How to Kill Bed Bugs

Learning how to kill bed bugs is necessary as these creatures are becoming a common problem to many people. Bed bugs are nocturnal insects that live in bedding and suck human blood. They are disastrous as they can infest any place but love box spring, blankets, mattresses, or mattress covers. They usually feed in the dawn hours and you won't have any idea of them other than the itchy, red bites left behind. It is important to note that infestations can be tough to eliminate and require dedication.

The following are the steps you can follow to learn how to kill bed bugs:

Bed bug treatments
First you need to ensure there are bed bugs that have infested in your bedding. This is important to be sure that the treatments are going to work effectively. Some nocturnal parasites such as bird mites also suck blood. You can check whether there are dark spots on the mattress as this is an indicator for bed bug waste.

Use a mattress encasement
A mattress encasement is quite different from a mattress pad. It encloses the whole mattress and can be zipped around it. The zipping will ensure that your bed bugs are trapped inside and will be starved to death since they will not be able to feed on you. This is a long term solution as bed bugs can live for a couple of months without feeding.

Vacuum often and thoroughly
This is another method used in killing bed bugs. This method is used when one is in middle of infestation. You can use a crevice tool to get every nook and cranny of your bed and the surrounding fabrics and furniture. You need to empty the vacuum away from your house and the clean the hoses and filter. If this is not possible, you can vacuum up with a flea powder containing Pyre-thrum. This will ensure the bed bugs will die rather than crawling out of the vacuum.

Use steam
You can rent or buy a commercial steam cleaner. It works on the same principle as the vacuum. You need to steam every piece of furniture and fabric in the bedroom and the immediate rooms. The heat will kill the eggs and bed bugs themselves.

Wash bedding and clothing
In this case you should use a washing machine with detergent and hot water. The items should then be dried by using the hottest dryer setting for more than 30 minutes to kill the eggs and bed bugs. The clothing and bedding should be placed in plastic bags when they are not in use. The infested room should then be heat treated for four hours.

Call an exterminator
If you have no knowledge on how to kill bed bugs, this will be your best option. It is a costly method but can make a great difference between buying new bedding or not. You should call an exterminator with lots of experience in dealing with bed bug infestations and should clean your house carefully before they arrive.

Telltale Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation

While they aren't exactly deadly or exceedingly harmful, bed bugs can be one of the worst annoyances people have to deal with, and it has to be noted that if the problem is not taken care of, the bugs will turn their environment into the optimal breeding ground for bacteria and, consequently, infections. If bed bugs aren't taken care of quickly, they can spread like the plague and even infect entire buildings in some cases. Fortunately, there are bed bugs signs you can look for in order to detect their presence, even early on in the infestation.

First of all, you should be acquainted with how bed bugs look and when they tend to come out. In most cases, they are extremely small (about 5mm in width), are oval-shaped, flat, have six legs (although counting them may prove difficult), two antennae, as well as very short, dark brown or golden hairs. Their larvae are shaped quite similarly, except that their skin hasn't formed a thick layer yet, and so they appear bright red right after feeding, and golden at all other times. Bed bugs are nocturnal animals, meaning they only tend to come out at night and hide away during the day.

In addition to knowing what bed bugs look like, it would also help to know where they hide. Contrary to what their name may imply, bed bugs aren't exclusively confined to beds and mattresses; they will pretty much hide in any crack they can find. For this reason, it is possible to find bed bugs signs in mattress seams, sofas, carpet edges, night stands, behind picture frames, curtains, and even the smallest fissures in your walls and floors. Somewhat fortunately, bed bugs stay only a few feet away at the most from their feeding spots, meaning you should start your search for bed bugs signs at your bed, or wherever you tend to sleep.

One of the most common telltale bed bugs signs everyone looks for time and time again when trying to determine if they have bed bugs are tiny, dark brown bloodstains, usually found in sheets, mostly because it is where they are easiest to spot. These tiny bloodstains are actually the bed bugs' fecal matter, and anything which has them is probably infected with the nefarious pests.

Unfortunately, apart from seeing bed bugs themselves, waking up with plenty of little red bites on your body, and finding their fecal matter stains, there aren't really any effective methods of detecting them, but thankfully, they aren't exactly masters at playing hide-and-seek. Remember, you don't need to find every single bed bug in the colony to know that you have a problem: a few little stains or perhaps a couple of live bed bugs are good enough signs that you have an impending problem that needs to be dealt with immediately.

At this point, you could try dealing with the infestation using your own means and bed bug control products available to the public. However, if you are new to this business, there is a good chance that you won't get them all as they reproduce with great speed. Alternatively, you can always hire the services of a professional extermination company as they have access to much more powerful tools than anyone else does.