Inspect and clean the bed frame and headboard or footboard to eliminate any bed bugs or eggs. Encase your mattress and box spring with zippered encasements. If you can't afford to buy encasements designed for bed bugs, then any zippered encasement will work as long as you put duct tape over the whole zipper.
Bed bugs are often found in the sleeping area, especially in the mattress and box springs. A special sealed cover, called an encasement, can help control and prevent bed bugs in these areas.
Reality: Bed bugs are not attracted to dirt and grime; they are attracted to warmth, blood and carbon dioxide. However, clutter offers more hiding spots. Myth: Bed bugs transmit diseases. Reality: There have been no cases or studies that indicate bed bugs transmit diseases between humans.
Will a mattress protector stop the infestation of bed bugs? No, unfortunately they're not bed bug proof.
Be sure to purchase a high quality encasement that will resist tearing and check the encasement regularly for holes or a cover that has been pre-treated with pesticide to control bed bugs. Reduce clutter in your home to reduce hiding places for bed bugs. Vacuum frequently to remove any successful hitchhikers.
If One Room Has Bed Bugs, Do They All? Bed bugs are one of the worst pests when it comes to the spread of infestation. Bed bugs can move up to 25 feet per day, so if they really wanted to, so it's safe to say that you have a high risk of bugs in every room of your home.
Do Bed Bugs Usually Stay In One Room? Since bed bugs do not have wings and do not jump, some people incorrectly assume that they tend to stay in one room and not travel much. However, this is not true. Bed bugs move around quickly and seek any place where they can find their next blood meal (i.e. humans).
Use Insecticides That are Safe for Your Mattress
The best way to get rid of live bed bugs instantly is to spray them with an insecticide. Most of these sprays kill bed bugs on the spot. However, once the solution has dried, there's no guarantee it will still kill the remaining bugs that come across it.
If you were to add a protective covering to your mattress, any bed bugs you trapped inside may survive for up to 6 months. It is best that you wait a full year before removing the covering. The average bed bug lives for about 6 months and produces up to 250 eggs. This means that infestations only get worse with time.
Bed bugs are generally considered to be nocturnal and prefer to forage for a host and take a blood meal during the night. They also will come out in the daytime or at night when lights are on, in order to take a blood meal, especially if there were no human hosts in the structure for a while and they are hungry.
Getting Rid of Bed Bugs with Drying and Heat-Treatment
Heat is a bed bug's biggest weakness. Eggs and adults die in a matter of minutes when faced with heat above 45 degrees Celsius.
You may be thinking, can you get bed bugs from not washing your sheets? No—bed bugs have absolutely nothing to do with cleanliness levels. However, washing your sheets regularly gives you the opportunity to look for and remove any possible bed bug infestations.
Wash everything on a high temperature or sanitary cycle for at least 30 minutes. Placing everything in the dryer on the hottest setting for 30 minutes will also kill bed bugs and larvae. Immediately after you're finished putting clothing in the washer, tie up and throw out the empty garbage bag in an outdoor trash bin.
Mattresses and pillows make potential habitats for bed bugs. Pillows may also be host to bed bug eggs, making them a potential point of bed bug infestations. A possible sign that bed bugs have infested pillows may be the appearance of bites.
Avoid bringing worn items into bedrooms or placing items on furniture. Showering using soap and water is sufficient to remove bed bugs from your person.
Once the blood-feeding is complete, bed bugs may usually retreat to their hiding spots to digest the blood. Bed bugs lack the body shape and legs that are required to clamber, and they naturally prefer to live around their host, not on their skin or other parts.
Third and last, vacuuming does help you to remove bed bugs but it doesn't mean that you instantly getting rid of bed bugs. What you're actually doing is to suck up the visible bed bugs and make them trapped inside the vacuum cleaner tools.
A cluttered home provides more places for bed bugs to hide and makes locating and treating them harder. If bed bugs are in your mattress, using special bed bug covers (encasements) on your mattress and box springs makes it harder for bed bugs to get to you while you sleep. Leave the encasements on for a year.
Bed bugs ex- posed to 113°F will die if they receive constant exposure to that temperature for 90 minutes or more. However, they will die within 20 minutes if exposed to 118°F. Interestingly, bed bug eggs must be exposed to 118°F for 90 minutes to reach 100% mortality.
Light Bed Bug Infestation
Few sightings and blood stains noted if any, 1-2 caught as specimens for identification, minimal irritation from bites.
Bed bugs are nocturnal, which means they are active mainly at night. They normally bite people who are sleeping or sitting still for long periods of time. However, bed bugs will not bite every night. They only come out when they need to eat, and it could be several nights or several weeks before they need another meal.
Aerosol “bug bombs” or “fumigators” are also mostly ineffective in eliminating bed bugs. Aerosol insecticides mainly kill insects that are exposed, and out of their hiding places, not those hidden behind baseboards, in cracks and crevices of the bed, under carpet edging and in walls.
DIY treatments include high heat, bleach, alcohol, and diatomaceous earth. Rubbing alcohol, salt, baking soda, and boric acid are not effective. Certain essential oils repel bed bugs but won't kill them. Diatomaceous earth is an effective passive method of bed bug treatment.
Why a Few Bed Bugs Are a Risk. While it's possible just a few hitchhikers found their way into your home after scuttling onto a piece of luggage after a hotel stay, or clinging to an overnight guest's clothing, if you find any, there are probably more. Bed bugs are not solitary creatures, and they live in large groups.