Bed bugs have been regarded as one of the most invasive organisms that exist on planet Earth. They generally come out at night and remain hidden throughout the day in the bed. Most of the times you may feel itchy and observe sores on your body but rarely would you realize that it is the bedbug that is ruining your good night’s sleep.
Singapore being a sought after tourist destination with people arriving here from all parts of the world risks an increased chance of getting infested by bed bugs as bedbugs are best conveyed by humans through their belongings that act as a carrier for bedbugs. Statistics reveal that bedbugs have moved beyond mattresses and beddings to areas like luggage, furniture, linen and clutter left unattended on the road.
Could There Be Many Bed Bugs If I Only Found One?
Going by the statistics on bed bug detection, the answer to this question can be a “Yes” or a “No”. There is no certainty that if you have found only a single bedbug in your house, you cannot have a thousand others hiding in the furniture of your house. Conversely, there is no guarantee that after you spotted a lone survivor you will surely have a colony somewhere.
The most common mode of conveyance of bedbugs is humans and animals. When you go to someone’s house that is infested by bedbugs, you may accidentally get one or two of them to your house along with your luggage. It is recommended to try and ascertain the source of the single bedbug that you have come across. If you have bedbugs at your workplace or in your neighbour’s house, then be rest assured that the single bedbug that you found has its other relatives in your house as well.
Also, if you find lack of hygiene in your house or in the neighbourhood you have a greater possibility of encountering a bedbug nuisance.
An activity that you may like to carry out before panicking on the presence of bedbugs in your house is to ascertain that the insect you came across was certainly a bedbug and no other closely resembling insect. For this you may catch the insect and compare it with photographs on the internet or send it to an entomologist for advice.
Another way to find out if the bug you came across was one odd stray one or there are more in your house is to use bug traps. These traps have a sticky solution which attracts bedbugs towards itself and when they approach the device, they get trapped in the solution. This will reveal the presence of other bedbugs in your house.
Prevention:
Eliminating bedbugs is not a piece of cake; however it can be accomplished with patience and expertise. One simple way to prevent the occurrence of a bedbug invasion is to dry your bedding in sun at least once a week. It becomes all the more important to do this exercise with bedding used by kids in the house since they tend to dirty the linen and bedding more than adults. Sun’s rays act as natural disinfectants and kill the germs residing in the bedding thereby eliminating reasons for bedbugs to visit that place.
Another way getting rid is to wash the infested bedding in boiling hot water with a mild soap and dry in the sun. Do check the seams of mattresses and small holes that may have harbored their colonies. After drying the bedding, it is recommended to beat them with a stick so that dead bedbugs may fall out.
Although bedbugs survive best in temperate climates and equatorial climate of Singapore is not very conducive for them, still there is no denial that Singapore also has a number of households and hospitality establishments combating with bedbugs. Due to this there are a number of bedbugs control options available in the Singapore markets. What remains left for you to do is to find out a legitimate pest control company that has some experience in eliminating bedbugs. It must be admitted that complete elimination of bedbugs is a difficult job and they have a huge capacity of infesting the place again which gives all the more reason to you to approach a legitimate company only.