Bed bugs are a nuisance for anyone unlucky enough to make their acquaintance. These small insects can travel from one place to another, one person to another easily, and are very difficult to get rid of.
How can you tell if you have bed bugs?
These small (around 5mm) insects might be hard to spot as they can hide easily due to their tiny size. Bed bugs mostly hide in the mattresses, hence their name. They also like to get into the wooden creases of the bed frames, soft furniture, and furnishing, in bed linen and clothing articles.
People can tell that they have bed bugs in the house if they notice small bloodied spots on soft surfaces or clothing. These bugs bite and will leave a little pinprick trace on the sheets or clothes.
The bed bug bites occur during the night when people are asleep, thus posing less danger to the insects. A person will notice small red swollen dots on the neck, hands, feet, and other skin areas left uncovered during the night. While these bite marks are unsightly and can become itchy, they will not cause any illness, and they will disappear in a few days.
Small brown spots are also signs of a bed bug infestation.
The main cause of bedbugs
Bedbugs are mainly brought into homes after by people that got into contact with affected items such as:
- Bed mattresses in hotels
- Shared bedsits
- Clothing items that got in contact with objects populated by these bugs
- Crowded and cluttered dwellings where the bed bugs can easily hide
- Living close to an insect-infested flat
- Bringing in old furniture that has some of these pesky bugs in its cracks
- Shared sitting areas like the cinema, trains, public transport, offices, waiting rooms
One of the most known ways to contact, transport, and then infest a room with these tiny insects is traveling and sleeping in a hotel or bedsit affected by bed bugs.
Does vacuuming get rid of bedbugs?
Bed bugs can appear in any type of household regardless of how clean it is. Vacuuming will not get rid of the bed bugs; however, it will make it easier to spot these insects when everything around is cleaned regularly.
How to get rid of bed bugs fast
Bed bug infestation is tricky to deal with. It can take quite a lot of time and money before the order is restored.
The affected room/area must be thoroughly clean and decluttered. All soft furnishing and soft materials need to be placed in plastic bags, removed from the room, and be chemically treated or entirely disposed of.
Owners should throw away the furniture infested with these bugs. Any wall treatment – covering cracks, removing and replacing the peeling wallpaper – should be done immediately after cleaning and treating the area with approved pesticides.
How to kill bedbugs
The best method to get rid of bed bugs is by using a professional pest control service. They will use the newest technologies and substances to help you get rid of these pesky bugs.
Chemical sprays and fumigation are ways to treat the afflicted rooms and furniture items. They might need to be done more than once to achieve full eradication.
One of the least invasive methods used by professionals is heat treatment. This treatment is done by raising the temperature in the affected room to over 56ºC for a certain period of time. In this way, bed bugs, their nymphs, and eggs will be killed, as well as any other potential insect intruders.
The best thing about this method is that the result is visible immediately, completely solving the infestation issue. It works miracles against bed bugs that have already been exposed to chemical agents and developed a sort of immunity against them.
Another aspect is that the heat treatment is safe to use in dwellings, where small children and vulnerable adults live. By not using harsh chemicals for the eradication treatment, the environmental impact is close to none.
To kill bedbugs entirely does take time and involves money and effort when you want to do the job yourself. Using a professional service, especially if you opt-in for the heat treatment, will be faster, safer with lasting results.
