Bedbugs: the fear of any homeowner. When these tiny creatures invade a home, they travel between anything from your travel suitcase to pieces of clothing to, obviously, your bed. These ruthless little bugs feast on blood at night when they are most active, and leave behind bites that are extremely itchy and uncomfortable. Although bed bugs are common, most people with infestations do not properly understand the depth of their situation and do not act responsibly to make their space pest-free.
Bed bugs are hard to clear from a living space and can cause massive frustration. Here’s a short guide to help you prevent and eradicate bed bugs from your home.
Step 1: Explore Prevention and Pre-Treatment Solutions
There are plenty of preventative measures that you can implement into your home so as to reduce the risk of inviting bed bugs. These are steps that should be regularly maintained in order to ward off infestations.
Declutter. Bed bugs can be found hiding out in seams of mattresses, headboards, and other furniture, but also frequently camp out in other creviced spaces. While there isn’t much you can do to protect your furniture, you can reduce the chance of bed bugs by tidying your space and providing less small spaces for bed bugs to creep into. Clean any debris off of your floors and shelves, and be sure to dust frequently.
Heavy Wash Infested Clothing and Linens. It’s recommended to remove all clothing and linens and wash them in hot water immediately. Any infested items – stuffed animals, shoes – that shouldn’t go in the wash should be put in the dryer on high heat for 30 minutes or more. Once your clothing and linens have been washed, it’s imperative to dry them on the highest heat available as well.
Clean Your Space. Vacuum your mattress, and if there’s carpeting surrounding your bed, be sure to vacuum that as well. Use a wire brush to clean out the seams of your mattress and then go over them with the vacuum. Vacuuming on a regular basis is integral to keeping your risk of bed bugs to a minimum. After vacuuming, place the contents in a tightly-sealed plastic bag and immediately put it in an outdoor garbage container. It’s recommended to use a tightly-fitted zippered mattress cover on your mattress to stop bed bugs from getting into your space.
Step 2: Inspect Your Space For Bed Bugs
A telltale sign of bed bugs is waking up in the morning with tiny, itchy bites distributed all over your body. If you’ve recently returned from a trip, or have recently introduced a used piece of furniture into your home, it’s time to check for bed bugs.
Using a flashlight, examine the seams of your mattress and any other upholstered furniture. If you come across any minuscule red insects or red smears on your mattress while conducting your inspection, you have bed bugs. If you come across bed bugs at any point, it’s important to take immediate action in resolving the issue. If you don’t act on your infestation, the bed bugs will quickly spread to other parts of your space, or if you’re in an apartment complex, you can travel to neighboring units.
Step 3: Try These Treatments
Try enveloping your mattress and box spring with a zippered cover once it’s been thoroughly treated. However, the most foolproof way to ensure that you’ve gotten rid of all bed bugs is to dispose of your mattress entirely and purchase a new one. Eradicating bed bugs from your home usually means using insecticides or other chemicals in your home that shouldn’t be used on mattresses, as they’re typically harmful to your health. If you choose to buy a new mattress, make sure that you treat your bedroom accordingly before you move your new mattress into your space.
Carpets and upholstered furniture have tons of crevices and seams for bed bugs to hide in, so it’s imperative that you treat those elements of your home thoroughly. Getting rid of bed bugs is no simple task, but it’s necessary to take all preventative measures to keep them from traveling to other spaces and making the situation worse.
Step 4: Consult An Exterminator
Sometimes, you can’t do the job alone. In these instances, you should call a professional exterminator. These professionals will be able to evaluate your pest situation properly and offer the best solution to ridding your space of bed bugs or other unwanted creatures. Professional exterminators determine which chemicals are best to treat your infested space, and will commonly use chemicals that aren’t openly available to the public.
Exterminators efficiently clear bed bugs out of your home, and you can rest easy knowing that your home is safe and that you acted responsibly. It’s best to do this as soon as you first notice an infestation since bed bug professionals usually need to make a few visits to your home in orderly to properly rid your home of pests. Treating and exterminating your home of bed bugs is a very complicated process that requires much patience, but if you approach your bed bug situation with an informed view, you’ll be able to return your home to its normal state as quickly and efficiently as possible.
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