What Causes Bed Bugs?

Bedbugs are not the pest of the past that they once were. They have seemingly made a comeback in many Singaporean homes, hotels and even in dormitories of schools found in Singapore. They can spread very rapidly, and this is the reason people get worried whenever there is a breakout of these beastly pests. Just what causes bed bugs? If you know the answer to the question, it is possible to control them by putting measures in place to avoid the pests infesting your home. But before we go into that, let’s dispel some myths about possible causes of bedbugs.

What does not cause bedbugs
Dirt or filth does not bring about bed bugs. The popular belief of many people is that filth and bedbugs are closely related. But the truth is that these pests will attack anyone with blood that they feed on. Therefore, what draws them is not dirt or filth, but blood.

Another myth about what causes bed bugs is that they attack poor people. Irrespective of how much money you have, bed bugs will attack you nonetheless. The fact you are poor does not predispose you to being attacked by the pests. Likewise, being rich does not shield you from them. Therefore, poverty also does not cause bedbugs.

So what causes bedbugs?
The most common way in which bedbugs may get infested in your home is when they get a ride on a person or even something. In normal cases, bed bugs will not stay in their hosts after sucking their blood. What they do is hide in their clothing. In so doing, they may get transported to another location as the person moves. When you stay in an infested hotel room, bedbugs will hide in your bag. They are even capable of infesting theaters as well as other public places, after which they may spread to other locations via coats, backpacks or even purses.

Upon reaching your home, bed bugs quickly scurry to new hiding place. This can be under wall paper, behind baseboards, in furniture seams or even inside switch plates. At this time, it won’t take long before they begin multiplying. Only one single female bedbug may be carried to your house but it could be having sufficient eggs to make it produce hundreds of more offspring. Although filth does not play any role in promoting these pests, clutter certainly does. If your home is more cluttered, this means increased hiding place for bed bugs. This way, it will be very difficult to remove them completely.

Since bedbugs travel mainly by hitchhiking, places that experience high turnover rates of human population have the most infestation. These include hotels and motels, homeless shelters, dormitories, military barracks, apartment buildings and military barracks. In other words, if you live in a place where people are coming and leaving a lot more frequently, there are very high chances that one of them will bring some bugs into the house. Generally, occupiers of single family units reduced chances of getting bed bugs.

Insecticide resistance is another thing that may cause break out of bedbugs. This simply means that they become resistant to insecticides being used to kill them. Therefore, even if you believe that you have sprayed them with insecticide, they will not go anywhere.

Tips to control bed bugs

Having known what causes these pests; you are now at a better position to prevent their infestation in your house. Pay attention to the following:

1). Disinfecting luggage and clothing after an international travel. Always disinfect your luggage after every international travel. Do not mix the luggage with other items in the house. If possible, leave it out and spray it with pesticides before mixing them with other things.

2). Declutter your house. Bedbugs like clutter because it gives them plenty of places to hide. By removing clutter, you ensure that their hiding places have been reduced.

3). Seal cracks and openings. Any cracks, crevices or openings especially by which wires and pipes get into a home ought to be sealed. This will control their infestation.

4). Get your bed away from the furniture or the walls.

5). Disinfect secondhand furniture. When you buy secondhand furniture from a person, make sure that you have disinfected them before putting them in the house. This ensures that all the bedbugs that they came with do not get to go into the house.