Bed bugs find their way into thousands of American homes each year, and if you have a bed bug problem in your home, it is imperative that you take care of it quickly. If not, the infestation could spread to your friends, family and neighbors – and it could develop into a large population that’s nearly impossible to control.

How Did Bed Bugs Find Their Way Into Your Home?

If you aren’t sure how bed bugs found their way into your home, you should take a look at your recent schedule. If you’ve been traveling or have stayed in a hotel in the weeks leading up to bed bugs finding their way in, chances are that they snuck back into your home in your luggage. Most bed bug problems start in hotels or hostels, and there are a few preventive measures you can take to ensure that you don’t end up with a bed bug problem following your trip. Here are some of the ways that you can keep these bugs out of your bags:

• Only sit your luggage on the designated luggage rack. Bed bugs will have a hard time finding their way onto your baggage if you use this rack, if you aren’t able to locate it in your room, call the hotel’s front desk and have them bring you one.

• Check online bed bug listings to see if the hotel you are staying in has any reported cases of bed bug infestation. Even though hotels may have taken care of the problem since the report was made, you should be on the safe side and stay elsewhere.

• Perform a visual inspection of the bed as soon as you arrive in your hotel room. Pull back the linens and check all sides of the mattress, especially the side that comes in contact with the headboard. If these pests are present you should see specks of blood or small black dots the size of ground pepper.

Eradicating Bed Bugs

If bed bugs find their way in, you’ll want to eliminate them as quickly as possible. There are many types of bed bug treatments available to homeowners today, some of which are more effective than others. Take all of the following methods into account before deciding on the best one for your home:

• Heat treatments are one of the most common bed bug removal strategies. Since these tiny pests are incapable of surviving past 113°F, a bed bug problem can be taken care of by heating your home to this temperature. Don’t think that you’ll be able to do this using your central heat, however. Professional assistance is required for this treatment to work properly. During heat-related bed bug treatments some items, such as electronics, may need to removed to prevent damage.

• Mattress encasements are used to keep bed bugs from spreading within your home. Despite their name, these pests can infest all sorts of items in your home or garage including coaches, upholstery-covered chairs and even the seats of your car. These encasements simply zip onto your mattress, providing a protective layer between you and your bed. Using these encasements can prevent bites from occurring, eventually starving the pests and putting an end to your infestation.

• Cold treatments have become more popular in recent years, they take an approach that is very similar to heat treatments. Instead of raising your home’s temperature to a fatal level these types of treatments freeze the bugs out by lowering your house’s internal temperature to a below freezing level. These treatments can be effective, but most homeowners see better results when heat is used.

No matter which type of treatment you select, it is important that you take care of a bed bug problem as quickly as possible. The longer you wait the more time the bed bugs in your home will have to reproduce. To learn more about the best strategy for your home, get in touch with a bed bug treatment provider today.