Bed bugs are annoying pest. Growing up, we often hear the phrase about bed bugs biting at night and go on thinking that bed bugs aren’t’ a real thing but, unfortunately, they are and about twice as annoying than you’d think. The good news is that like all other organism, there are ways to exterminate bed bugs. It takes some effort, but these methods are effective and have worked for quite a long time. You’ll probably need to call a professional exterminator, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting these steps knocked out first. If you don’t have a good head start, it will cost more to exterminate them professional and it may not be as effective. Below we’ll look at some methods of exterminating bed bugs and what you can do about it at home.
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Preparations
The biggest thing you’ll want to do off the bat is prevent further spread of bed bugs. There are a few ways to do this, most of them being measures that involve isolating. Before you do that even, make sure and identify that you’re actually dealing with bed bug bites. If you can, have someone qualified identify the bug after you capture it. If you’re certain they are bed bugs, take a moment to being preparations. You’ll want to clean as much clutter and debris as possible as bed bugs like to hide in this kind of stuff.
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Preventing Any Further Spread
This was mentioned above, but you really want to make sure that you’re stopping the infestation before it can go any further. In the process of exterminating bed bugs, prevention is key. Imagine if you spend a bunch of time and money on an extermination only to become infested again because of a missed cushion or a new place they’ve decided to hide. Don’t let this happen to you; seal everything up before you jump into full extermination.
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Extermination Time
Extermination means a couple things. First, you want to take measures yourself. These are luckily pretty easy to do and require very little in terms of money spent compared to going straight to an exterminator. Depending on the level of infestation, this may actually do the trick. For light bed bug bite symptoms, these methods may be all you need, but it’s still a good idea to call a professional exterminator afterward.
Home Methods:
- Wash and dry ALL sheets, clothes, blankets and pillow cases. Dry them at high heat for at least 30 minutes. That heating component is integral.
- If you have a deep freezer, you can put larger items in it (so as long as it chills down to 0 degrees F) for four days – this works too.
- Home pesticides do work, but you’ll want to get a fogger for this. Make sure you’ve planned ahead. Do this after you’ve taken the steps above.
- Bed bug covers are good, too. This will prevent them from spreading and getting any new food, thus starving them.
Professional Solutions:
The second step after treating as much as you can yourself is to call a professional exterminator. If you’ve applied the methods above for a week and still don’t’ see a difference, this is the best choice. You may even need a couple treatments, so keep that in mind too.
Conclusion
Combining all the methods above will exterminate your bed bug problems. Sometimes, the home solutions do a fine job on their own. Other times, you will need to call an exterminator to finish the job for you. For the best result, complete all solutions and steps above. Work in sync with your roommates and landlord for the best results if you live in a shared building.
