How Do Bed Bugs Spread (And How Fast Can an Infestation Occur)
Did you know that female bed bugs can lay over 500 eggs in her lifetime? These are a lot of bed bugs that can grow into adults and cause chaos in your home. If you are wondering how do bed bugs spread, you are in the right place.
We are going to answer your question and give you some tips to get rid of your infestation.
How Do Bed Bugs Spread?
Bed bugs are great at hitchhiking and the more time you spend traveling the easier it is for them to come home with you. If you often go to different hotels, hostels, airplanes, or cruise ships you can easily pick up these sneaky pests.
If you have luggage near an area that has bed bugs they can easily climb on the luggage and travel wherever you go because of how tiny they are. Keep in mind they do not fly they only crawl.
They have six feet and therefore they are pretty fast crawlers and can travel three to four feet per minute. Their speed makes it easy for them to travel between different rooms and different floors in a building or home.
If you have kids they can easily bring these unwanted guests to your home on their bookbags. Pretty much any opportunity bed bugs find to get closer to their food source (blood) they will move.
How Fast Can an Infestation Grow?
Bed bugs do not grow at a super-fast rate. It can actually take some time before they become a headache. After around two months of bringing a female bed bug to your home, you will start to notice small dots on your bedding or mattress.
By this time that one female will have grown into a small population of about 10 breeding adults, eggs, and around 200 developing bed bugs in different stages of their lives. The third month is when the infestation really explodes. Around that time you will have over 100 breeding adults, around 500 eggs, and 1,000s of other bed bugs.
CustomBedBug.com offers bed bug services in Seattle and contacting them at the two-month mark is ideal. This is when it is easier to control the infestation before it becomes more out of control.
Tips to Prevent Infestations
If you want to prevent infestations you can buy special encasements to keep your mattress in and your box spring. These create a barrier that makes it difficult for bed bugs to travel on and keeps them from getting on your pillows, and crawling up to where you sleep.
If you travel a lot take a flashlight and disposable gloves everywhere you go and inspect the room before you settle in. The main part to inspect is the bed, starting with the headboard. Check all of the sheets, pillows, mattresses, the box spring, and under the drawer of the table next to the bed.
In the morning double-check the sheets for any blood spots because bed bugs poop pretty soon after they eat. If you noticed blood spots popping up where you haven’t noticed them previously, it would be worthwhile contacting an expert in bed bug inspection services in order to give your soft furnishings a look over to ensure you aren’t at risk of an infestation starting. Also, try to never put your luggage on top of the bed and keep your clothing inside the luggage to prevent hitchhikers.
At home you want to clear all of your clutter, the more clutter you have the easier it is for bed bugs to hide and go unnoticed for a while. Wash your sheets, blankets, bedspreads, and clothing on a regular basis. The main step is to dry everything in high heat because they can’t survive high amounts of heat.
Keep in mind that they can easily hide in your hamper or laundry containers. This means that when you do your laundry and are left with an empty container you will want to clean the hamper out and disinfect it to be safe.
Common Bed Bug Hiding Spots
Bed bugs love warm areas and their favorite hiding spots are mattresses and beds. You want to always keep an eye on the seams of your mattresses and the folds plus any corners that your bed frame has.
They will also hide along the perimeter of a room. Make sure to keep an eye on your baseboard and the edges of your carpet (if you have any). Doing daily vacuuming will help prevent any from sitting around the perimeter of the room.
Bed bugs also love to hide where humans sit for long periods of time. Make sure to check recliners, couches or any office chairs you have at home. When looking around these hiding spots also check where the fabric meets the legs of the furniture and look in between all the seat cushions.
You never know if they are hiding in your nightstand or dressers. Make sure to check all of the drawers by emptying them out and examining the joints, the cracks, and the bottom of all the drawers.
If you have any drapes or curtains, inspect those as well. Sometimes they will hang out under lamps, behind outlet covers, or even inside picture frames.
Feeling Like a Bed Bug Pro?
Now that you know the answer to the question “how do bed bugs spread?” and also know more about preventing infestations and their favorite hiding spots, you have all the knowledge to live bed bug-free. If you were to ever have these unwanted guests in your home, you now know what steps to take and also how to spot them quickly.
Did our article help you today? Please check back often to keep up with our latest articles!
What's Your Reaction?
Newly middle-aged wife of 1, Mom of 3, Grandma of 2. A professional blogger who has lived in 3 places since losing her home to a house fire in October 2018 with her husband. Becky appreciates being self-employed which has allowed her to work from 'anywhere'. Life is better when you can laugh. As you can tell by her Facebook page where she keeps the humor memes going daily. Becky looks forward to the upcoming new year. It will be fun to see what 2020 holds.