Probably most of us have already heard the phrase ‘Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.’ It might sound harmless and sweet, but the truth about bed bugs is that they can be notoriously harmful. Bed bugs can cause itchiness or allergic reactions to most people, and some even develop health issues. If there’s a bed bug infestation in your home, you are putting both yourself and your loved ones at risk of various health problems.
While getting rid of a bed bug infestation might take a significant amount of time, doing it yourself is still possible. Below are some useful tips on how to fight bed bugs and get rid of them.
Inspect all areas
First and foremost, you need to identify their location. If you don’t know where to start, you can always opt to call Bed Bug Solutions agencies with effective Pest Pro Thermal Machines to locate them quickly and effective elimination of pests. If they find that they are all over your house, then your whole home needs to undergo treatment. If you are living in an apartment, it is necessary to notify your neighbors and the landlord about the matter since other units might need to be inspected too.
Strategize every step you make
Now that you have identified their location, you need to make a plan on how to get rid of them. First, you might want to stay your family away from your home for a while until all the bugs are exterminated.
For the infested items, you might want to place them all in a sealed plastic bag or container for treatment. Moreover, if you have items that cannot be treated easily, each of them should be placed again in a sealed plastic bag or container. Let them sit there for at least a year to ensure that all bugs would be killed. Moreover, you can also use this opportunity to declutter your house. Infected items that you think have less value, you can put them all in the storage or hand them all over to your local trash collection agency, but still, they should be inside a sealed container.
Also, if you were going to discard some infected furniture, make sure to destroy them entirely so no one would dare to pick them up.
Use the vacuum since it can effectively suck in all those nasty bugs. However, make sure to clean your vacuum after each use and make sure to seal the bag before throwing it into the outdoor trash container.
Killing the bugs
Before making any move, make sure that all your strategies and procedures for exterminating the bed bugs adhere to the law as well as the safeness of the procedure.
For first-timers, we highly recommend using non-chemical methods of exterminating the bed bugs, such as follows.
Using Heat treatment
Some Bed Bug Solutions agencies use heat to fight and kill bed bugs. Purchasing electric heaters and equipment to kill the bugs is one of the easiest ways. If you are dealing with a minimal infestation, you can just use a regular clothes dryer on high heat. You can also put some infested items inside a closed car and let it sit under the scorching sun for the whole day.
Using cold treatment
While applying heat is already effective in exterminating bed bugs, you can also use cold treatment to kill bugs. However, for the treatment to become effective, you need to seal all the infected items inside your freezer under zero degrees Fahrenheit for at least 4 to 5 days. However, this procedure might not be useful for large infected items or furniture.
Using steam cleaners
Your steam cleaner can kill bed bugs hiding inside the fabrics, carpets, bed frames, baseboards, and other types of furniture. Set your steam temperature to at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit. To prevent the bed bugs from scattering, do not use a forceful airflow and a diffuser.
Getting help from professionals
While there are times that you can kill and stop bed bug infestation yourself, in some cases, you need professional help, especially for large scale infestation where non-chemical methods of killing aren’t effective.
Killing large scale infestation needs the use of pesticides. However, one should ensure that the chemical is EPA-registered and include bed bugs on the label. When using a fogger to exterminate the bugs, it should be used with extreme care. Otherwise, improper usage might harm your health or, worse, in rare cases, might cause fire and explosion.
If there’s a need for repeated pesticide treatments, we highly recommend using different types of pesticides instead of using the first one to prevent bugs from developing resistance. Use pesticides that dry things out like Desiccants since they are particularly useful for drying out the bug.
Reinspect after treatment
After seven days of treatment, continue a thorough inspection for bed bugs and their eggs. You can create do-it-yourself interceptors and place them in every leg of your furniture. If there are still some traces, you can repeat those non-chemical methods mentioned above.
