Dealing With Bed Bugs

By Author: Bill Sanders
Total Articles: 3
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Bed bugs are nasty, blood-sucking creatures that need to be dealt with as soon as you realize you have an issue. The parasites are approximately ¼ inch in length once they reach full maturity. After they engorge themselves with blood, which they do in about 15 minutes, they can swell to up to three times their normal size. Bed bugs typically feed on human blood, but they can also feed on the blood of animals, such as birds and mice. They feed mostly at night when humans are asleep and they are attracted to the carbon dioxide humans breathe out. When they feed, they inject a salivary secretion to prevent clotting. The secretion can cause the person's skin to itch, swell and can even leave tiny sores. Female bed bugs can lay anywhere from one to five eggs per day and more than 200 eggs in their lifetime. They like to hide in cracks and crevices, in places like electrical outlets, behind wallpaper, between beds and base boards, and in the creases of mattresses. They can be transported into homes via furniture, luggage, clothing, bedding and even humans. Often times, people have bed bug issues after traveling and staying in ...
... hotels; even 4-star hotels. Bed bugs do not discriminate.
While it is best to handle bed bug issues by contacting professionals, there are some things that you can do to help control the problem. The number one thing that you can do is to clean up your home. Remove trash from your home and keep it nice and neat. Vacuum the infested areas/rooms thoroughly. You should use attachments to get into cracks and crevices and along all baseboards, paying special attention to the edges of the carpet. Also vacuum all around the bed, including headboard and footboard and along the edge of the bedding. Once you are finished vacuuming, dispose of the vacuum bag in a plastic bag that can be sealed. Since bed linens, blankets and other articles of clothing will not actually be treated with product, it is important to launder those items in hot water of at least 120°F. It is also helpful to then dry the garments at a high temperature. This process can also include other personal items, such as stuffed animals and soft toys. If you do not wish to put these into the washing machine, then you can also vacuum the items and put them into a sealed plastic bag for several days. Other things you may want to bag are phones, radios, laptops or other items such as this that could possibly be infested. Sometimes, bed bugs can hide in very inconspicuous places. In order to find additional hiding spots, you may want to take apart bed frames, remove drawers from dressers and desks, and turn furniture over if possible. It is sometimes helpful to stand up box springs and shine a flashlight through the fabric to expose any bugs. If there are any tears in this fabric, it is best to remove it altogether. To help control the movement of the bed begs, it can be useful to caulk cracks, crevices and holes. This can include, but isn't limited to baseboards, molding, and areas where wires and/or pipes go through walls and floors. You will also want to repair screens on the outside of your home that may have been damaged. These repairs will keep out birds and rodents that can also act as a host for bed bugs. At this point, you have done about all you can. Contact a local pest control company and let them get rid of the bed bugs so you can rest easy.
Bill Sanders is the gereral manager of a large pest control company in theSeattle Washington and Portland Oregon areas.