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Bed bugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals or humans. Adult bed bugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, however, their bodies swell with blood and change to a reddish color.
Bed bugs do not fly or jump, but they can move very quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Female bed bugs may lay hundreds of eggs, each of which are about the size of a speck of dust. They will spread easily throughout a home, but are mostly found within five feet of the bed. Bed bugs are attracted to humans by the Carbon Dioxide emitted from your breathing, as well as body heat.
Bed bugs can enter your home undetected in a variety of ways. Their flattened bodies can make it possible to enter into spaces about the width of a credit card. Bed bugs are carried into the structures on your clothes, luggage, books, etc. Due to the nature of bed bugs, if you see one, there is a high probability there are more.
Before bed bugs can be treated, you as a Houston homeowner must have some responsibilities to complete before having your Pest Control Management handle the treatment process. Depending on the treatment chosen, it can take an average of two to five visits to gain control and verify that it is bed bug free.
The first visit is the home inspection. Cypress Creek Pest Control will visit the affected home and ask residents to follow a prescribed list of duties to help our bed bug control services, including:
- Throwing out infested mattresses
- Hot washing and drying linens, clothes and draperies
- Hot drying sensitive articles
- Packaging all cleaned items in clean plastic bags
- Storing cleaned items far away from the infested room(s) before we return to do the first treatment.
Finding the originating source in a multi-unit dwelling can be difficult. If all the infested units are not addressed the bed bugs can simply travel to a neighboring unit and re-infest it. It is highly recommended to encase the new mattresses in a bed bug proof mattress encasement. If the home or apartment is re-infested it can be easily inspected because the cover doesn’t offer places for them to hide. Leave luggage in the hot trunk of your car after a trip the high heat will kill any unwanted travelers. Heat-dry all clothing after a trip. These are a few precautions to prevent re-infestation.
The situation is not hopeless though; residual products labeled for bed bugs can and will be used as part of a complete treatment to kill any new bed bugs.
Bed bug work is specialized work and Cypress Creek Pest Control has the tools and expertise to help. Treatment costs range anywhere from $300 to $1,200 or more per unit depending on the size and severity of the infestation.
