Bed bugs are tiny little creatures and are among the most difficult pests to deal with. The best way to get rid of a bedbug infestation is to spot it early on and make sure to keep it from spreading. Regardless of the level of infestation, it is vital to identify the kind of pest problem. You have to know the right steps to take in removing them.
Fortunately, you can look for evidence of bedbugs in certain areas of your home, especially the bedroom.
Check for bedbugs in your home.
How to find bedbugs? Don’t worry. You will find them in their usual spots. Bed bugs are often found close to where people spend most of their time – in beds and in couches. Being tiny creatures, they can flatten their bodies to get into small crevices and cracks. It includes mattresses, headboards, bed frames, and all the other furniture near the bed.
Other common breeding grounds for bedbugs are the cracks behind the wall, windows, door moldings, carpet edges, and more. They appear and take residence in almost all the parts of your home, and they spread throughout.
Get rid of the pests.
Your house can be squeaky clean, and bedbugs can still make their way through. It doesn’t matter if your home is dirty or clean. What matters is that there are hosts from who they can feed. People usually catch bed bugs during their travels. They stick to luggage, coats, clothes, and when you become in contact with any of these infested items, you become attacked and become a new carrier.
Here are some practical tips to get rid of bedbugs.
Visual inspection
The first step in removing bed bugs is to identify where they are in your home. Check the usual go-to places of the bugs. Pay attention to the beds, the mattresses, the cracks behind the wall, the furniture, and other upholstery in your home. Identify all the infested areas thoroughly. You can do the inspection yourself, or you can hire a professional to do it for you. Some professionals have trained dogs to sniff the bedbugs.
Use Monitors or interceptors.
You can install an interception device or active monitors in the legs of your bed, couch, bedside table, and other nearby furniture. Leave the monitors for at least a month. Come back every few days or so to check the bug activity.
Keep it contained
The next step is to make sure that the infestation doesn’t spread in the entire house. Keep them contained first to get rid of them eventually. Vacuuming is the easiest way to trap bed bugs, so use your vacuum and run it through all the hiding places.
When you’re done with that, seal up the vacuumed waste into a plastic bag and throw it immediately. It would be best if you also sealed up all the infested linens, mattresses, clothes, and others in a plastic bag. Wash the items in the highest temperature setting. If the bug still persists in the clothes, in the mattress, in the furniture, and upholstery, you need to either keep them in bags for months or throw them away.
Preparation for the bed bug treatment
It’s essential to prepare ahead of time instead of just jumping on it right away. Make sure to have everything, including the linen, the drape, the clothing, the curtains, and all the other infested items.
Check out all the hiding places. Try to clean up the books, the magazines, and everything lying on the floor. Pick up all the socks and other items hidden under the bed as well. If you can, it’s better to throw them out. Avoid moving the infested items to another cleanroom. Always separate the infested ones from the clean ones.
Kill the bedbugs
There are two ways to get rid of bedbugs, you can either use chemicals, or you can use heat. High heat or intense cold could quickly kill bedbugs.
Wash the clothing and other items in hot water for half an hour and put them in a dryer set at the highest temperature. You can also use a steamer on mattresses and a couch to make sure you’re out of any area. If you still don’t have time to wash them, you can put them in black bags and leave the bags outside under extreme heat.
Call the help of the professionals.
Bedbugs are tricky, and if you don’t know how to find bed bugs and you don’t have the patience and the right knowledge, you may not be able to get rid of the bug infestation. Call in the help of the Professional Bed Bug Exterminator and let them use their chemicals and other treatments offered to make sure your home is free from bed bugs attack.