Growing up, I lived in a sprawling farmhouse in the country. This beautiful home was constantly filled with the sounds of laughter and the smells of delectable food being prepared in the kitchen. Unfortunately, our home was often invaded by some unwanted guests, ants. Pesky ants would welcome themselves into our living room, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, and bathrooms. One night, I crawled into my bed only to discover I wasn’t alone. Ants had somehow climbed onto my bed! These destructive ants even ate holes in some of the clothing hanging in my closet. Is your home filled with unwanted, biting ants? On this blog, you will discover the latest methods pest control specialists use to rid homes of pesky ants.
Those Pesky Ants
Three Surprising Places That You Can Get Bed Bugs
Logan Watson
Everyone knows that bed bugs can be found in hotels, but hotels are not the only place that you can pick up bed bugs. Hotels are risky because so many people check in and out every day and it only takes one person with bed bugs and their suitcase to cause an infestation. However, lots of other places that you visit are similarly dangerous, even though they don't have the same bad reputation as hotels. Here are three places that you can pick up bed bugs.
Hospitals
It may come as a surprise that even hospitals can be infested with bed bugs. You may not think of hospitals as a risky place since they are kept very clean and the sheets are washed in hot water regularly, but since so many people come in and out of hospitals every day, it's easy for somebody to bring bed bugs inside. Once the bed bugs are in the hospital, they can spread quickly by hitching a ride on doctors, bedding, or carts that travel around the hotel.
A 2010 survey of 4500 professional pest controllers found that a shocking 31% of them had treated a bed bug infestation in a hospital. To avoid bringing bed bugs home with you after visiting a hospital, make sure to wash your clothes in hot water as soon as you get home. Also, remember to thoroughly inspect your purse or backpack for bed bugs that have hitched a ride.
Schools or day care centers
Your child's school or day care center may also be harboring bed bugs. Schools and daycare centers don't get much attention when it comes to bedbug infestations, but surprisingly, a 2015 survey of pest control professionals found that 43% of them had treated bedbug infestations in these buildings. Bed bugs can enter the school by hitching a ride in a student's backpack or in a teacher's purse or briefcase, and if they come home with your child, you could have a bedbug infestation in your home.
To avoid this, inspect your child's backpack every day when they get home from school. The clothes they wore to school should be immediately removed and washed in hot water. If it's not possible to wash the clothes immediately, put them in a garbage bag and knot the bag tightly; when it's time to do laundry, open the garbage bag directly into the washing machine to avoid spreading bed bugs.
Public transit
What do buses, taxis, subways, and trains have in common? The answer is that they can all be infested with bed bugs. This is more common than you might think. A surprising 18% of pest control professionals reported treating an infestation on public transit in 2010. Many people use these modes of transportation every day, and they may bring their bed bugs with them. Bed bugs can crawl out of someone's clothes or bags and make their home in the trunk of a taxi, the chairs on a bus, or in many other locations.
To keep yourself safe on your commute, avoid sitting on upholstered seats. It is easy for bed bugs to hide in these type of seats, so try to stick to hard, smooth seats, and if these types of seats are not available, you should stand. Remember to hold your bag instead of placing it on a nearby seat. When you get home, inspect your bag for signs of bed bugs and wash your clothes in hot water.
Hotels have a bad reputation, but they are far from the only place that you can get bedbugs. Many of the places that you go regularly are also dangerous, so make sure to always take precautions. If you have a bed bug infestation, find a pest control company at a site like http://cavanaughspest.com right away.
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