You Better Watch Out: Where Bed Bug Bites Can Be Occur

Bed bugs are one of the many kinds of common pest that can secretly invade a home, rapidly spread into multiple colonies, and irritate homeowners. Bed bugs are small, pesky, and feeds on human blood; they can also multiply rapidly unless contained early. Due to their size (Adults grow to an average of 4 to 5 millimeters), it’s hard to catch sight of a bed bug – so most homeowners are not aware of their silent invasion into homes unless they’ve grown into visible infestation presence.

While bed bugs are generally known to invade beds (hence the name), there are a few other places around homes and establishments that they settle and spread. Here are some of those areas:

Hotel lodging venues

Bed bugs are a traveler’s secret travel buddy due to their ability to stick to fabric and upholsteries. And because of their small size and habit of staying hidden, they can easily travel with a person without getting noticed. This is often how they end up at hotel lodging venues where they can transfer from one person to another.

Bed bugs stick to sofas, curtains, carpets which can generally be found in hotel lodging areas. From here, they climb the luggage of unsuspecting travelers, following them to their rooms or even homes where they will start to spread and become an infestation.

When it comes to hotel rooms, the number one hotspot for bed bugs is the bed’s headboard where they mostly sleep and rest. This is because heat is most present on the head area when we sleep, and the heat attracts bed bugs in the evening when they feed. This is one way bed bugs transfer from one host to another in hotel rooms.

Cinemas

The cold and dark environment of the cinema is also a favorable environment for bed bugs because of their strong tolerance to cold temperatures. Bed bugs can generally survive up to three months without feeding in normal room temperature, but at cold temperatures like the cinema, they can survive much longer.

And because humans generate more body heat in cold environments, bed bugs are attracted to human heat and carbon dioxide that is exhaled by humans inside the cinema, which lures them to latch on to human hosts and follow them home where they can spread.

Cracks and crevices

Cracks and crevices are also frequent hiding places of bed bugs. A crack in the wall or even on the bed frame is enough for bed bugs to grow their nest. These hiding places would normally have bed bug eggs, bed bug shell or shed “skin”, and dried droppings.

Most of the time, bed bugs will hide in places where they can easily reach their unsuspecting host when they need to feed on blood. If you live in an apartment, bed bugs can spread to other apartment units through cracks in the wall.

Cracks and crevices are also an opening for other pests to enter your home. Cockroaches, ants and even rodents often use cracks and crevices to enter homes to infest, so it’s best to always a good habit to seal up cracks and crevices to avoid further infestation of house pests.

Public transportation

While a crowded bus or commuter line is inconvenient for everyone, bed bugs enjoy this environment. Bed bugs don’t have wings, so they rely on humans to transport them from one place to the other – they’re also very much attracted to the carbon dioxide and body heat from commuters.

And with the high human-to-human interaction of commuters, they can spread and infect a large number of people on a daily basis. An infested public transport can affect thousands of daily commuters and spread bed bugs just about anywhere: offices, homes, and even restaurants.

Planes

It’s not common to hear bed bugs infesting airplanes, but it does happen. Bed bugs can infest and spread in airplanes just like in any other place where there is a lot of human interaction and human activity.

And because planes have a lot of fabric (seats, carpets, blankets, etc.) bed bugs have places to hide before latching on to human hosts. Just like cinemas, airplanes can also get cold during flight, so bed bugs become attracted to human body heat and carbon dioxide exhaled by humans.

Bed bugs may not be as structurally disruptive as termites or carry life-threatening diseases like mosquitos (Dengue, Zika etc.), but they are still an irritating house pest that will require the help of pest-control professionals to get rid of. Bed bugs have their own way of disrupting a person’s life: the effort in removing infested home items and heavily affecting a person’s ability to get proper rest are just some of the ways they can disrupt a person’s lifestyle. Find out some health risks caused by bedbugs.

While there are ways to prevent bed bugs from spreading in your home, it’s still the best option to get in touch with professionals to fully eradicate them.