What Should I Do If I Find Bed Bugs?
WouterIf you think you have bedbugs, the first thing you should do is contact a pest management professional or your property manager. This is important because the landlord or property manager may be legally obligated to deal with the infestation. There are several ways to treat a bedbug infestation.
Begin by inspecting the entire area surrounding the bed, including the furniture and fabrics. Look in corners, pleats, and loose pieces of wallpaper near the bed. Also, check inside the dressers, drawers, and wicker furniture. Don’t forget to inspect laundry, cardboard boxes, and other things in the area. Bedbugs are hard to spot, so being thorough is vital.
Bedbugs are usually nocturnal and feed during the night. They often bite at night and leave behind reddish welts. While the bites from bedbugs are small and hard to spot, they are common enough to elicit an allergic reaction in some people. Bedbugs are oval in shape, have six legs, and segmented antennae. They can be mistaken for other insects such as fleas and cockroaches.
If you discover bedbugs, contact a pest control company or health department. It’s important to take action right away because an infestation won’t go away on its own without treatment. If you wait too long, the bugs will spread and multiply.
