Where bed bugs hide in the home — Tiosha’s student essay

Where Bed Bugs Hide In The Home?

Bed Bugs are small , brownish oval shaped insects that feed on the blood of humans and animals , but in some ways bed bugs are different for example , adult bed bugs have flat bodies , after they feed on our blood , they become swollen and they turn into a reddish color . 

These bugs do not fly ,however they do move every fast on our walls ,beds and floor . The female bed bugs can lay over hundreds of eggs over a lifetime , Nymphs which are immature bed bugs which shed their skin five times before they can fully mature but in order to start shedding they will need blood .

Bed bugs can enter our homes through our luggage ,clothes , old beds and other furniture etc. because of their small bodies they can fit in very small areas , they mostly hides in our mattresses , board heads even picture frames that we put on our walls, they are very hard to spot out because of their small bodies .

They mainly come out at night and they usually bite us as we sleep . they feed by biting on our skin and drawing the blood from our bodies . These bugs may feed on us for up to 10 minutes , you might not feel while they are feeding on you at first , but later on after that bite you might feel a little itchy leaving red spots . you might also see tiny bits of blood stains on your sheet or pillow cases .

From my own experience with bed bugs rubbing alcohol can be used to kill bed bugs , but it is not that easy ,but it is not impossible , there are many ways to get rid of them like cleaning bedding , curtains in hot water , cleaning mattresses can really help too by vacuuming , also make sure to vacuum the carpets under your bed because they might be living there .

When washing in a washing machine we have to make sure that the water is not cold because bed bugs CAN survive in cold water , regardless how many times you wash your stuff . so washing in high temperature or medium hot water is one way we can get rid of those bugs

When bed bugs are not feeding they hide in different places , around the house. Most bed bugs hate the smell of tea tree oil , lavender and peppermint . According to my research the bed bugs bites can appear within ten to fourteen days , but some people may not see the bites at all but others might see it hours after the bite . 

Bed bug bites may look like mosquito bites because their red and small bed bug bites are clustered and thick .Usually bed bugs bites can take around one to two weeks to get rid of. Some people don’t normally go to the doctor for treatments they usually do at-home treatment like washing the bites with hot water and soap which helps to prevent skin infection and stop your skin from itching and redness of the skin.

Author: Tiosha Whittaker

Student Scholarships

Every year Thrive Pest Control hosts an essay contest and the reward is a 1-year scholarship at a 4-year university in the United States. This blog post is one of those scholarships.