What's The Best Way To Get Rid Of A Bed Bug Problem In My Home In Yakima County?

We all want to enjoy a peaceful night's sleep in our beds. No one wants to wake up, notice red bites, and begin itching. The first day after discovering the wounds, you may chalk it up to mosquitoes or a spider, but when you awaken the next day with more red swollen welts, you know something is wrong. At that point, a scary thought hits: I may have bed bugs. On the third night, you may not be able to sleep, or you may move to another room for fear of getting more itchy sores on your body.

The good news is that you do not need to be miserable in your home. If you suspect bed bugs, you need bed bug control in Yakima County from Prosite. We are a QualityPro Certified pest control company, a certification that only 3% of pest control companies achieve. To be a Certified QualityPro company means that we meet and exceed 15 local, state, and federal regulations; our staff are background-checked, drug-free, and certified. Furthermore, we hold a QualityPro Green Certification, which means we use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods that carry the least risk to humans, pets, and the environment.

Now that you know about us, please keep reading to learn about bed bugs and how to get them out of your house.

How Can I Tell If It's Bed Bugs In My Home?

Bed bugs are elusive insects that hide during the day and come out to feast on their hosts at night while they sleep. Although they are tiny and work in the dark, these early signs of bed bugs will indicate if they are in your home

• Bed bugs
• Bed bug bites
• Reddish-brown stains
• Odor
• Eggs
• Eggshells
• Molt skins

Let's briefly unpack each indicator to help you determine if bed bugs are inside your Yakima County home.

You can see adult bed bugs without magnification. These insects have a 1/4-inch crinkly-looking body, six legs, and two antennae. When unfed, their bodies are flat, broad, and mahogany, but if they've recently consumed a blood meal, they will be reddish-brown, swollen, and elongated.

When a bed bug feeds, it pierces the skin a few times to locate a capillary-rich area. As a result, bed bug bites appear in lines or clusters. As it feeds, it injects saliva, which contains anticoagulants and anesthesia, into the wound. The host's body registers the foreign agents as an allergen and dispatches histamines that cause the area to turn red, swell slightly, and itch.

As they feed, beg bugs release reddish-brown feces. This fecal matter stains bed linens, mattresses, and box springs. Sometimes, the streaks are due to a host rolling over the bug while it is feeding.

Bed bugs communicate using chemical compounds known as pheromones. If a room has a high concentration of bed bugs, it may have a musty odor due to the pheromones.

Insects lay eggs and have an exterior skeleton, and bed bugs are no exception. However, you cannot see the minuscule pearl-white eggs without a magnifying glass. After the nymphs emerge from the eggs, they leave their discarded shells to seek out a host. Once they consume a blood meal, they progress through their first growth stages (instars). During each of the five instars, a bed bug must shed its outer skeleton (exoskeleton) to enable its body to expand. Discarded molt skin from the first four instars requires a magnifying glass, but you can probably spot the ones from the final instar.

If you find these bed bug signs in your Yakima County home, you need Prosite. We will remove bed bugs from your home so you can rest easy at night.

Why Are There Bed Bugs In My House?

Bed bugs are hitchhikers that enter homes inside luggage, bags, clothing folds, and used furniture. These insects use public transportation and venues as transfer stations to move from one host to another. Hotels and motels have long had a reputation for bed bugs. When these pests infest a room, they hide behind headboards, picture frames, and inside mattress seams and box springs. Many people place their suitcases on the floor at night. While they sleep, bed bugs exit hiding locations and crawl into the folds of their luggage and hide. Another common way they infiltrate is they climb into discarded clothing left on the floor.

When most people arrive home after a trip, they put their luggage on the bed, unpack, and place worn clothing in the hamper. Later that night, the bugs exit the clothing or luggage and crawl into cracks in the room.

Unfortunately, it does not require many bed bugs to begin an infestation; in fact, it takes only one fertilized female. Supposing only one beg makes it into your home, and it is a fertilized female, it will crawl onto a nearby host and have a blood meal. After it retreats to its hiding place, it will produce one to five eggs daily for the next ten days. A bed bug can live for several months, and during its lifetime, one female bed bug will produce over 500 offspring. The male-to-female ratio is 1:1, and it takes about 37 days for bed bugs to develop into adulthood after hatching. Thus, once the first group reaches maturity and begins reproducing, the bed bug population in your house will double about every 16 days.

Bed bug control services in Yakima County from Prosite eliminate adult bed bugs and their offspring.

Does Bed Bugs In My Home Mean It's Dirty?

Most pests enter homes from the surrounding yard to search for food, water, or shelter due to adverse weather conditions. Crumbs, exposed pet foods, unclean dishes, or cooking and eating surfaces provide a bonanza of protein, fats, and carbohydrates for cockroaches, ants, flies, rodents, and other pests. Leaking plumbing fixtures, poorly vented bathrooms, laundry rooms, and basements satisfy moisture needs. Once these pests or rodents find an entry point into a home, they can easily find shelter in discarded boxes, dark corners, or secluded areas.

While protein, fats, and carbohydrates attract most pests, they hold no interest in bed bugs. Bed bugs are ectoparasitic insects that eat only one thing: blood. Bed bugs are in your Yakima County home because they found a ride into your house and a host. Once inside your home, they exited whatever they used for transportation, hid in cracks, and waited until late at night. Sensing carbon dioxide, body heat, and odor, they crawled onto a host and enjoyed a blood meal, and thus infestation began.

Although crumbs, open trash cans, exposed foods, or pet food do not attract bed bugs, implementing these bed bug control techniques for your home will help reduce or avoid an infestation:

• Vacuum the house regularly.
• Suction out corners and cracks inside the home.
• Empty sweeper contents into a sealable bag and dispose of it in an outdoor, closed garbage can.
• Wash and dry bed linens frequently.
• Keep clothing off the flooring and place it in a closed hamper.
• Store seldom-worn clothing in sealed garment bags.
• Encase the mattress in a bed bug-proof cover.
• Immediately place clothing from travel luggage into the washer and wash and dry on the highest temperature clothing will tolerate.

While the lack of cleanliness is not a bed bug attractant, maintaining a clean home can help avoid future infestations.

These tips may help reduce the current bed bug infestation in your Yakima County home, but the only way to stop the problem is to secure the best bed bug pest control near you from Prosite.