The moment you realize you have hundreds of bed bugs sharing a room with you will make feel creeped out. Imagine yourself being a blood meal for every night without knowing about it early on until you see those disturbingly itchy bite marks spreading on certain parts of your body. Worse, you will eventually find yourself being unable to sleep well through the night.
Bed bugs can invade your entire home in no time if you don’t immediately do something about this creepy crawlies. Although they look as tiny as an apple seed, they should not be underestimated. The truth is bug removal necessitates more than just killing those live bugs you spot in your bedroom. They multiply so fast hatching eggs every day until their presence becomes more and more obvious. When infestation turns heavy, the ones discreet and rarely seen critters will be crawling on your beddings, bookshelves, clothes, walls, ceilings, carpets, and furniture. In fact, bed bugs can effortlessly find hiding spots; they can fit themselves in any cracks or crevices.
What You Should Know About Bed Bugs
Bed bugs get attracted to sweat and carbon dioxide emitted by the human body. For this reason, they stay close to people as much as possible and find settlements in the bedroom where they have easy access to their host. These nocturnal pests typically attack humans during sleeping hours, particularly at night. They gorge on human blood for about 10 minutes until their flat brownish bodies turn red and round. Their bite marks look like flat red welts and come in clusters either in a straight line or zigzag pattern. Unlike mosquitos, however, these little critters do not carry diseases or viruses but scratching too much may lead the bites to become infected or you have an allergic reaction.
5 Steps for Successful Bed Bug Removal
A bed bug infestation should not be taken lightly. To effectively eliminate bed bugs and stop them from ever coming back, take the following steps:
1. Hunt the bugs down and their hiding spots.
Before anything else, you must verify where the bugs are. Locate their potential hiding spots, especially the one’s surrounding your bed. Thoroughly check the gaps or holes on your bed frame. Inspect box springs, sides of your mattress, and headboards. Since these ectoparasites prefer fabric, they may be tucking themselves in pillows, pillowcases, and bedsheets. One sure way to find these pests’ hiding areas is to look for signs of their activity. Bed bug indications include 1) tiny dark brown or black dots (fecal spots) on your mattresses, beddings, etc.; 2) exoskeletons (bed bug shells); 3) strong musty odor; 4) blood stains on sheets or panamas (resulting from crushed bed bugs); and 5) dark stains on wallpapers or walls. Once you spot these signs, then you definitely have bed bugs in your bedroom.
2. Vacuum and remove the clutter.
Since bed bugs can easily hide themselves away within small cracks that are difficult to reach by humans, sucking them out using a vacuum cleaner is the way to go. Vacuum cleaning should be done on a daily basis if you suspect having bed bugs at home. This also helps get eliminate the clutter, which can provide the bugs with more hideouts. Without clutter, you are reducing the potential hiding spots and are making bed bug removal a lot easier. After you finish vacuuming, do not forget to get rid of the vacuum bag, place it in a trash bag, and store it in a tightly-sealed garbage bin at a safe distance from your home.
3. Seal cracks and gaps on walls.
Eliminate all bed bug sanctuaries by caulking cracks, gaps, and holes on walls as much as possible. You also need to fix loose wallpapers and repair any wall damage.
4. Protect your bed.
Bed bugs’ favorite spot is the bed because it is where they can remain close to their blood meal. Hence, safeguard your bed by making it unattractive to those critters. Meticulously inspect your mattress’ seams and sides, bedpost, and other parts of your bed to detect any bed bug activity. Free your bed from clutter, apply heat when washing and drying your linens, sheets, bed covers, and pillowcases, and refrain from placing your bed directly against the walls.
5. Get help from the pros.
A meticulous inspection is also necessary to detect more signs of bed bug activity. This is where pest control professionals come in. Call a trusted pest control company and avail of their services, which include home visitation and inspection. When it comes to getting rid of bed bugs for good, the pros are the people to talk to. They have all the tools for detecting pests and executing treatment methods.
As far as is pest control is concerned, calling in the experts is the wisest thing to do if you want to efficiently eradicate bed bugs and prevent a re-infestation. Besides your natural home remedies and other DIY treatment methods, professional assistance makes bed bug removal more effective.
