Home » Home & Garden » Housekeeping

How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home

4 Comments

13 Like

Like 13

Pin It

Ranked #2,903 in Home & Garden, #35,160 overall

How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home For Good

"Discover how to get rid of bed bugs at home effectively. Get rid of bed bugs at home permanently.
Learn how to prevent a re-infestation by these tiny parasites from ever occurring again"

"Overview of bed bugs"

"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" is not an appropriate lullaby to kiss the kids goodnight anymore, since these parasites have made a dramatic come back as recently as the mid 90ies after they were almost completely eradicated in the 40ies. At the time DDT was legally used to exterminate cockroaches and many other pests and soon after vacuum cleaners were introduced.

Bed bugs had been confined to developing countries for the time being, but recently they spread across the developed world due to a number of factors like neglect in favor of other pest treatments, resistance to insecticides, ineffective treatment methods and traveling. Bed bugs are opportunistic parasites that will gladly hitch hike in a suitcase and follow their hosts to infest new countries and their inhabitants, hence their prodigious success. Read more on how to get rid of bed bugs at home.

Contents at a Glance

Overview of Bed Bugs
Phase 1 - How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At...
Phase 2 - How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At...
Blueprint - How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs A...
Prevention To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Hom...
How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home Video...
Bed Bugs Treatments
Landscaping Ideas - Home Improvement - P...
Reader Feedback
Table of Contents

Overview of Bed Bugs

Inspecting For Bugs

Bed Bugs are also difficult to spot at first, not until the human host has already been bitten and decided to inspect his/her surrounding to find the culprit. Bed bugs are oval shaped and flat for easier access to crevices and nooks, usually hiding in the tufts and seams of bedding, head rests, buttons, head boards, edges of carpets and anywhere near where the host sleeps like skirting boards, bed side tables and inside chests of drawers. They have an ability to infiltrate under wall paper, bed frame hollows, smoke detectors and generally anywhere near their source of food big enough to hide them.

Apart from human transport, bed bugs can be also carried with birds and bats and once established they congregate near their source of food. Apart from red bite rushes anywhere on the body, clues of their presence are their molting outer skeleton shells, tiny fecal droppings and eggs. Bed bug are attracted to their victims by carbon monoxide and heat and will congregate near them but will also wander around to other rooms in search of food sources. Their flat oval shape makes them adapted for hiding in crevices, staying there in daytime to crawl out at night to feed on their hosts.

Once their presence has been established, you can start the 2 phase elimination process described below or find out how to get rid of bed bugs at home naturally.

Phase 1 - How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home

Remove, Clean, Tidy Up, Vacuum Thoroughly

This phase is very important to remove as much as possible of adults, nymphs, eggs and organic debris.

Perma-Guard Diatomaceous Earth DE Food Grade 50 lb bag

Remove all personal items including laptops, phones, teddy bears, cushions, pillows, blankets. Then vacuum them thoroughly and seal them in plastic bags for few days to check for missed bugs or newly hatched eggs.

Climbup Insect Interceptor Bed Bug Trap, 12ct

Empty dressers, bed side tables and chest of drawers, move them from their place and deep vacuum corners and the inside of cabinets with a noozle. Go to your sofa and mattress, remove them and vacuum with special attention to seams, tufts, skirts and under the cushions. Check the box springs for infestation. If there is one, you may have to dispose of the mattress. Dismantle the bed frame and check in the hollow of the metal frame or between the component edges if it is a wooden frame. Vacuum and vacuum again.

JT Eaton 208-W6Z Bedbug Control For Luggage And Mattresses, 6-Ounce Spray Bottle

Empty your wardrobe and clean it as for the chest of drawers. Since garments cannot be treated with insecticides, machine wash them at a temperature higher than 120*F because adults, nymphs and eggs are all killed within minutes above this temperature. Repeat the process for curtains.

Cyzmic CS 8 oz Micro-encapsulated Pest Control Insecticide 9.7% Lambda-Cyhalothrin
(Cyonara replacement Generic Demand CS) roaches fleas ticks bedbugs etc...

Once you cleaned all the individual parts of the room, furniture,mattresses, textiles, fabrics and upholstery, you can move onto the rest of the room. Vacuum the carpet religiously especially along skirting boards, along the frame of furniture, rails, corners, wall cracks and all visible surfaces and crevices where the parasites may be hiding.

