Bed Bugs in Virginia

Virginia Bed Bugs

Adult bed bugs are wingless, have six legs, about the size of an apple seed and are reddish-brown in color. The bed bug has three distinct life stages – eggs, nymphs, and adults. Nymph and adult bed bugs feed on blood and will take a blood meal about once per week. Female bed bugs must consume blood and mate with a male in order to produce fertile eggs. These eggs are very small and resemble a grain of salt. An adult female generally will live for about a year under favorable conditions and during her lifetime will lay hundreds of eggs.

How Do You Get Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs get into homes and businesses by hitchhiking on items brought from other locations. The more common manner of introduction is with infested luggage, clothing, backpacks, used or discarded furniture, and a host of other infested items. The best advice to avoid a bed bug problem is to thoroughly inspect all of your personal items after traveling or anytime something “new” is brought into the household. Always be suspicious.

How to Find Bed Bugs in VA

What is the first indication that bed bugs are in your home? They are small, reclusive in their behavior, and generally only show themselves at night when occupants are asleep. So the answer may be the presence of unexplained bites or skin irritation. But not everyone reacts to bed bug bites in the same way. In fact, some people do not react for several days after being bitten and some people to not react at all. As a result, homeowners must be aware of other signs and indications of bed bugs.

Obviously, actually seeing bed bugs when doing your own inspection is a great indicator. Since bed bugs are active while you are asleep, begin your inspection in the bedroom where you sleep. Bed bugs like to commune together, so look for them in their obscure, protective hiding places such as along mattress seams, behind head boards and foot boards, in cracks and gaps at the floor/wall junction, along baseboards, around door and window facings, in night stands or any area within several feed of your bed.

What you look for during the inspection are the bed bug’s black-colored fecal droppings, their cast skins left behind after they molt from one stage to another and blood spots on the bed clothing. This very time-consuming inspection can be done by the homeowner; however, the best option is to have your pest professional do the work. Learn More