Color Preference of Bedbugs (And How You Can Use This Information to Prevent Them From Hitchhiking to Your Home)

If you have a grand vacation coming up, you better consider the color of the stuff you’re going to bring. If you make the right color choice, the chances of bedbugs hitchhiking in your stuff as you travel back home will be lower.

That’s because scientists have found out bedbugs have a clear color preference and it makes all the difference in keeping them away. According to a study conducted by Roberto Pereira, an entomology research scientist working for the University of Florida, bedbugs prefer to infest materials with a shade of dark red or black. This color discovery is also the same for flies as both insect types are attracted to anything with a darker shade.

Pereira, along with other scientists from the University of Florida, accomplished this finding by placing tiny tents of different colors in several petri dishes. Once these small tents were in place, bedbugs were then released to gauge their reaction. The pests quickly proceeded to black and red-colored tents while they stayed away from other bright colors. It seems logical because bedbugs would prefer to live and multiply in places that are dark and far from any form of illumination.

You might be asking, what’s the relevance of knowing a bedbug’s favorite color for your vacation plans? Well, it’s really simple. Rather than bring dark-colored clothes and place them in a dark-colored luggage or bag, it’s better to choose belongings with bright colors. If you have white, yellow, green, or sky blue colored stuff that you can bring to your travel destination, you better go for those options.

In using bright colors, you are discouraging bedbugs from hitching a ride in your stuff and infesting your home afterwards. Be careful, though, because even if you go for a brightly-colored suitcase or luggage, these pesky bedbugs might still attach themselves to its hard exterior parts. As a precaution, never ever bring all of your travel belongings inside the house right away. Instead, leave them for a few hours outside of your residence to lessen their numbers. After such time, take your stuff and wash them with warm water and soap to effectively eliminate them. 

In all of this, do not even entertain the thought of bringing your luggage into your bedroom the moment you get home. This is a perfect chance for these pests to jump onto your bed without you noticing. Once that happens, they will proceed to parts of your mattress you can’t normally reach and reproduce in great numbers to your detriment. When this happens, getting rid of bedbugs can cost you a lot of time and money you’ll never get back anymore. When infestation starts and gets worse, you won’t have any option but to call professional bedbug removal experts from Jersey City Exterminators. 

A vacation is that time in a person’s life where worries shouldn’t be permitted or entertained. If you value your time away from the gloom and doom of everyday life, make sure you stay away from dark colors or else bedbugs can instantly kill any chance of having a good time.

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