Given the weather we enjoy in Florida, it should come as no surprise that other species are attracted here as well. Not only is Florida among the warmest states in America, but the humidity and the high population level create the ideal conditions for pest problems to emerge. While there are many forms of pest control in Florida to deal with each species, bed bugs are easily among the most common.
Bed bugs in Florida are a problem that impacts, on average, one-fifth of the statewide population. Given that female bed bugs can create multiple eggs per day – some estimate as many as seven eggs in one day – it is no surprise that bed bugs can rapidly create significant infestations very quickly. This is why a few bed bugs can soon turn into an unmanageable infestation in days! With so many pests to potentially suffer from, though, how do you know you have bed bugs?
How Do You Know You Have Bed Bugs?
To help you identify bed bugs in Florida, we recommend you look for the following signs. Spotting any of these is a good indicator that you have bed bugs on your property.
Visual Identification
Bed bugs enter our homes and businesses by either entering through a gap in the building from another property or “hitching a ride” on a person or shipment. They could be brought in from a piece of furniture that you buy or hide in your luggage and emerge after you unpack. While having bed bugs in Florida is never a nice experience, the “good” news is they tend to make themselves easily known.
First, bed bugs have very distinctive visuals. They have flat, ovular bodies and come in very distinctive brown or reddish-brown colors. This makes them easy to spot compared to other species available; even the smaller nymphs, which look almost translucent in color, are easy to identify. As they grow in size, they go from around ¼ ” to 4-5mm. They flatten out as they feed and ingest their meal.
Molted Skins
Bed bugs also leave behind their molted skins as they grow in maturity and size. Molting is why we often find bed bug skins lying around places like our baseboards and bedding. As they grow larger, they need to shed their exoskeleton to make room for their additional growth. Large infestations of bed bugs in Florida can cause thousands of molted skins to lie around the place.
To the untrained eye, this can look like even more bed bugs. Look around the seams of your mattresses, baseboards, headboards, and any junctions between walls and ceilings. These are the most common places to find bed bug molted skins.
Signs Of Activity
While the above two signs are the most obvious indicators, as you can physically see your bed bugs in Florida, other signs should be taken into account as well. For example, you should be looking for:
- Dark brown spots appear on your bedding. These are bed bug fecal matters left behind as they excrete their blood meals after feeding. These can be found anywhere where the bed bugs are present: bedding, wooden frames, headboards, baseboards, etc.
- Deep red spots appear on your bedding. This is blood left over from the feeding process and is as clear an indicator that you have a bed bug problem as you are likely to find. These can sometimes look almost reddish-brown as the blood has dried overnight
- Hatched eggs or eggs yet to hatch; these are often found in the same places as we noted above for molted skins. If you notice any of these signs, it is a clear indicator you have bed bugs in Florida
- Look out, too, for a sweet smell that sticks to the air and clings to the furniture in the room. Some say it has an overly sweet smell, almost akin to ripe raspberries. The smell should be hard to mask with air-freshening tools
Any of the above signs, or any combination of these signs, is a clear indicator that you are suffering from bed bugs in Florida.
Where Should You Look For Signs Of Bed Bugs?
If you worry that you have bed bugs, then it is important to look in the right places. For example, despite their name, bed bugs do not always hang around on beds alone. They linger on any form of furniture or upholstery where they can otherwise remain undisturbed until a host settles down.
Generally, you should inspect any mattresses, bed frames, and furniture. Bed bugs tend to look for more porous materials, so they are unlikely to be found in areas that are made from metal or plastic. However, even metal bed frames – so long as there is a mattress – can be a host for bed bugs. If you find any signs of bed bugs like those listed above, be sure to look at all your beds.
Adult bed bugs, though small, can be easily spotted with the human eye. Shine a light on the bedding at nighttime, as this is when these nocturnal parasites come out to feed. Their flat-shaped, ovular bodies make them an easier pest problem to identify than many other more similar-looking pests.
Getting Rid Of Your Bed Bug Problem
From our recorded calls
These are real calls. The answers are what a crew member said on the phone. The questions are ours, written around those answers. A price, a street, or a wrong figure is left out. We never publish a caller's surname, address, phone number or price.
If they are multiplying, are they all in the bed?
Sadly, that means that all of them probably aren't on your bed, because they're territorial, so they do tend to move out. They will get into your bed frames, headboards, box springs, mattress, but they will also nest behind baseboards and wall outlets and in other furniture. So it depends on where they came into the home and where they dropped off.
Answered by Dori on a call,
Do you come back and re-inspect afterwards?
We don't. There's no reason to go out and do an inspection, unless you think that you have bed bugs again. In that case, we handle it a little bit differently.
Answered by Mike on a call,
Should I send a picture of the bites or of the bug?
Both would be great. But I definitely want to see a picture of that bug. That way I can confirm right there if it is bed bugs we're dealing with.
Answered by Dori on a call,
What callers told us
I laid down on the couch this morning early, like maybe 4.30 a.m. I felt something. So I flipped over and put my flashlight on, and I'm pretty certain it was a bed bug, and it was alive, and it was trying to run away.
When I took the mattress off, when I picked the box thing up, I seen a couple like little, little ones and a couple other ones start running around. And then when I looked at the headboard, because I Googled it and they said look in the seams, I found a bunch in the seams and stuff.
At least under our mattress, our mattress is clean and everything, nothing under there. I am finding like little black specks in different places, and the eggs, but the eggs are different kinds of eggs below each other in different places.
We emptied it all out outside. And after that, we had gone inside and found a live one in our bedroom. So a totally different room.
