Worried About Spring Break Pests Like Bedbugs and Mosquitoes? Here are 6 Tips to Prevent them
Although they aren't your typical household pests, bed bug incidences are on the rise. According to the NPMA, bed bug reports have increased by 71% since 2001, and 68% of pest control specialists say they have discovered bedbugs in hotels and motels. The fact that bed bugs can be found in all 50 states makes them extremely difficult to avoid. What's worse? They have been discovered at both upscale hotels and run-down motels. as opposed to what many people believe, they aren’t attracted to dirt or filth, they’re attracted to their main food source, blood.
Tips to Prevent them Spring Break Pests
Here are our top three tips to avoid these pesky pests:
1. Learn how to identify them. Often confused with other pests, bed bugs can be difficult to identify if you don’t know what you’re looking for. They have small, flat, oval-shaped bodies without wings. Usually brown, they can have reddish coloring if they have recently fed. Pests feed on blood and multiply quickly, so early detection is imperative before the insect problem grows into an infestation.
2. Perform a thorough inspection. Start from the head of the mattress and work your way down, focusing on seams, tufts, and cracks where bed bugs most often hide. Look for the pests themselves, or signs of their presence. Signs of an infestation include blood stains on sheets or bedding and tan or off-white shells that resemble hollow bugs. Additionally, larger infestations will usually be accompanied by a musty, sweet odor that has been likened to the smell of berries.
3. Handle the hitchhikers. Bed bugs are known to travel easily from place to place, especially on articles of clothing or bedding. When you arrive home, wash your clothes at a temperature above 125°F, and dry them on high heat. Inspect your luggage well before bringing it into your home to make sure you don’t have any stowaways, and store it in a non-living space, such as an attic, basement, or garage.
Fortunately, bed bugs can’t transmit diseases to humans. Unfortunately, mosquitoes can. These buzzing pests are one of the deadliest creatures in the world because of the many diseases they carry, such as Zika, West Nile virus, and dengue fever.
Like bed bugs, they are found in all regions of the U.S. and feed on blood. Because of the danger mosquitoes can pose to humans, prevention is key. While mosquito season begins in early spring and peaks in summer in most areas, if traveling to tropical areas, it’s likely they are a problem year-round.
Our top three recommendations for keeping mosquitoes from disrupting your spring getaway are as follows:
1. Protect yourself. Apply a DEET-containing insect repellent if you're going outside, especially at dawn and dusk, when mosquito activity is at its peak. The finest mosquito pest control strategy you can use is definitely this one. Take note of the product's DEET concentration level. The CDC advises applying an insect repellent with a 20 percent or higher concentration to defend against both mosquitoes and ticks. Another way to avoid getting bitten by these pests is to wear light-colored clothing.
2. Secure the entrances. After a thorough investigation, the easiest strategy to stop mosquitoes from entering your home is to secure the space. Make sure all window screens are in place, and close all doors and other barriers.
3. Get rid of any standing water. To keep the mosquito population to a minimum, eliminate places where they breed. Mosquitoes lay eggs in and around standing water, and just a thimbleful is enough to harbor mosquito larvae. Check children’s toys or playgrounds, pet dishes, fountains, flowerpots, storm drains and gutters for pools of water, and drain small wading pools between uses.
2. Secure the entrances. After a thorough investigation, the easiest strategy to stop mosquitoes from entering your home is to secure the space. Make sure all window screens are in place, and close all doors and other barriers.
3. Get rid of any standing water. To keep the mosquito population to a minimum, eliminate places where they breed. Mosquitoes lay eggs in and around standing water, and just a thimbleful is enough to harbor mosquito larvae. Check children’s toys or playgrounds, pet dishes, fountains, flowerpots, storm drains and gutters for pools of water, and drain small wading pools between uses.
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