Bed bugs can live under the mattress, your closet, and even your desk. These little devils are known for their persistence. Sometimes you won’t notice your home is infested with these creeping insects not until you’ve got itchy red spots widespread at your back, neck, and shoulders. However, though small, it’s quite a difficult task to get rid of these annoying creatures because they are pretty expert at hiding. And it even gets harder when the infestation grows even bigger and your home eventually becomes an abode of bed bugs.
Although there is a variety of insect repellent spray that can be bought in the market, it is no guarantee that you can generally kill all the bed bugs and their eggs. Female bed bugs are known to laying hundreds of eggs so they naturally spread fast when not killed right away. According to research, a newly hatched bed bug can survive at least a few weeks without blood meals while adult ones can stay alive for around five months without feeding.
Bed bugs are tiny, rusty brown coloured insects that feed on the blood of animals or humans. They are usually most active at night preying at human blood. When full out of sucking, their colour changed from brownish into a reddish-brown. They usually hide in the clothing, bed, curtains, suitcases and bags, closets, sofa or chair, and carpets. Even though bed bug bites do not seem to impose serious threats to human health, they still can cause skin infections which may turn out costly.
It is easy to suspect any infestation at your home. You may realise there are bed bugs dwelling in your quarters if you can’t sleep at night due to itchy sensation and you wake up with red spots or blisters, or you discover a trace of bed bugs faecal excrement or eggshell in some areas where they usually hide.
If you have tried to look on the possible hideouts and have seen a cluster of bed bugs crawling on the area, then you might want to get rid of them the soonest possible before the infestation gets worst. You may consider hiring a Pest Control Company to help you out in this process but that would cost you a great deal of money.
Below is a list of steps you may do to free your home from bed bugs infestation:
Prepare the infested room for cleaning
Check every item or furniture in your room for any signs of bed bugs. If you found no trace of these pests, then you may move them along to another room while you proceed to treatment of those that are infested. Furthermore, heating up your stuff before moving them to another place is recommended. It helps to kill any bed bugs which might be hiding underneath. Bed bugs are known to have low resistance to heat temperatures. According to the study, exposing them to 118°F can kill them in 20 minutes.
Wash bedding, linens, and clothes
Although they typically stem anywhere, most bed bugs lie under the mattresses and bedding. They can also be found on second-hand used furniture.
Based on the NPMA’s 2018 Bugs Without Borders Survey, single-family homes have ranked number one on the list of top places where bed bug infestations are found.
If you discovered that your home is infested, start a general clean up by removing sheets, blankets, and pillowcases and other things used for bedding in hot water. Put them on the dryer with the highest setting to have them dis-infested. The drying process will help eradicate the bed bugs which are susceptible to high-level temperatures.
Moreover, when it comes to furniture, it’s quite a challenging task to kill the bed bugs hiding beneath its thick upholstery. These reddish-brown pests are known to easily crawl on flat surfaces. Although you may do the steam cleaning, it just won’t suffice at all to completely eliminate the bed bugs. After vacuuming your couch or sofa, consider spraying the area with a non-staining residual insecticide which will help kills the bed bugs and its eggs. But you ought to be careful in using these chemicals since your skin might react to it upon contact. Make sure you use protective gears during the process.
Dry Cleaning and Freezing
Unfortunately, unlike clothes and bedding, items including books and children toys cannot be washed. So in case you have non-washable stuff infested with bed bugs, one thing you can do is to rely on dry cleaning. This refers to putting these items into the drier for 30 minutes to have it dis-infested. While for toys that are made of plastic and wood, you can wipe them with the of the use of warm damp cloth. Just make sure you are able to clean all its surfaces. But if ever they prove difficult, you can put them inside a plastic bag and freeze them for 14 days with at least 0°F (-18°C). After the process, keep them inside a box or plastic bag until your home has already undergone an overall bed bug treatment.
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