Your Tulsa exterminator can help you get rid of bed bugs. Bed bugs are a vicious insect that never lets up. They attack us at our most vulnerable point. While we sleep, they will sneak into our beds and feed upon our blood. These blood feeders are forcing their victims into insomnia, and excessive stress. It’s so important that you protect yourself and your loved ones from these insects. Understanding bed bugs, and what they do is the first step in being able to control them. So in this article, let us take a good hard look at bed bugs, their lifecycle of what you and your Tulsa exterminator can do to protect your home and your loved ones from these blood feeders.

BLOOD FEEDING BED BUGS, AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR

Bed bugs consume one thing, and one thing only. That is blood. And they love our blood in particular. Including the fact that while they can feed off of other mammals blood, there is not enough energy in that blood to give them what they need to go through their lifecycle. They can only develop through their incomplete metamorphosis through the feeding of human blood. Because of this, they stay close to us and hide in our mattress and sheets. Late at night they will sneak out and force their tube like mouth parts into your skin. It will draw blood out for feeding up on it. After they finish, they will go back to their place, gorged and digest this food.

Often when this happens, a little bit of blood is spilled on the sheets or mattress. In addition to this, once they feed, they will need to defecate. So it’s often that when you have bed bug problems, you’ll see the small, red and black dots all over your bed. These are definite signs that you’re having a problem with bed bugs. In addition, the bites can be very uncomfortable. Some people have large rashes or break out from their bed bug bites. 

Others may just have a small bite much like a mosquito that itches. And some people don’t experience any effect from a bed bug bite. Those people usually don’t even know that they’re being bitten by bed bugs. Because of this, sometimes you’ll have a situation where a husband will not be experiencing any bites, but wife is getting bit up every night. The truth is they both are being bitten, but the wife is the only one who’s noticing. Contact your Tulsa exterminator for help with bed bugs.

BED BUG LIFE CYCLE AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR

So bed bugs develop using an incomplete metamorphosis. This means there are essentially three sections to their lifecycle. At first they start as an egg. The female will lay eggs in a safe spot, which is usually in his mattress seam. Bed bugs are almost always found in mattresses because they like the feeling of security that they get from having the mattress underneath them in the seam applying pressure above them. So once they lay the small whitish, yellow eggs, they will hatch and a nymph will emerge. 

This is the second stage of the lifecycle. This nymph will look exactly like an adult except much smaller. The first stage of being a nymph is about the size of the head of a pin. It’ll be a translucent color and won’t have a typical orange brown hue until it takes its first blood meal. This will stain the inside of it and then it will continue with that coloring.

As the bed bug nymph feeds and grows, it will eventually have to molt, or shed its exoskeleton. It will actually molt five different times in its lifecycle. Each time it has to shed its skin, it will have to take a blood meal before hand. This is because the process of molting takes a lot of energy. Once they finish the fifth molt, they will be a full reproductive adult. At this point males and females will see each other out and meet. Once the mating process is done, the female lay her eggs and the process begins all over again. Contact your Tulsa exterminator for help.

BED BUG SIGNS

So, in many cases, the first signs of a bed bug infestation are the bites that people have. If you’re getting bitten by bed bugs, then it’s important to start looking for other signs. As stated before, the bites from these insects can be very unique and it’s hard to tell simply by looking at a bite what you’re dealing with. Inspecting the mattress seams is the next step. Usually it’s here that the bugs will spend most of their time. The red and black dots will be found here and the eggs and insect can be found as well. If you see what looks to be a dead insect, it could be the exoskeleton from Living bedbugs that are still in your sheets.

If you find that you have these bed bugs in your bed, it’s time to contact a Tulsa exterminator for help. When it comes to  over the counter solutions, the solutions, unfortunately, are ineffective at best. Almost all of them use a form of pesticide, known as a pyrethrum. These chrysanthemum-based pesticides were heavily used in the 90s against these insects with much success. But unfortunately, bed bugs are very adapted to building up an immunity to these pesticides. Now today pyrethrins are pretty much useless against the fight against bed bugs.

So if you’re having an issue with bed bugs or any other pest, then it’s time to contact your Tulsa exterminator for help. Here at TermMax pest control, we are the best in the business when it comes to dealing with bed bugs, or any other insects. We service a greater Tulsa area, including Broken Arrow, Sand springs, Sapulpa, Prattville, Coweta, Claremore, Tulsa, Turley, Owasso, Bixby, Jackson, so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!