How you can Identify and Kill Bed Bugs Without an Exterminator

You may have discovered bed bugs in your home or have bitten by bed bugs. A treatment by an exterminator may not be in your budget. Before you panic, read up on how you can kill beg bugs.

The bed bug epidemic seems to get worse by the day. More people are waking up to discover bed bug bites on their children.

More people are spending thousands of dollars on exterminators to have them check their homes for pests and then exterminate them, only to discover that the extermination methods used were not effective.

This article focuses on:

What are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are small bugs that get into beds and linens and often bite, leaving raised welts. They can lay up to 5 eggs a day weeks, and these larvae mature in a few weeks, thus exponentially compounding the beg bugs infestation.

Bed bugs are very hard to kill and some experts report that bed bugs are reaching near epidemic levels in certain cities and areas in the United States.

How do Bed Bugs Get Into a Rental Dwelling?

Unlike rodents and other pests hat are attracted primarily to garbage and food particles, bed bugs can enter into a rental dwelling in a variety of ways, including but not limited to:

Through floor boards, electrical conduits, and small cracks
On clothing, backpacks, contaminated luggage, and even on people who have come in contact with them.

Bed bugs aren’t attracted to dirt and they can infest even a clean home, due to the fact that they are hard to see and you may have them and not even know it. They are attracted by the scent of humans and they ingest only human blood, not other animals or food.

Where Bed Bugs Hide

Bedbugs may enter your home undetected through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, about the width of a credit card.

Bedbugs do not have nests like ants or bees but tend to live in groups in hiding places. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy access to people to bite in the night.

Over time, however, they may scatter through the bedroom, moving into any crevice or protected location. They may also spread to nearby rooms or apartments.

Because bedbugs live solely on blood, having them in your home is not a sign of dirtiness. You are as likely to find them in immaculate homes and hotel rooms as in filthy ones.

How to Kill Bed Bug

Bedbug Treatments

Getting rid of bedbugs begins with cleaning up the places where bedbugs live. This should include the following:

Clean bedding, linens, curtains, and clothing in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. Place stuffed animals, shoes, and other items that can’t be washed in the dryer and run on high for 30 minutes.
Use a stiff brush to scrub mattress seams to remove bedbugs and their eggs before vacuuming.
Vacuum your bed and surrounding area frequently. After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag and place it in the garbage can outdoors.
Encase mattress and box springs with a tightly woven, zippered cover to keep bedbugs from entering or escaping. Bedbugs may live up to a year without feeding, so keep the cover on your mattress for at least a year to make sure all bugs in the mattress are dead.
Repair cracks in plaster and glue down peeling wallpaper to get rid of places bedbugs can hide.
Get rid of clutter around the bed.

If your mattress is infested, you may want to get rid of it and get a new one, but take care to rid the rest of your home of bedbugs or they will infest your new mattress.

Bedbug Extermination

While cleaning up infested areas will be helpful in controlling bedbugs, getting rid of them usually requires chemical treatments.

Because treating your bed and bedroom with insecticides can be harmful, it is important to use products that can be used safely in bedrooms. Do not treat mattresses and bedding unless the label specifically says you can use them on bedding.

Generally, it is safest and most effective to hire an experienced pest control professional for bedbug extermination.

FAQs

1. Do bed bugs spread disease?

Bed bugs are not known to spread disease. Bed bugs can be an annoyance because their presence may cause itching and loss of sleep. Sometimes the itching can lead to excessive scratching that can sometimes increase the chance of a secondary skin infection.

2. What health risks do bed bugs pose?

A bed bug bite affects each person differently. Bite responses can range from an absence of any physical signs of the bite, to a small bite mark, to a serious allergic reaction. Bed bugs are not considered to be dangerous; however, an allergic reaction to several bites may need medical attention.

3. Are bedbugs just in beds?

Bedbugs are not just in beds. They can be in chair cushions, sofas, behind electrical outlets, cracks and crevices around baseboards, or even behind picture frames. In other words, they can be live pretty much anywhere.

4. Can I get sick from bedbugs?

Bedbugs are not known to spread any diseases to humans. However, their bites can leave behind itchy, red welts which can become infected from scratching.

Luckily, it is possible to treat a bed bug infestation yourself without spending a fortune. You must be diligent and committed to the treatment process, but you can eliminate bed bugs yourself.

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