Bed Bug Identification

What are bed bugs?

Bed bugs survive by feeding on blood from warm-blooded animals-choosing people over any other host. If we are not available, they will feed on dogs, cats, rodents, and birds. Bed bugs are nocturnal and feed at night. Their dark, flat, oval-shaped bodies allow them to hide during the day well out of our sight. These insects are wingless, and their preferred mode of transportation is hitchhiking. Bed bugs in Ventura are primarily indoor pests and move from location to location on people and our belongings.

Bed bugs find a host by detecting the carbon dioxide they emit during the breathing process. As they approach a host, they are also attracted to their body heat. When feeding on a person, they typically choose areas of the body that are exposed and easy to access, such as the face, neck, arms, legs, and stomach or back. Bed bugs can feed without causing any pain or discomfort because the components in their saliva act as an anesthetic.

Are bed bugs dangerous?

Your home is a place where you should feel safe, a place where you can relax after a hectic day. However, when you share your home with bed bugs, it turns your home from a place of solitude to a place you want to flee.

Bed bugs aren’t known for spreading a significant number of diseases to people like other biting, blood-feeding pests, but they do bite us, and those allergic to their saliva will develop a red itchy rash. Scratching at the rash is not only uncomfortable but may lead to a secondary infection.

Why do I have a bed bug problem?

If bed bugs become a problem in your home, it is important to remember that they can find their way into any structure. You aren’t the first and won’t be the last to experience a bed bug infestation.

Bed bugs are difficult to avoid because they can find their way into our homes in many ways, including on our clothing, our bags, on used furniture or mattresses, or by crawling through the walls or floors of multi-unit buildings.

Public places with a lot of foot traffic are where most people come into contact with bed bugs. You can also encounter bed bugs while visiting friends or family. Bed bugs are exceptional at hiding from us, so it can sometimes take months for a person to discover that bed bugs are in their home.