Your home is your haven, and uninvited guests such as bed bugs are not welcome. In fact, a bed bug infestation is one of the last things you want in your home. It is a risk not just to your furniture, but also to the health of your family.
Here are the common ways to get bed bugs in your home, so you are aware of what to avoid and prevent to keep your home free of these pests.
1. Secondhand furniture
Secondhand furniture can be a money-saver. They can be cheap and still be in good condition. But secondhand furniture can also put you at risk of bed bugs.
If you happen to buy secondhand furniture that has these pests in it, you may start an infestation in your home. Take note that these pests are found not just in beds, but also in other furniture, like sofas and chairs.
2. Secondhand clothing
Buying secondhand items and bringing them into your home is really a common way to get bed bugs. This is true not just for secondhand furniture, but also for secondhand clothing.
Bed bugs can reside in clothing, especially those that are not disturbed for a long time. If you can’t help but buy secondhand clothing, consider heating them in the dryer to kill hitchhiking insects such as bed bugs.
3. Luggage
Bed bugs can really thrive in a lot of places, such as furniture and fabrics. But they can also thrive in unsuspecting places such as your luggage. Be mindful of these pests when you are traveling. You may get them into your luggage and give them a free ride to your home.
Also be careful of suitcases and other traveling bags you borrow from your relatives or friends, especially if these people are suffering or have suffered from a bed bug infestation recently.
4. Hotels
This makes sense if you think about it. Hotels have guests from different places. It’s very likely that at least one guest has carried bed bugs before from his clothing or luggage. These hitchhiking bed bugs are enough to start an infestation in a hotel room.
It’s so unlucky of you if you happen to stay in a bed bug infested hotel room. You may carry the pests back into your home.
5. Hospitals
Like hotels, hospitals cater to guests from different places. It’s not unlikely for a guest to bring bed bugs into their hospital room.
Sure, hospitals have a lot of protocols to keep their spaces sanitary. But as mentioned in the other entries in this list, these pests can thrive in a lot of objects. This fact can make them particularly hard to track and kill, especially on a busy place such as a hospital.
6. Dorms
Shared spaces are a great source of bed bugs. Hotels and hospitals at least have sanitation protocols and employees to enforce these protocols. But dorms are a different case.
Dorms are mostly left on the hands of the college students who reside in them. And we all know that college students are not the most industrious when it comes to cleaning their residences. If you or a family member is staying in a dorm, be careful, because you or this family member can transport the pests and introduce them into your home.
7. Offices
College students are not the only ones who can get bed bugs in their shared spaces and bring them to their own homes. Office workers can do the same thing.
Offices have furniture in them, and many offices are not particularly mindful about the cleanliness of their furniture. Their employees have bigger problems. This puts offices at risk of getting pests such as bed bugs.
8. Laundromats
As mentioned earlier, bed bugs can also stay on fabrics such as clothing. They can also be acquired from shared spaces. Now, what is a laundromat? It is a shared space for washing and drying clothing. This puts you at a high risk of getting bed bugs.
Take note that these pests can die on high heat, so you may be able to kill the ones that have latched into your clothing through the dryer. But what if they latch into your clothing after you have dried them? Be extra careful in touching clothing with another laundromat customer.
9. Cracks in the walls
Adult bed bugs can be the size of apple seeds and their eggs can be as small as one millimeter. They can be small enough to get through cracks in the walls.
This can put you at risk of getting a bed bug infestation, especially if you live in an apartment or condominium. If the neighboring unit is suffering from such an infestation, the pests can slip through the cracks in your walls and start an infestation in your unit.
Make sure to maintain your walls to prevent these pests from getting into your unit.
10. People who have bed bugs in their homes
Take note of the different entries in this list. You can get bed bugs from clothing, so make sure to not borrow clothing from someone who is suffering or has suffered from an infestation recently. The same goes for other items such as furniture and luggage.
These pests can spread easily from home to home with people’s belongings as their vehicles.
These are the common ways to get bed bugs
As you can learn from the entries above, you are likely to get bed bugs from other sources and bring them into your home. It’s not likely that these pests just appeared in your home because you are unhygienic.
Bed bugs can come from second hand items such as furniture and clothing. They can also travel through clothing and luggage.
These pests can be found in shared spaces such as hotels, hospitals, dorms, offices, and laundromats. These pests can also slip through the cracks in your walls and start an infestation in your home. And last but not least, they can also get into you by making contact with someone who has them.
Keep your home free of bed bugs by keeping these sources in mind and being extra careful when you have to deal with them inevitably.