Urban Myth: Bed Bugs Only Like Dirty Sheets

If you pride yourself on keeping your home scrupulously clean, discovering bed bugs in your sheets is horrifying. But here’s the thing, bed bugs can thrive in clean and dirty homes. They don’t prefer dirty sheets or dirty homes, that’s a myth. The truth is, they feed on human blood, so wherever people are, that’s where you’ll find them. It doesn’t matter whether the surroundings or clean or dirty.

Do I Have Bed Bugs?

If there’s a bed bug infestation in your home, there’ll be some tell-tale signs like:

· Bite marks on your body- If you have itchy red marks on your skin, they could be bed bug bites. The marks usually appear in a line or cluster. They can occur anywhere on the body, especially on areas of skin that’s exposed when you’re sleeping like the face, neck, arms, and hands. Although bed bugs don’t transmit diseases like other pests, you can have an allergic reaction to their bites.

· Spots of blood on your bedding: This can be from where you bleed from the bites or from when you roll over in bed and inadvertently squash a bedbug.

· Brown spots on bedding or other affected areas: This is bed bug faeces.

· Seeing adult bed bugs: Though they are only around 5mm long, it is possible to see bed bugs with the naked eye.

How To Get Prevent and Get Rid of Bed Bugs From Your Home

Been Travelling?

Bed bugs thrive in places like hotels and public transport. If you’ve been travelling, you can prevent a bed bug infestation in your home by:

· Not putting your suitcase on your bed and checking it thoroughly in case any bed bugs have hitched a ride in it.

· Washing clothes as soon as you get home on a hot wash.

Seen Signs of Bed Bugs in Your Home?

If you’ve seen bedbugs on your clothes or bedding, try:

· Washing it at 60°

· Putting it in a plastic bag and leaving it in the freezer for 3-4 days to kill any adult bedbugs and eggs

Clean, vacuum, and declutter your home- while bedbugs thrive in both clean and dirty surroundings, dirt and clutter can make an infestation harder to spot. So dust and vacuum thoroughly, making sure to get into those often forgotten areas where bed bugs could be hiding out.

Be Careful About What You Bring In- Bed bugs can get into your home on items of second-hand furniture. So check over that sofa you bought from Facebook Marketplace thoroughly, or you could end up with more than you bargained for!

Need Help With Bed Bugs?

If you’ve got bed bugs in your home, it can be really hard to get rid of them on your own. You might be able to kill the odd one you see crawling around your sheets, but what about the eggs they’ll have laid all around the room? Once they hatch, you’re back to square one.

The only truly effective way to get rid of a bed bug infestation is to call in professional pest control. Contego’s expert technicians will eliminate the infestation and give you tried and tested advice on stopping it from happening again.

Need help now?