JT Eaton 203 Kills Bedbugs And Crawling Insects Powder, 7-Ounce Bottle

Next, seal cracks in walls and wall paper with plaster, silicone or acrylic filler to prevent future infestations. In order to expose more bed bugs from their hiding places, you may want to use a flashlight. Finally, remove the vacuum bag and seal it is a plastic bag before disposal. Thorough cleaning and vacuuming is the foundation key to get rid of bed bugs at home. Read more on how to get rid of bed bugs at home naturally.

Phase 2 - How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home

Life Cycle And Treatments

The life cycle of bed bugs lasts up to 1 year and is divided in 6 stages. Only the last stage is the adult reproductive stage, while the others are immature stages that start with the egg stage followed by a nymph stage with 3 successive molts before the adult stage.

Bed Bug Slasher Sleep Safe Bed Bug Trap
(4-Pack)

Adults are 4/5 mm long and all bed bugs stages are surprisingly resistant to low and high temperatures. They can survive many days in temperatures below 0* but will die if the temperature is higher than 47 Celsius or 120 F, so anything short of prolonged freezing temperatures or heat won't kill them. The treatments available focus on breaking the bug life cycle and are targeted at all life cycle stages repeatedly, either by killing them directly or by interfering with IGR ( Insect Growth Regulator).

Tempo Ultra SC 240 ML
(8 oz) Multi Use Pest Control Insecticide ~ Spiders Bedbugs Roaches Silverfish etc..

Chemical treatments like sprays or dust should be applied at least 3 times 10 days apart to be sure of success. In fact, bed bugs feed sparingly few weeks apart, so re-treatment is necessary for complete elimination. Unlike with fleas where foggers are successful, with bed bugs such treatment produce the opposite effect, the bugs will scatter around making it even more difficult to exterminate them.

Trapper Insect Trap,bed Bug Trap,spider Trap,cockroach Trap-90 Traps

Pyrethroid, Malathion and Dichlorvos are commonly used for mattresses, sofas, cushions and upholstery, cabinets and chests with particular attention to seams and tufts, However, some bed bug populations have developed a phenomenal resistance to these agents and there is growing concern as to how to find a more effective way to kill them.

Bed Bug Slasher Guard Post Bed Bug Trap

Another solution may be an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) based treatment. There are also mattress cases on the market that completely seal the mattress and prevent any escape from it. They must be kept for 1 year or so to make sure to break the whole life cycle of the bed bugs by starving them and stop the infestation spreading. If the infestation is severe, you may need to dispose of the mattress, but If it is not too advanced, you may decide to use sprays and dusts to kill the unwanted guests. Check out this page on how to get rid of bed bugs at home naturally.

Blueprint - How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home Naturally

Prevention To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home

Prevention After The Infestation

There is a sound and chemical free way of dealing with bed bugs. If you have already experienced the trauma of an infestation you are already in a better position NOT to underestimate the resilience and adaptability of this successful bug. Wherever and whenever you travel, be wary of where you sleep and of your luggage. Here below there is a prevention check list to help you get rid of bed bugs at home and the trauma and disruption that these tiny creatures can do to your life.

Always check your hotel mattress and headboards when traveling

Do not drop your luggage on the floor but keep it off it

Keep a vigilant eye on public transport seats

Check for bugs in new furniture delivered from warehouses

Avoid buying second hand furniture or bedding

Carry a mini flash light to inspect the bed area

Back home from a trip, inspect your luggage and vacuum clean it

You may want to use a pocket spray can for mattresses and luggage when traveling

Use a sticky bed bug trap

How to get rid of bed bugs at home naturally.

How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs At Home Videos

Treatments and News

How to get rid of bed bugs at home naturally.

Bed Bugs Attack!: by KyleScottTekiela | video info

952 ratings | 1,283,945 views

curated content from YouTube

Bed Bugs Treatments

Landscaping Ideas - Home Improvement - Pest Management

More pages to landscape your property, improve your house or get rid of unwanted pests.

Add this to your lens »

Reader Feedback

Reply

SaintFrantic Oct 16, 2011 @ 3:10 pm | delete

Nasty insects.Thanks for the info

Reply

CleanHome Sep 29, 2011 @ 2:19 pm | delete

Yuck. That makes my skin crawl, but you've put together a very informative great looking lens.

Reply

Richard Sep 8, 2011 @ 6:52 pm | delete

Very thorough. I'd say to also combine some other treatments with the chemicals - treatments like a dry steamer to get rid of the eggs. It's really tough. Check out get rid of bed bugs for more details.

Reply

A-Redneck Aug 29, 2011 @ 9:00 am | delete

Yikes my skin is crawling just reading this article. We are heading off on a vacation where we will be staying at a number of hotels and acquiring bedbugs is one of my biggest fears.