Bed bugs are sneaky creatures. They often travel by attaching themselves into luggage and clothes, which permits them to quickly find new homes in which they can be a major nuisance. These tiny bugs have been around for ages and although not overly common today, they pop up that homeowners might need some help.
So first, let us take a look at the signs you have bed bugs sharing your home with you, then the very best methods to get rid of these!
Signs of infestation
The clearest sign of a bed bug infestation are the itchy red spots you'll notice in your skin, together with small blood spots from crushed bed bugs or by your own body where they bit you. Bed bugs obtained the name because mattresses are one of their favorite places to hang out on, since they will receive free meals there at least once every day.
You could also locate them by finding tiny dark places in mattresses and bed sheets, which are bed bugs fecal matter, or even the small yellow egg shells out of where young bed bugs hatched.
And of course, you can locate the offenders themselves. Bed bugs are extremely small, larger than fleas but far smaller than a house fly. If they are not hiding, then you can see easily enough on a white bed sheet, for example, due to their dark red color.
Locating the Infestation:
Once you've seen signs of bed bugs, the upcoming immediate step is to learn where they are. You can usually get a good idea by simply turning your mattress and appearing around your bed, but when one area has a contaminated spot, it is possible they have branched out -- thus look everywhere you can around your house just to be certain. I recommend bringing a flashlight to help you look through nooks and crannies, such as: Curtain folds, Mattress seams, Behind bed frames, Under cracked paint
Containing the infestation
Among the easiest and most effective bed bug treatments is to vacuum themsealing the vacuumed bag with a plastic bag and throwing it away. If the infestation is not severe, this should look after the issue provided that you're very thorough in your vacuuming -- if you missed a few unhatched eggs the infestation will return at some point.
The other way is to seal all the affected regions with plastic wrap until you can wash them. It is possible to vacuum things like furniture and mattresses, but for clothing or bed sheets, the actual movement is to use a dryer at the highest possible setting for 60 minutes in order to kill the bed bugs. This way you'll surely eliminate even the ones that you can not see. After that's done, now you are free to wash everything and return to using it.
However, what if an whole furniture is damaged? Now you have a few choices:
Vacuuming, but just vacuuming won’t guarantee all the bed bugs are removed,so to be thorough you will need to take additional measures.
Secondly, and most likely the least practical means to do it would be to wrap the furniture and leave it concealed for a couple months -- at that time all of the bed bugs inside will be lifeless.
Finally, it is possible to wrap the furniture and toss it off. But if you do, then make certain to write"bed bugs onto the plastic so no one chooses it spreads the infestation!
And lastly, it is possible to call a pest management specialist that can help you fix the furniture and also manage the remainder of the infestation.
Using Pesticides
Frequent pesticides are effective against many bugs, but they are not very good against bed bugs particularly. You would have far more success looking for bed bug particular options, but then, those are generally better managed by pest control professionals.
We do not advise using any kind of poison or fogger with no prior knowledge and protective gear -- if you're having difficulty with bed bugs, call a pest control expert! It's possible to receive free quotes very quickly and also have bed bug treatment cost in your palms to make a move before the issue gets any worse.
Monitor the infested regions
If you have called a bed bug exterminator then you probably don't have to worry about the infestation once the job is done. But particularly in the event that you've managed the infestation yourself, you ought to keep a close eye for further signs of bed bugs for a few months, as it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how they got into your home in the first place and they can survive for at least three months without feeding.
So take a flashlight and inspect your entire house today, and if find a pests infestation we recommend calling a well reviewed contractor operating in your area and get the infestation out asap!