After you have learned what bed bugs are, you must be thinking what causes them in the first place and how do they spread. They tend to crawl about one meter per minute, but they don’t fly as they don’t have wings. A dirty house doesn’t cause bed bugs, neither does your neighborhood etc. They are also not an act of God or some karmic revenge for your sins. Bed bugs infest because they are pro hitchhikers. An infestation can take place anywhere but it spreads as bed bugs hitchhike into a new place with a fresh host. Once they show up, they seek new hiding places and make themselves at home. Here are the places you should check.
- Home Away From Home
Lodgings like hotels and motels are also an ultimate breeding ground for bed bugs. These places give these bed bugs an opportunity to hitch hike onto the travelers’ bag. All you need is a female bed bug to enter the room and lay the eggs. At that very moment, the circle of life happens and the bed bugs are breeding everywhere. Once they are settled, they spread everywhere in the hotel to seek new hosts. They are pros at hiding and traveling, they can easily travel between rooms, pipes, walls and hitchhiking with the cleaning crew. They also often ride on travelers’ purses, luggage, and clothing. So, before you book a place, read the reviews.
- Free furniture
When it comes to free furniture, consider it free for a reason. You may be tempted to save on the costs, but think thrice before you take it. And if you really want it, get it treated for bugs. Bed bugs are pro opportunity hitchhikers. They must already be hiding inside the furniture and may still be hiding when you keep the furniture in your home. Hence neglected furniture is a common cause of bed bug infestations. Mattresses are the most common cause because humans sleep on them but these bugs are happy to stay in couches and other furniture in the house used by the humans. They don’t even have mercy on the wooden furniture.
- Used clothes
Bed bugs always make a home where they can access humans. As they hitchhike between locations by clothes too. If you are a fan of thrift shopping, have a closer look at your purchases. No matter what kind of used clothes they are, there are always odds of the risks of infestations. If you do bring such item at home, always wash them in hot water and dry them. If it is white, wash them with a bleach. Bed bugs cannot withstand hotter temperatures. The same should be done on stuffed animals, sheets and pillows.
