3 Reasons Why Bed Bugs are So Hard to Exterminate

If you have noticed small bites on your body after sleeping, you may have looked through your bedding to discover that you have bed bugs in your home. While you may be tempted to deal with the bugs yourself with at-home methods, you may find that the pests are harder to kill than you suspected.

Learn about a couple of reasons why bed bugs are so hard to exterminate by yourself without the aid of a pest control service.

1. Female Bed Bugs Reproduce at a Fast Rate

One reason why bed bugs are difficult to exterminate is that they reproduce at a rapid pace. This pace makes it difficult to keep up with the growing number of bugs in your home.

Consider that a single adult female bed bug can lay well over 500 eggs in its short lifetime. This number is then multiplied by the number of females already present in your house. The population of the bugs explodes exponentially, especially when you consider that nymphs reach adulthood in 21 days.

When combined, these factors could mean a population of thousands of the bugs at any given time. If you are unable to eradicate the problem quickly, the infestation will only continue to grow. The problem is that other factors come into play while trying to exterminate the bugs.

2. Bed Bugs Are Immune to Common Pest Control Poisons

Another reason that bed bugs are difficult to get rid of when you attempt to do it yourself is that they are developing resistance to some of the most common pest control poisons and treatments. Even if you purchase over-the-counter poisons that state they are specifically for bed bugs, the treatment may not work.

Over time, bed bugs have begun to develop a resistance to neonicotinoids and pyrethroids. Traditional bed bug treatments include these chemicals. Instead of using these over-the-counter poisons, speak with a professional pest control service that can recommend the appropriate treatment for your bed bug infestation.

3. Adults Are Capable of Going Without a Blood Meal for a Year

In an attempt to starve the bed bugs, you may decide to close up the rooms in which you have seen them. Since they need to feed on blood to survive, you may feel that if you deprive them of their food source, they will die.

Bed bugs, however, are very hardy and are able to adapt to harsh conditions. In the absence of food, the bugs will go dormant and wait for a new source for their next blood meal. When you attempt to cut off their food supply, adult bed bugs can go up to 550 days without blood.

Then, once they sense a warm body, they can become more aggressive. This increased aggressiveness leads to an increased number of bites. Plus, even if you try to contain the bugs, they will travel to find a food source and will spread throughout your house until they find it.

While you can take steps to minimize the infestation, a professional service is needed to ensure that the bed bugs are eradicated completely. Contact us at Craig & Sons Termite & Pest Control, Inc., if you know or even suspect that you have a bed bug problem so that we may visit your home, discover the extent of the infestation, and offer you solutions for eliminating the bugs once and for all.