Bed Bugs in Alabama

Bedbugs have become more problematic throughout the Southeast during the last decade. After being mostly eradicated in American states nearly a century ago, they were reintroduced to the country in recent years as travelers brought them from countries with heavy bedbug populations. Bedbugs spread easily and can show up in your home or business without warning.

How To Identify Bedbugs

These pests start their life off as an egg as small as a grain of salt. During their lifecycle, they will continually go through a gradual metamorphosis and get larger at each molt until they become an adult. The first 8 stages of the bedbugs are very difficult to see due to their translucent tiny bodies but will eventually grow into a bug the size of a tick. Once you can see the bedbug, then you are dealing with a major infestation.

How Bedbugs Spread

Bedbugs spread easily through our workplace, schools, movie theaters and public transportation hitch hiking on our luggage, purses, backpacks and clothing. With 1 out of 4 hotels having an infestation, you may pick them up and take them home unknowingly while traveling on business or pleasure. Bedbugs can easily be picked up when they sit in a chair where someone else who has bedbugs sits. They may pick them up from shared lockers at the gym, and children can even bring bedbugs home from school if they have communal coat or bag racks. Sometimes the known source of where someone acquired bedbugs is never known, but if you have them, we can kill them and keep them from coming back.

Signs Of Bedbugs

Unfortunately, most people do not see a bedbug until you have an infestation. They are elusive and are typically nocturnal. Bedbugs hide in crevices of furniture and mattresses, and they can also hide in the carpet. They wait until people are relaxing or sleeping to feed on their blood. You may see tiny shed exoskeletons if you have light-colored furniture. If you look at your mattress, you may see blood spots, smashed bedbugs or bits of reddish-brown dirt, which is their fecal waste. In some instances, there may be a strong odor near the site of an infestation. Another common sign is red itchy bumps on your skin. One distinct aspect of bedbug bites is that they will usually bite in rows or a triangle of three. While bedbugs are not known disease carriers, scratching the bite bumps can lead to a skin infection or scabs that leave scars.

How To Get Rid Of Bedbugs

Bedbugs breed rapidly and can overtake an entire home. Since they are tiny and elusive, they are resilient. Their ability to live longer than a year without a blood meal amplifies their resiliency. If you have a bedbug problem, do not try DIY treatment methods. They are ineffective, and many people will spread the bedbugs to other areas of the home and worsen the problem. Bedbug eradication requires special treatment and only a professional can assess the situation and suggest an ideal treatment plan.

Bed Bug Detection

Custom Pest Control offers a comprehensive bed bug inspection with the most modern detection equipment which can locate as little as one bed bug in your home.

Our trained inspectors will utilize their years of experience in locating the hiding places of bed bugs. Modern technology has improved and we utilize an infrared gas analysis monitor that can detect the gas a bed bug emits with as few as one bed bug. If you really need to know if you have bed bugs, then contact us for an inspection.