The Easiest Way To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs In Tampa

How Do I Check For Bed Bugs?

The first step in getting rid of an infestation is finding the bugs. Where do bed bugs hide? They hide in many places you may not expect. Let's start with the obvious location you should search for bed bugs.

• Use a flashlight and a probing tool to check your mattresses, box springs, and bed frames. Bed bugs love to hide in beds. But you won't find them out in the open. They'll hide in seams, crevices, recesses, tight spaces, folds, pockets, and voids. You'll also find them under labels and around grommets. Use a debit card, butter knife, or some other probing tool to bring bed bugs and other evidence to the surface.
• Lift furniture and look underneath the feet. You may find bed bugs under the feet of your bed, bed stand, chairs, couches, dressers, and other furniture in your bedrooms.
• Use your flashlight to check baseboards, crown molding, outlet covers, and carpet edges. Bed bugs don't just hide in your beds and furniture; they hide in tight spaces and voids within your home.
• Inspect the electronics in your bedroom. Bed bugs are oddly attracted to alarm clocks, radios, computers, and other electronic items that have a void within. 
• Use your flashlight and probing tool to check your living room furniture. Bed bugs hide under cushions, in the folds of cushions, inside seams, within the fluffy interior of cushions, and inside the frames of furniture. Check every tight space and dark void. Check underneath the feet of your living room furniture as well.
• Check any location where you sit. Bed bugs are sometimes found in piano benches and pianos. They can be found in gaming chairs and desks. They are also found in window nook benches.

As you look for bed bugs in your home, you need to have a few facts to help you. Bed bugs aren't going to make this task easy for you. They are experts at hiding.

• Black fecal stains are your best clue. Bed bugs leave their waste in the areas they infest. You'll need to inspect places that are out of view. Bed bugs have a strong preference for tight spaces.
• Brown or tan stains are often found where bed bugs are hiding. These stains are caused by the excretion of blood from the bugs. You'll find stains on fabrics.
• Bed bugs lay tiny white eggs in tight, compacted spaces. When you use your probing tool, you may dislodge these eggs and bring them to the surface.
• You may find bed bugs as you search. Adult bed bugs look like apple seeds with legs—six legs, to be exact. Immature nymphs are pale or yellowish and only about 1 mm long. In all stages, you will see blood or fecal matter inside these insects.

It isn't easy to find bed bugs, even when you know what to look for and how to identify bed bugs when you find them. But these tips and insights should help make the task much easier. If you discover bed bugs during your search, you may immediately have one question on your mind. Let's quickly look at it.      

Are Bed Bugs Dangerous?

We get this question a lot. We're happy to say that bed bugs are not considered dangerous. While laboratory studies reveal that bed bugs have the ability to transmit diseases to humans, there are no real-world cases. Bed bugs are also not venomous. Here are the primary reasons Tampa residents don't want bed bugs in their homes:

• Bed bugs leave multiple bites on the skin. Each individual bed bug will typically try to bite three times.
• Bed bug bites can swell, itch, and create irritation.
• Bed bugs hide in secret places and crawl on people while they're in bed and under the covers. You're not going to get much sleep if you feel like something is tickling your feet or back, particularly if you know that tickling is insects looking to bite you.
• Ongoing bite events can lead to anemia.
• Scratching bites can cause them to turn into open wounds, and these can get infected if not properly treated.
• The greatest issue with bed bugs is the social fallout. Friends and family may avoid coming over. Your kids may deal with bullying from other kids. These are challenging issues.

It is no fun to have bed bugs in your home. If you get these bugs, it is important to do something about them. But many of the ways Tampa residents attempt to deal with bed bugs make things harder.   

Why You Can't Get Rid Of Bed Bugs On Your Own

If you keep trying to get rid of bed bugs with no success, there are a few simple reasons why you can't get rid of those bugs. We could write several pages on this topic, but for the sake of brevity, here is a short list of the most important reasons.

• If you throw your bed out, you're only wasting money. Bed bugs hide in locations around beds, throughout your home, inside luggage, inside duffel bags, in clothes, and more. 
• If you apply a product that is topical, it won't get deep enough to knock down the bed bugs in their hiding places.
• If you use space heaters to eliminate bed bugs, you're wasting money. The heat from a space heater will only cause bed bugs to search for "cold spots" in the room or drive the bed bugs into another room.
• If you put diatomaceous earth all over, you'll only get a handful of bed bugs. When bed bugs die, they excrete a scent that the others can detect. They'll go around treated areas or wait for you to get tired of putting powder all over your stuff. A bed bug can live for months without a meal.
• It won't matter what you use to control bed bugs if they've spread into your walls and are living in multiple locations within your home.

Attempting to eliminate the bed bugs in your home is not the easiest way to deal with an infestation. It can leave you drained and frustrated. It is far better to contact your local bed bug control experts.