How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Quickly: The Top Tips to Know
- June 8, 2020
- in Pest Control
- by Ashley Dando
Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs don’t only infest dirty, unkempt homes. They can be found in nearly any home, at any time, which is why it’s essential to know how to spot them and how to get rid of them.
If you need to know how to get rid of bed bugs quickly, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to discover more about these tiny, parasitic pests and what you can do to banish them from your home!
What Are Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are incredibly small parasitic insects that tend to hide beneath mattresses, sheets, and other human bedding. During the night, they crawl out from their hiding spots and bite sleeping humans.
Bed bugs, like ticks and mosquitoes, feed on mammalian blood. However, an adult bed bug can survive for about five months without any blood, which is why bed bugs can be a little tricky to destroy and remove from a home.
This is especially true of heavy, long-ignored infestations.
What Do Bed Bugs Look Like?
Bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed, though young or unfed ones can be much smaller. You may struggle to find them during the day, as they are small enough to wedge themselves into virtually any crack or crevice.
However, you can confirm the presence of bed bugs by looking for the signs they leave behind. If your mattress has tiny rust-colored dark spots or black dots along the creases or underside, there’s a good chance that you may have active bed bugs in your home.
Checking beneath the mattress and bedding during the late evening hours is the best way to catch adult bed bugs in the act. If you happen to see an adult out and about during the daytime, you may need to contact a professional pest control service immediately, as that is a sign of a significant infestation.
How Do Bed Bugs Get Into a House?
There are a few convenient methods that bed bugs use to enter a home. Apartment buildings with shared ventilation are most at risk for uncontrolled bed bug infestation, and isolated homes and areas are least at risk.
Used Furniture or Bedding
Buying used furniture or bedding is one of the most direct ways to invite bed bugs into your home. While recycling older items is an environmentally conscious choice, it can sometimes be a dangerous one, so be sure to carefully inspect all furniture, mattresses, or bedding before they enter your home.
Also, it may be useful to treat any used furniture or bedding before bringing it home. Store-bought pesticides are an excellent option, though you’re welcome to use any method that suits your preferences. You could even expose your new goods to extreme heat or cold to kill or scare away any hidden critters lurking inside!
Visiting an Infected Home
If you visit a home or area that is infested with bed bugs, there’s a decent chance that you’ll bring some home on your clothing, hair, or skin. Unfortunately, the only way to protect yourself from this is to thoroughly inspect hotel rooms when you’re travelling, and be observant when you visit the homes of friends or family.
Shared Areas in Large Apartment Complexes
Mult-unit complexes, especially those with large carpeted areas, can quickly become infested as the bugs travel — unseen — beneath fabrics or along baseboards.
What to Do if You Have Bed Bugs
Dealing with bed bugs can feel like a nightmare. The first thing you should do if you encounter them is to remain calm. Panicking won’t do any good, and you could accidentally spread the bugs around your home.
The first thing you need to do is figure out how bad the infestation is and locate areas with visible signs of bed bug presence. Once you’ve done that, you need to handle each area separately and carefully.
Bag-Up Bedding
Get a few thick trash bags and bag-up all of your bedding. Sheets, pillows, comforters, everything should go into an airtight bag or container. Doing this isolates the bed bugs from the greater environment, allowing you to deal with them at your leisure.
Vacuum Everything
The majority of the bed bugs that may be crawling around your home can be defeated with a hot vacuum. However, because bed bugs can squeeze into incredibly tight spaces, quite a few may escape the wrath of your vacuum.
Pick Your Poison
You can use a home remedy or an over-the-counter pesticide, whatever you feel comfortable with, but it helps to have some kind of pesticide available to help fight the tough fight. Be aware that some insecticides may stain fabrics or porous materials!
If All Else Fails, Find Help
If the depth of the infestation is causing you to feel overwhelmed, you may want to take a step back and call in the professionals. Doing so is the best way to guarantee a fast and efficient pest control solution, and it’s an option that won’t require you scrub, spray, and vacuum every inch of your home.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Quickly
To get rid of bed bugs quickly, you simply need to explore a treatment option that meets your budget, schedule, and preferences.
Bed Bug Treatment Options
If you’re determined to rid your home of bed bugs without outside help, you can explore chemical-heavy pesticides or take a greener route with home remedies. Each product or treatment has a different success rate, so it’s essential to understand the differences among them before getting started.
You could also choose to contact a pest control service for quick, effective treatment. Most professional teams have access to state-of-the-art equipment, and they can treat your home for bed bugs with or without strong chemicals and poisons.
Home Remedies to Get Rid of Bed Bugs
A bed bug home remedy just might be the chemical-free pest control alternative you’ve been looking for! There are several home remedies for bed bugs, and some are more effective — and potentially dangerous — than others.
Baking soda, diatomaceous earth, and borax are popular powder solutions for those with thick carpets. However, there is some debate as to whether diatomaceous earth and borax are reasonable options. You’d need to coat your floors with the stuff to cause any significant damage to the adult bed bugs, and you’d likely be breathing in quite a lot of it in the interim.
Consequently, liquid solutions like vinegar, tea tree oil, and bleach tend to be slightly more accessible. However, bleach can quickly stain and can cause damage to your skin and lungs if improperly handled. Also, tea tree oil can cause some allergic reactions in both household pets and humans, so caution is necessary.
Vacuuming and controlling your home’s temperature are some of the best home remedies. But, when remedies fail, there’s no shame in calling a team of professionals for help.
Contact a Pest Control Specialist Today!
Hopefully, after reading this bed bug guide, you’ll know how to get rid of bed bugs quickly and efficiently, should you ever have to deal with them! There are several steps that you can take to destroy their nests and eggs and ensure that they don’t return.
However, when bed bug infestations get serious, it may be time to set the home remedies aside and contact a pest control specialist. The longer you wait to reach out for help, the more time those pesky bed bugs have to take over your home.
So, don’t delay. Contact a team of trustworthy professionals today, and get rid of those bed bugs!