How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Signs of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs hide in tiny cracks and crevices and usually visit their host for a feed briefly in the few hours just before dawn. To an expert pest controller, signs of bed bugs are easy to spot but can be a little harder for the untrained and inexperienced eye.

Bed bugs control in your home:

• DO NOT use pesticides meant for garden or agricultural use.
• DO NOT use products that appear to be “homemade” or “custom formulated” or products purchased from someone without a license.

The most effective way to control bed bugs in your home is through a combination of chemical measures and heat treatments applied by a Pest Management Professional (PMP).

Bed Bug Infestation Signs

Here are a few of the common signs that there may bed bugs in one of your rooms.

1. Dark/black stains – on the mattress and surrounding area from bed bug excreta.
2. Sweet scent – An unpleasant, sweet, sickly scent.
3. Small dark spots – Small dark blood spots on bedding known as ‘faecal pellets’.
4. Live insects – despite being small (adult are only 4-5mm long) it’s possible to spot live bed bugs and shed skins.
5. Blood spots – on the sheets or mattress.

Where Will I Find it?

1. Bed frames and headboard crevices
2. Mattress seams
3. Carpets and underlay
4. Skirting boards
5. Between timber floorboards
6. In cracked or broken plaster, behind peeling wallpaper
7. Inside electrical sockets and fittings
8. Drawers and cupboards
9. Wardrobes
10. Bedside cabinets

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Reduce Clutter:

Remove all personal items (stuffed animals, soft toys, blankets, electronics, etc) and anything that does not stay in the room permanently. Caution: Be mindful that items from the infested area can transfer bed bugs to other areas. It is best to bag them in plastic with Nuvan Strips.

Launder Infested Garments and Linens:

Infested garments and bed linen cannot be treated with insecticide. They need to be laundered in hot water (120 degrees fahrenheit minimum). If washing is not available, heating the garments or bed linens for several minutes in a clothes dryer may work.

Dismantle Bed Frames:

Dismantling bed frames in infested areas typically exposes bed bug hiding sites. Having access to these areas during cleaning is important. Stand up the box spring and shine a flashlight through the gauze fabric and look for bed bugs. If the fabric is torn (possible hiding place), remove fabric to prepare for spraying. If the mattress and or box springs are infested, you may want to consider Encasements by Mattress Safe. Once covered with these encasements, bed bugs can not enter or exit. There is no need to treat the mattress or box spring when using these encasements. Keep them on for a year.

Remove Dresser Drawers:

Remove drawers from desks and dressers since bed bugs like to hide in these areas. Turn furniture over to inspect and clean all hiding spots. All furniture should be pulled away from the walls.

Clean the Area:

Scrub infested surfaces with a stiff brush to dislodge eggs. Vacuum the room extensively. Use a vacuum hose attachment to thoroughly vacuum cracks and crevices on furniture and along baseboards on the walls. Vacuum along baseboards, furniture, bed stands, rails, headboards, foot boards, bed seams, tufts, buttons, edges of the bedding, as well as the edges of the carpets (particularly along the tack strips). A good vacuum cleaning job may remove particles from cracks and crevices to encourage greater insecticide penetration. Bed bugs cling tightly to surfaces, so it is best to vacuum by scraping the end of the vacuum attachment over the infested areas to pull out the bed bugs. Caution: It is not good to use a bristle attachment, because you may transfer bed bugs to other areas since they cling to the brush. Dispose of vacuum cleaner bags after you are finished in an outdoor trashcan.

Caulk and Seal:

Caulk and seal all holes where pipes and wires penetrate walls and floor, and fill cracks around baseboards and molding to further reduce harboring areas.

Have bed bug problem? Contact us for more information about bed bugs control.

Bed Bug Inspection Check List

1. The Mattress and Box Spring

Check the mattress throughly, paying close attention to seams and tufts along the edges. Flip the mattress over and inspect the bottom carefully as well. Pay particular attention to any rips in the fabric. View the fabric on the bottom of the box spring and shine a flash light to verify that bed bugs have not penetrated the interior of the box spring.

2. Bed Frame and Head and Foot Boards

Remove the mattress and box frame from the bed frame and shine a flash light all along every potential hiding place on the bed frame. Remember bed bugs can slip into an crack a business card can fit into.

3. Other Furniture: Desks, Chairs, Dressers, etc

Take out all drawers and cushions from surrounding furniture. Check all seams and crevices carefully with a flashlight. Take your time and inspect thoroughly. Bed Bugs are commonly found in these areas in an infested room.

4. Walls and Carpet

Inspect the surrounding walls by removing electrical switch plates and any wall hangings. Check under tack strips and behind baseboards where ever possible. Shine light into cracks in plaster and seams along wall paper.

5. Electronics and Other Appliances

Unfortunately electronics and appliances provide a perfect hiding spot for bed bugs. Check them closely with a flashlight and magnifying glass as well. Remove them when possible. Placing smaller ones in a bag with Nuvan Strips is an effective way to save the device.

Additional Bed Bug Inspection Notes

Bed Bug fecal and blood spots (look like rust) are left on sheets and pillowcases when the engorged bed bugs are crushed. These indicators serve as sure signs of infestation. Bed bugs prefer to hide in cracks and crevices during the daytime and come out to feed on the host’s blood at night, usually while the host is sleeping.

Since bed bugs can flatten their bodies, they fit in very small crevices, specially around the bed area. They are found in habitual hiding places, preferably close to a blood meal. Even though their preference is to be close they can travel several feet for a blood meal.

Initial infestations tend to be around beds, but the bugs eventually become scattered throughout a room, occupying any crevice or protected location. They can also spread to adjacent rooms or apartments.