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Know what to look for when it comes to bed bugs and termites
Proper pest control entails taking action to prevent an infestation from happening in the first place, around the clock, every single day of the year. Here are a couple of basic measures you can take so you can avoid having to call a pest specialist:
Preventing a bed bug infestation can be exhausting and time-consuming, especially if you own sizable property, such as a hotel or a hospital. Understandably, you may not have enough time to perform a thorough check. In cases like these, you can just call us, Mid-America Pest Control! Aside from termination, we offer a wide range of preventative services, including performing a thorough, exhaustive analysis of your property and providing a recommended plan of action.
Bed bugs are nocturnal insects, and their lifestyle is perplexing. Before occupants of an infested structure discover the first bed bug, most likely, the bugs have been there for weeks or probably months. They reside in cracks associated with bed frames, box springs, headboards, clothing, mattresses and linens.
During the day, signs of infestation may be scarce, or not visible at all. They may disperse away from the bed and live beneath carpeting, floorboards, behind picture frames, couches, under decorative moldings, etc. There is effectively no crack that is too small for bed bugs to occupy. They emerge from these secluded cracks at night to feed by piercing their victims’ skin using their beaks to draw blood.
A good night’s rest is key to success throughout the day, but nothing disrupts your beauty sleep faster than a bed bug infestation. You don’t have to suffer from bed bugs any longer! Our bed bug treatment will provide you with quick relief and lasting results that can keep your home bed bug-free in no time!
The first move in identifying and controlling bed bugs is being aware of what to look for. Several insects can resemble bed bugs, so an accurate identification is a crucial first step towards regaining control. Bed Bugs have the following physical characteristics:
Bed bugs are Cimicidae, a family of insects that exclusively feed on blood. They require blood to develop and reproduce. Among the species in this family of insects, bed bugs are the most adapted to living with humans. They enter a home using furniture, clothing, luggage and other exposed items.
Thankfully, it is possible to take notice of this kind of pest infestation before it spreads out of control. Bed bugs are annoying and harmful. They hitch hike into new places in luggage or on clothing and can breed very quickly. If you see any sign of bed bugs, you need to act fast. If left untreated, they will increase rapidly and will become difficult to eliminate.
Signs that you have bed bugs include:
Termites are nature’s recycler. While they do play an important role in our ecosystem, they can also be very destructive, costing homeowners 5 million dollars worth of damage each year. Subterranean Termites are what’s found here in Missouri and Kansas. They live in colonies underground and produce upwards two million termites per colony.
Within these colonies you have a queen, soldiers, workers and reproductive swarmers. The queen of the colony’s sole purpose is to reproduce. She lays thousands of eggs each year and can live up to 50 years. The workers travel from the colony and forage for food while the soldiers protect them. Termites randomly forage for food. If they happen upon the foundation of a building, they’ll follow it out of the ground until they reach wood.
Termites can’t survive when exposed to the elements, so they build themselves very distinctive tunnels, or mud tubes, made of dirt and excrement to travel through while searching for food along buildings. This is the biggest indicator that there are termites in your home.
Another indicator you may have termites would be to find reproductive swarmers. Each spring, some of the worker termites evolve into swarmers, which are a medium brown in color and have 4 wings of the same length. They leave their colony in search for a place to build another one. They can either come from a tiny hole somewhere in your home where termites are already doing damage, or they can come from another location entirely. Termite swarmers are commonly misidentified as flying ants.
If you’re buying or selling a property and it hasn’t recently been treated for termites, chances are the bank has asked you for a Wood Destroying Insect (WDI) Report. This is a formal report that a licensed technician will have to provide for you after thoroughly inspecting the property. The report will state if any areas of the property either having living termites or has signs of previous termite activity, and whether or not the technician recommends treatment.