Why Bed Bugs Are a Problem Year-Round for Arizona Residents

When we think of spring, we think of ants coming up out of the ground and resuming their busy lives in our backyards. When we think of summer, we think of mosquitoes plaguing us with bites while we’re trying to enjoy a cookout. When we think of fall, we think of stink bugs and other frustrating pests that migrate to our warm state from colder states. Some pests are so linked to certain times of the year, they may as well have a season named after them. But bed bugs aren’t one of them. They are a problem all year, every year. Here’s why.

They’re Indoor Pests

Unlike most other pests, bed bugs live almost exclusively with humans. They don’t live in forested areas. They don’t live in yards. They don’t live on the backs of mice and rats. Bed bugs live inside man-made structures, where they have easy access to human blood. And it just so happens that most of us keep our homes the right temperature for bed bugs all year long.

Limited Mobility

A bed bug doesn’t have the mobility of a mosquito. It has a much harder time getting a blood meal from a moving human and usually has to wait till humans are in a prone position. So they must establish themselves in man-made structures near sleeping (or at least stationary) people in order to survive.

Built For Living Indoors

It is hard being a pest that lives indoors and must survive off the blood of humans. Just ask a flea. We don’t put up with biting insects for long. But bed bugs have some natural behavior patterns that allow them to be permanent indoor pests:

• They have the ability to sense the rise in carbon dioxide that occurs when people slip into sleep. This is their dinner alarm. This allows them to feed on us at a time when we won’t be frustrated by them and immediately work to get rid of them.
• Baby bed bugs don’t leave big bites. In fact, the bites from immature nymphs often go unnoticed. This allows a bed bug infestation to mature in a home and spread to another home before the infestation is revealed.
• If bed bugs are noticed, humans usually do something to immediately destroy them. But this “shock and awe” attempt at killing bed bugs usually just causes those bugs to become dormant for a time, leaving the humans with the impression that they have been eliminated. There are some studies that suggest that bed bugs can live 5 months without feeding on blood! This dormancy behavior and threat avoidance has helped them avoid extinction since the dawn of time.

Bed bugs are indoor pests. They’ve been indoor pests since humans were living in caves, according to some scientists. So, they don’t have a season. A bed bug infestation can appear at any time of the year. This is the case here in Arizona and in any other state in the United States. Though, it is probably important to point out that homes and businesses that are not temperature controlled can have more trouble with bed bugs. This is because the body of a bed bug moves like a well-oiled machine when it is warm, as long as it doesn’t get too hot.

While temperatures in the 80s and 90s will make bed bugs more active, temperatures above 110 °F will begin to kill them. That is why professionals use heat to kill bed bugs. This kind of treatment is called heat remediation. But it isn’t easy to raise the temperature of a structure to above 110 °F. Proper equipment must be used to control and circulate the heat. Turning an oven on the highest temperature is completely ineffective, yet some people have tried this to get rid of bed bugs. This has led to catastrophic property damage and a loss of life. If you’re dealing with a bed bug infestation in Arizona, find out if you’re in our service area and let the experienced service professionals here at Schendel deal with those bugs. Our bed bug heat treatment division is one of the best in the business.

Bed bugs are indoor pests that can take root in your home or business at any time of the year. Get fast and effective bed bug control with help from Schendel Pest Services.