Whenever bed bugs appear, the hard work of eradicating them begins. There is no quick fix to this challenge. Dealing with the most pressing issues with the infestation is hard enough. These hardy insects have a way of coming back and from places you didn’t know they were hiding.
How Do Bed Bugs Get In?
In contrast to many other annoying insects, such as mosquitoes or fleas, bed bugs cannot fly. They don’t have the legs or the power to jump either. These bugs are great crawlers, though, and can latch onto you wherever you are. They can hold onto clothing, luggage, bags, or anything you carry.
It takes just a few insects to hide, multiply rapidly, and then infest your home. Their body shape enables them to crawl through tight spaces and find the darkest, hardest-to-reach areas. Feeding on human blood, bed bugs leave reddish marks and skin irritations. The effects can be worse in people who are allergic.
A single female can lay hundreds of eggs in a lifetime. The insects thrive in room temperatures and, if there’s enough food, can live for over 300 days or about 10 months. Thousands leave bloody stains, excrement, and shed exoskeletons everywhere they live. Although bed bugs don’t transmit disease, they’re a growing problem around the world.
Preparing for Permanent Eradication
There are many ways to get rid of bed bugs, you can whisk the bugs away or vacuum them up. That’s not going to solve your problem. They hide in seams, sheets, furniture, crevices, and behind baseboards. If you see the bugs, their shed skins, black or brown stains, or bites, it’s time to act quickly.
If you’re going to permanently get rid of bed bugs, be prepared to work for the cause. Professionals can use proven extermination tools and pesticides but there is much more to it. Now’s the time to hunker down and follow the steps below.
- Use a vacuum cleaner to suck up whatever bed bugs you can. Go around the bed, carpets, and floors and use attachments to reach corners and other tight areas. Dispose of the vacuum cleaner bag right away. Place it inside a plastic bag and dispose of it outside to ensure nothing can escape.
- To get rid of bed bugs for good, immediately clean bedding, clothing, curtains, and other infested items using hot water. Place them in a dryer at the highest temperature setting afterwards. If you have shoes, toys, or stuffed animals, run them the dryer on high for at least 30 minutes.
- Purchase a good cover for mattresses and box springs. This must be tightly woven and zippered so no bed bugs can get in or escape. By keeping the mattress covered for at least a year, you cut off the food supply and run through the bugs’ lifecycle. They should all be dead by then.
- Clean off mattress seams with a stiff brush, which is tough enough to release the bugs from their grip and dislodge their eggs. Once you start vacuuming, whatever they leave behind has been loosened and much more easily removed.
- Use a sealant to fix any cracks in the wall, or openings where pipe or wiring come in. Peeling wallpaper should be repaired with glue. If you close up any crevices or spaces where bed bugs can hide, they won’t find shelter and can’t come through.
All this requires a lot of moving furniture around, elbow grease, and more. It’s the only way to get rid of bed bugs permanently. Heat treatments and freezing them does a good job. Without taking the measures needed to isolate the pests from their shelter and food sources, there’s still a good chance they’ll come back.
There are a lot of pest control products sold in stores as well. Numerous pesticides are safe to use at home, if you want to go that route. Another alternative is the natural spray by SayByeBugs. It has a compound that damages the hard outer covering, killing bed bugs and which lasts for up to two weeks. As you can see, there are many do-it-yourself products that work and save you from the costs of hiring a professional exterminator.
If you really want to get rid of bed bugs today try SayByeBugs! It was developed as a safe and highly effective alternative among a sea of products that rarely deliver on their promises.
