Fact vs. Myths: Bed Bugs In Washington D.C.
01/20/2022
Bed bugs are small parasitic pests that often resemble an apple seed to the naked eye. They have a wingless, oval-shaped body with a reddish-brown ...
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When you think of bed bugs, you probably think of pests that are a problem in houses, not office buildings. After all, most offices don’t have many or any beds in them at all. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Bed bugs can be a problem in your Washington D.C. office building just as easily as they can be a problem in your home. If you have reason to suspect bed bugs are active in your office, it’s important to know what to do about them.
In this guide, we’ll give D.C. residents everything they need to know about bed bugs, the problems they cause, and what you need to do to eliminate a bed bug infestation in your place of work quickly and effectively.
Bed bugs were given their name for good reason: they are most frequently found in beds. In fact, many people are first alerted to a bed bug infestation because they get bitten in their beds while they sleep. However, just because they are called bed bugs doesn’t mean that’s the only place you’ll find these small pests.
Unfortunately, bed bugs are an insect that can be found nearly anywhere you can find people. Homes, schools, public places like libraries and public transportation, hotels, and even office buildings are common locations in which to find bed bugs. The reason they can be found in so many places is because of their unique way of spreading from place to place.
Most pests tend to get into homes or businesses by being on the property outside, such as on your lawn or in the trees along the edge of your property, and finding a way to get inside. This is the case for many pests from termites to mice. However, bed bugs do not operate in the same way. Instead bed bugs are miniature hitchhikers. They love to travel from place to place and they do so by crawling onto people’s clothing or into their bags, boxes, or luggage. They’ll then remain in these spots until they decide to climb off the clothing or out of the bags, boxes, or luggage and make themselves at home in their new location.
Once they’re in a new location, bed bugs may settle in and stay for a while, finding areas to hide and beginning to reproduce, or they may decide to climb onto the next person they come into contact with and travel to another new location.
When you understand how bed bugs get around, it becomes easy to understand how quickly they can become active in a variety of locations. The fact is that anytime you go somewhere, you could end up with bed bugs on you that you might bring to your home or office. Similarly, anyone who enters your office building may have bed bugs on them or in their bags that they can unwittingly deposit in your office during their time there.
If bed bugs can be present in your Washington D.C. office, it’s helpful to know what they look like and where you might find them in your building. The earlier a bed bug infestation is discovered, the easier it is to deal with, so knowing the signs and being on the lookout for those signs is important for early detection.
Adult bed bugs are about the size and shape of an apple seed, so they are clearly visible to the human eye. They have flat, oval-shaped bodies that become large and swollen after feeding, a small head with a set of antennae that stick out to each side, and six legs. Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown in color.
Bed bugs go through five nymph stages before becoming adults. In the first stage, nymphs are very small and pale white in color. They grow bigger and darker through each successive stage until they become adults. Although nymph bed bugs can be seen, they are somewhat harder to see than adult bed bugs due to their size and color, especially against light-colored bed sheets.
Bed bug eggs are the hardest to see of all, as they are miniscule and white. Making matters worse, they are usually laid in areas that are out of the way or hidden, meaning that it is relatively unlikely that the presence of eggs will be what tips you off to an infestation in your home.
Regardless of the stage, bed bugs tend to be hard to find simply because they prefer to stay hidden most of the time. They are usually nocturnal, although if they need to eat and no one is present in the night, they will come out during the day to get a meal. This will most likely be the case in an office setting since most offices only have people in them during the day.
In an office setting, you’ll need to look for signs of bed bugs in a variety of areas. Begin with upholstered furniture. Look in the seams and under cushions for live bed bugs as well as egg casings and shed skins. Also look along the edges of a room where the floor meets the walls. Cracks and crevices in the flooring are another favorite spot of bed bugs. You may also find bed bugs or signs of their presence behind picture frames hanging on the wall or if you unscrew wall plates or light switch covers and check in the void behind them.
