No matter where you live in the world, bed bugs are the most dreaded of all insects and bugs. Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs are likely to find their way into houses even in cold temperatures and die or reduce in numbers during the winter.
Therefore, you need to take care of a couple of things as a homeowner for protecting your house from bed bug infestation. In this article, we will discuss some useful ways to keep these tiny bugs at bay.
How to pest-proof your home in winter?
Here are several ways that homeowners can use for preventing these critters from getting into your house:
- When it comes to bedbugs, they gain access into your house through infested clothing and things, like workplace, school, neighbor’s house, etc. So, make sure to properly clean your clothes and the entire house thoroughly.
- Another way is to weatherstrip and replace the loose mortar around the windows and basement foundation of your house. It will help in keeping all sorts of pests away.
- Do clean your bedsheets, blankets, and daily wear clothes in winter months. It will ensure that the bed bugs don’t find appropriate, dirty places to infest and grow.
- Repair damaged window screens and install door sweeps.
- Try to keep crawl spaces, attics, and basements dry and well-ventilated.
Why do you need to do pest control in winter?
By now, you must be aware that pests and bed bugs don’t leave your house in winters. You might not see them or experience bed bugs, they are certainly seeking shelter nearby. They reduce their activity levels in colder months to conserve energy.
While rats insulate into burrows, insects and bed bugs seem to survive the harsh winter weather too. They also position themselves for the more active season during springtime. But even in winter weather, you need to get the pest control done to ensure your house is pest-free even in colder months of the year.
How to get rid of bed bugs in winter?
Here are the four major steps to take for getting rid of bed bugs in the winter months (as suggested by pest control pros)
Step 1: Find all infested areas
If there are bedbugs in your home, you need to find them as soon as possible. It is best to identify them before they begin to reproduce. You can identify them by dark, rust sports on bedsheets, clothes, as well as a musty odor.
Step 2: Contain the infestation
Once you have found the infested area, you have to keep them contained to get rid of them. One easy way to do so is to trap bedbugs with a vacuum. So, do run the vacuum around all hiding places, like bed, carpets, electronics, and dresser.
Step 3: Prep for bedbug treatment
Before starting the treatment of your home, do prepare a little by maximizing the odds of success. Begin with cleaning clothing, drapes, carpets, etc. Also, clean the furniture and furnishing items to ensues bugs are hiding on them.
Step 4: Kill bedbugs
You can kill bedbugs by the following methods:
- Wash clothes and begging for 30 minutes in hot water and then dry them on the highest heat setting.
- Pack infested items in bags and leave them outside on a sunny day or closed car. In winter, you may take 2 to 5 months for killing sealed-up bugs.
- Once you have cleaned all visible bedbugs, try to make the areas inhospitable for future bug growth. Zip up covers all the way so that if there are growing bugs they get trapped and die inside.
- Put bags including bedbugs in the freezer at 0 °F (-17 °C) and leave them there for around four days.
Home remedies for bed bugs
Given below are some simple home remedies to eradicate bedbugs from your house:
- Tea Tree: Use tree oil to get rid of bedbugs. It has antimicrobial properties and also acts as a cleaning agent to kill bacteria and fungi while neutralizing viruses upon contact. It suffocates insects and kills them eventually.
- Lavender: The odor of lavender oil also make bed bugs feel nauseous and eventually leads to death.
- Peppermint Leaves: The fresh peppermint leaves also have the same effect as lavender oil and tea tree oil.
Summary
We hope that you follow these useful steps, tips, and home remedies to get rid of bed bugs. Also, don’t forget to vacuum the whole area after the infestation is gone. Do repeat these steps, if needed.
