Bed bugs are relatively small insects that are hard to control once they have penetrated and established themselves in your home. Small and often associated with itchy bites, these insects have habits of nesting in cracks and crevices, are active at night, and are generally hard to control. Do you trace your recent experience to bed bugs in your home? Well, do not worry; this is not a hopeless situation. This series of illustrated guides will explain in simple stages how to get rid of bed bugs with directions on how a service such as Big Apple Pest Control can assist you in taking back your home safely and quickly.
How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs
Understanding Bed Bugs and Their Habits
When fighting against bed bugs, it is crucial to understand their general behavior and some of their features. Bed bugs are little, flat insects of a reddish-brown color that only consume blood. While their name implies a propensity to inhabit only beds, they also infest couches, chairs, carpets, curtains, and electrical outlets.
These are active at night and drawn to warmth and carbon dioxide, so they bite humans when asleep. Female bed bugs are capable of laying hundreds of eggs, and therefore, their infestation is very rampant if not controlled early.
How to Determine if You Have a Bed Bug Problem
Don’t immediately start treating the infestation and eliminating the bugs; first, establish that the bugs are bed bugs. Possible symptoms are minor, turning into red spots and bites on your skin arranged in straight or zigzag lines. You might also find visible blood spots on your sheets or mattress and, sometimes, tiny rust-colored specks. These are their droppings.
Two signs you are likely to identify are the presence of live bed bugs or their molted skins, especially along the stitch lines of the furniture, the mattress, or the wall joints. These warning signs indicate that you need to seek help sooner rather than later to prevent further spread.
Steps to Get Rid of Bed Bugs
Declutter Your Space
The first procedure for eliminating bed bugs is to reduce clutter in the living space to a bare minimum. Bed bugs are likely to hide in cluttered places since their surface area is large, making it challenging to kill all the bed bugs. Therefore, one must check and thoroughly clean cupboards and shelves, bedside furniture, and other places where the bed bugs might be located.
However, keep things from one room to another, as this will spread the pests throughout your house.
Wash and Heat-Treat Affected Items
Heat is also an effective removal method for bed bugs, as they can expire at high temperatures. Discard all bed covers, curtains, and clothes used in the affected rooms and wash them in hot water. To follow up, dry the clothes at the highest possible temperature until the container is fully covered and for a minimum of 30 minutes.
In cases where the items cannot be washed, use a steam cleaner or put them in plastic bags that can be sealed with a heating apparatus meant for bed bugs only.
Vacuum Thoroughly
Vacuuming is also essential when eliminating bed bugs in your home. Try to be combinatorial and vacuum every crack in the walls and baseboards, as well as in the mattresses, carpets, and upholstered furniture.
After that, it is recommended that you either throw the vacuum bag or empty the canister to avoid being infested again by the bed bugs. Ensure used vacuum bags are tightly closed and tossed in an outdoor trash can.
Use Bed Bug Covers
Another measure that can help prevent or control an infestation is covering your mattress and box spring with a bed bug-proof cover. These specialised covers imprison bed bugs so that they cannot access their food sources, and thus, they die.
The covers you need should be labeled for bed bugs because they will shield your mattress from future infestations.
Apply DIY Bed Bug Treatments
There are many solutions to eliminating bed bugs that can bought over the counter from stores. However, these products can assist in some situations, and their application is sensitive to correct and continuing accurate and appropriately applied interactions.
Use these sparingly and always adhere to all the directions provided. Remember that bed bugs are resistant to some types of pesticides, and therefore, you may not quickly get rid of the pests if you attempt to do it yourself.
Call the Professionals
Though do-it-yourself techniques work, intense or extensive invasions may demand expert support. Reputable services like Big Apple Pest Control come in handy.
Big Apple Pest Control provides complete home solutions for bed bugs. Their licensed pest control experts use heat, steam, and selective insecticides to eradicate bed bugs quickly.
How to Keep Bed Bugs from Returning
When you are done treating your home, you also need to prevent the bugs from returning. These small habits can go a long way toward keeping your home free of bugs.
Always check second-hand furniture for any signs of damage before you allow it into your house. Do not put luggage on the beds in hotels while traveling, and wash your clothes as soon as you return. Since these insects usually invade dark spaces, make it a point to clean the many floors of your home, especially the living rooms, for any sign of such insect infestation.
Professional pest control services like Big Apple Pest Control provide annual inspections to help you protect your house from pests throughout the year.
Conclusion
Bed bugs can be challenging to deal with, but you will deal with them once you act fast and appropriately. Self-treatments used in cooperation with professional services from Big Apple Pest Control are the most efficient to eliminate these persistent pests.
If you think you have a bed bug problem in your household, you do not have to be any longer. Call Big Apple Pest Control now for a complete evaluation, and you can get a good night’s rest again.
