Month: August 2015

If you’ve never dealt with a bedbug infestation before but think that you may have one in your home right now, you’ve come to the right place. In the post below, we will give you everything you need to know in order to identify and eradicate a bedbug infestation.

How Do I Know If I’m Dealing with Bedbugs?

The short answer is that you can identify bedbugs in one of two ways: by bites or by mites.

Bites

Bedbugs are most active at night, biting people while they’re asleep. According to WebMD, bedbug bites can be differentiated from flea bites both because they the tell-tale red spot in the center of the welt and because they appear over the whole body rather than just around the ankle area. Furthermore, bedbug bites are known to start itching after a delay rather than immediately.

Mites

In addition to bites, bedbugs leave other physical traces behind.

Rusty or reddish stains on bed sheets or mattresses caused by bed bugs being crushed.Dark spots (about this size: •), which are bed bug excrement and may bleed on the fabric like a marker would.Eggs and eggshells, which are tiny (about 1mm) and pale yellow skins that nymphs shed as they grow larger.Live bed bugs. (EPA)

Visually checking for these telltale signs of bedbugs is a good way to confirm whether or not you are dealing with an infestation.

How Do I Handle an Infestation?

Although people often try to take matters into their own hands, bedbug infestations are often difficult to deal with on your own. Often, DIY methods prove ineffective in the long run, and the problem comes back.

If you believe that you have a bed bug problem on your hands, the best step would be to contact a pest control professional. 

People often ignore the real danger that termites can create in their home. As a series of videos by a Chicago-area home inspector illustrated, this can be a major mistake. He found a home that was absolutely infested with these pests.

The inspector was checking out the basement of the home when he noticed a locked room. Opening it up, he immediately saw that the wood was heavily tunneled by termites, creating unrepairable levels of dangerous structural damage.

In fact, he found that the structural beam of the building had been completely eaten. This created a highly dangerous situation that put the lives of the homeowners and anyone who visited it at a severe risk.

The inspector shared similar home devastation stories that make it easy to ask: just how in the world do termites do so much damage?

There are a few key factors. First of all, termites breed at incredible rates. The queen is capable of producing thousands of workers, drones, and soldiers every year.

Combine that with the fact that termites prefer living in dark, out-of-the-way places and you have a recipe for serious home integrity disaster. By the time you notice termites in your living area, your home and its foundation may literally be crawling with these pests.

That’s why you have to call a pest control specialist if you think your home is infested with termites. They can come in, assess the situation, and help create a solution that is right for you and your home’s needs.

Termites are a common pest across the country, but there are multiple species that could potentially invade your home. Understanding the location of these species can help you decide if your home has a termite problem or if you’re dealing with another pest.

• Drywood termites prefer living in very warm areas and are not present in any area of the country that drops below freezing in the winter. They are most common in the southern states, especially in warm-weather states like Texas or Florida. They attack multiple types of wood and are incredibly destructive.
• Formosan termites are also most common in very warm weather areas. They are almost completely absent from states north of Kentucky. States with heavy infestations of Formosan termites include Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
• Subterranean termites can withstand a wider range of temperatures and are the most common termites found in cold weather states. That said, they only have a small presence in states like Michigan, Idaho, and Washington. They are almost completely absent in Maine and cannot live in Alaska.
• Dampwood termites are another type of termite found mostly in warm weather areas. They are especially prominent in the southwest and along the Pacific coast. Sometimes, they can be found in south Florida. Thankfully, these termites rarely, if ever, infest buildings.

Being a state that ranges in climate, people in New Jersey have it very tough when it comes to termites. If you feel your home may be in danger of infestation from any of these termites, call a professional pest control expert.