Bed bug infestations are among a homeowner’s worst fear. Despite what you may have heard, you can clean as much as you want and still wind up with bed bugs. These tiny insects don’t care if you have fresh sheets on your bed. All they care about is finding a suitable host to help them feed and reproduce. Eliminating these bad habits helps you to keep your home free of these nuisance pests.
Forgetting to Inspect Your Hotel Room
Jumping on the bed as soon as you make it to your hotel room might be tempting if you’ve had to travel for hours to your destination. Yet, this could immediately put you at risk for bringing home bed bugs. Checking the mattress and surrounding walls and bedding for signs of bed bugs only takes a few minutes, but this can save you from spending hours dealing with frustration later on.
Bringing Home Used Furniture
Mattresses are expensive, but you won’t want to bring a used one home without having it inspected first. The same is also true of couches and other upholstered pieces of furniture. Because you often don’t know where it’s coming from, you can’t be sure what pests might be hitching a ride on your new sofa.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy thrift shopping or antiquing. If you do love vintage finds, then make sure to have a pest control professional in mind who can help you inspect for and treat suspected infestations. Before bringing the new furniture into your home, call for a pest control professional to inspect each item. They can also give you tips and strategies for avoiding pest problems caused by bringing home used furniture.
Mishandling Your Luggage
No one tends to like putting their suitcase on a potentially dirty hotel room floor. Yet, putting it on the bed is also not a good idea since a bed bug might hitch a ride to your home in your suitcase. Try to put your luggage on a rack or stand that is made of a smooth, non-porous material. Then, make sure to zip it closed anytime you take something out to wear.
Failing to Check After Having Houseguests
You may know that your aunt or uncle is a stringent housekeeper, yet you never know if they might be harboring bed bugs in their belongings. Whether the pests hopped in during a hotel stay or while the luggage was in the cargo bay, your loved one could bring them to your house. After your houseguests leave, do a simple inspection of the room as you gather up the bed linens for washing. If you do find evidence of bed bugs, then you’ll be catching the problem early enough to avoid major disruptions to your life.
Time is of the essence for dealing with bed bug infestations. Treating them as soon as you think you have a problem helps to prevent them from spreading throughout the house. As you search for a treatment, try to resist the urge to use a DIY method that only makes the problem worse. Instead, choose to use professional treatments that include a thorough inspection to make sure that you fully address the problem and can get back to sleeping peacefully throughout the night.
