Bedbugs are small round insects with brown color that live off human and animal blood. Whereas the adults are flat like apple seeds and turn red after drinking blood, they inflate and convert into red color. Their flat body allows them to enter any place where there is blood for them to live on. They live in groups and do not make nests like bees and ants. They can move swiftly on the ceilings, floors, and, walls.
A female bedbug produces hundreds of eggs in its life which are about the size of a dust particle. The undeveloped bedbugs shed five times before they are maturated and require blood while shedding. They can reach maturity in about a month or less and produce three or more generations in each year. They have an average lifespan of about ten months to a year.
How To Identify Bedbugs
Most people notice bedbugs before the infection even spreads. The very first symptom of infection is itching all over your body with spots. The spots may pop up into a colony, large rash, and red spots. The symptoms vary from person to person depending on the allergy to the saliva of the bedbug.
The next common sign is feces which are small spots that can appear either reddish brown or brown in color. These feces are mostly found on the walls, carpeting, and bedding. Along with the excrement, you may also discover pieces of the exoskeleton of the dead bedbugs which were removed during shedding/molting.
How To Avoid Bedbugs
- It does not matter if you are a homeowner or a renter, you should examine your homes on a daily basis during the daytime. The bedbugs mostly assemble in the tags, springs, and junctions of the mattresses in addition to the wallpapers, electrical outlets, picture frames, and baseboards.
- Specialists suggest that there should be reduced clutter in your house during the inspection in order to notice the bedbugs. You should examine your home even after your guests leave or after you bring old furniture into your home.
- As you know that bedbugs can easily attach to your purse and luggage which is why you should completely examine your luggage and other stuff before or after a tour.
- As a tourist, you should thoroughly check the room where you are staying for any chance of infestation. Small rust or brown color spots on furniture, on the carpet, and at the back of the headboard indicate that the bedbugs have developed here.
- You should place your luggage in the bathroom or on the top of a shelf rather than placing it near your bed and the walls of your bedroom. You should inspect your suitcase completing after reloading and arriving home. After arriving home, if you have clothes that can be dried, you should keep them in the dryer for more or less fifteen minutes with the highest setting on the dryer.
How To Kill Bedbugs
- How To Clear Out At Home
If you want to do the bedbugs treatment in Philadelphia all by yourself, you should follow the steps given below:
- Clean your clothes and bedding in hot water for half an hour and then put them in a dryer for 30 minutes and set the heat to maximum.
- You should use a steamer on couches, mattresses, and other places where you think the bedbugs can conceal.
- Conceal the infected things in a black bag and place them outside either in a car or in an open area on a hot day with the temperature reaching 95oF. On cold days, the bedbugs take 2 to 5 months to die in a closed bag.
- You can also place the closed bag in the freezer at a temperature of 0oF and leave them for at least four days. You should also keep checking the temperature by using a thermometer.
After getting rid of all the visible bedbugs, you should make your home unwelcoming for the new ones. This can be done by placing bedbug-proof covers on the mattresses and box springs. Zip the covers so if the bedbugs are present, they will be trapped and die and the new bedbugs will be unable to get inside.
- By Using Chemicals
You can use the following chemicals to get rid of bedbugs:
- Pyrethrins and pyrethroids
These are the most general chemicals used to get rid of bedbugs but some bedbugs have developed resistance to them
- Pyrroles
They kill bedbugs by annihilating their cells
- Neonicotinoids
They are nicotine variants and affect the nervous system of bedbugs. These chemicals are used if the bedbugs have developed resistance against other chemicals.
Verdict
If you live in Philadelphia and encounter bedbugs, you can either get rid of them by yourself or hire a bedbug exterminator in Philadelphia.