Signs of a bed bug infestation include finding live bed bugs, their eggs or skin casings, seeing tiny red dots or small tannish-brown streaks on light-colored upholstery or on your clothing, and in the case of a large infestation, noticing a musty smell permeating the air.
Compared to many common pests, especially those that affect commercial properties, the problems bed bugs cause can seem fairly mild. The major problem associated with bed bugs is their bites. Bed bugs require blood meals to survive and their preferred hosts are humans. In a home setting, bed bugs will usually feed at night while people are asleep. In an office setting, this usually isn’t possible, so they’ll feed during the day instead.
Bed bug bites are round, red bumps that are usually itchy. Bed bugs tend to prefer the trunk of the body, and usually bite in a linear pattern in groupings of three. Although these bites aren’t known to cause any significant problems, they are annoying, and if you scratch them too aggressively, it could open the skin which could lead to a secondary infection.
The second problem with bed bugs is the emotional and mental toll they take. Knowing there are bed bugs in your office can make it very difficult to do your job. You’ll worry that you’re getting them on you or bringing them home with you. You’ll have trouble focusing and doing your job well. You’ll spend the time you’re not working or in the office worrying about going back to work.
The biggest problem when it comes to bed bugs in an office setting is how quickly and easily they’ll spread. Not only will the infestation be able to grow large within the office building and spread from room to room, but it will also cause many more infestations as people working in the building accidentally bring bed bugs home with them.
If you discover a bed bug infestation in your Washington D.C. office, you may be tempted to try to eliminate it yourself. To be sure, do-it-yourself bed bug treatments abound and many people have attempted to get rid of these little pests on their own. Unfortunately, there are a few reasons why you shouldn’t try to eliminate bed bugs yourself.
The first reason to not attempt DIY bed bug control is the risk to the people in your office. Many bed bug treatment methods involve the use of chemicals that are dangerous if not applied correctly. If you’re unfamiliar with these chemicals and the application of them, it is very easy to use them improperly. This can put the health of the people in your office at risk.
Another important reason not to try to eliminate the bed bugs in your Washington D.C. office on your own is because of the way bed bugs move around. While you may notice a reprieve in your section of the building if you treat your office space, it’s likely that you’re not actually eliminating the bed bugs. Instead, they’re simply being driven further into the walls and into other sections of the building where they won’t encounter the treatment you’ve applied. This may temporarily make the problem better in your section of the building, but it will only make it worse in other sections of the building and it will eventually find its way back to you.
Even if you treat the entire building, DIY treatments aren’t effective at eliminating the bed bugs that stay hidden within the walls. Since bed bugs are able to go for several months without a meal, they may stay out of sight until you think you’ve taken care of the problem, only to have them reemerge a few months later - leaving you right back where you started.
For these reasons, bed bug infestations, especially those in commercial settings, are always best left to the professionals if you want the problem eliminated quickly and completely.
If bed bugs get into your Washington D.C. office the best thing to do is get the help of the professional bed bug control experts at American Pest. For almost 100 years we have been solving bed bug problems for homes and businesses in Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas. During this time we have become experts in bed bug behaviors, habits, and biology. This knowledge has allowed us to develop a bed bug treatment program that is guaranteed to work.
We’ll begin by assigning you a bed bug liaison. This provides you with one point of contact from the start of the process to the finish. Your liaison will start by performing a thorough needs analysis with you, determining what problems you’ve been seeing, learning the layout out of your building and any special requirements it has, and asking questions about your budget and objectives.
From there your liaison will develop a treatment plan that is customized to your office’s unique bed bug control needs. We utilize a variety of methods to fully eliminate your bed bug problem.
Visual inspections
K9 inspections using specially-trained dogs
Bed bug monitoring devices
Conventional bed bug liquid treatments
Heat (thermal remediation) treatments
Our systematic approach to bed bug control ensures the treatment of your entire building for full bed bug elimination. With guaranteed services, you can be confident that your bed bug problem will no longer be an issue. At the first sign of bed bugs in your Washington D.C. office, contact American Pest. We are ready to help eradicate your bed bug problem in its entirety.
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