lifespan

It takes about five weeks for a nymph to become an adult. At this point, they can breed. The lifespan of a bed bug is generally about four to six months. However, it is not unheard of for the pests to live up to a year. Female bedbugs can lay up to seven eggs in a day and several hundred during her lifetime. If left unchecked, an infestation can occur within a few weeks.

The Solution

Sentinel Pest Control in Kitchener-Waterloo are experts in dealing with bedbugs. They use non-toxic solutions to remove them. An inspection schedule is important to keep them at bay even after a complete eradication, especially in hotels and motels. Sentinel Pest Control can empower you or your staff with knowledge on how to identify a breakout, or they can arrange to inspect your property themselves. Either way Sentinel Pest Control is the solution to your bedbug problems. Contact Us Today!