Treat Bed Bugs

Are You Safe?

How do I get rid of bedbugs?

Oct-6-2008 By admin

I had been getting these red bumps on my arms and back, so I checked online and found out that it could be bed bugs. When I checked underneath my bed, I found TONS of bed bugs! The worst part is, I hate bugs, and I haven't even stepped into my room for over a day now. So my question is, how do I get rid of these things? Remember, its not a few of them, there are a ton bed bugs. Do I have to call pest control, or can I do this by myself at home?

Thanks

How to Kill Bed Bugs at Home
The same rules on how to kill bed bugs while traveling apply at home: vaccum your living space relentlessly, including furniture, changing the bag outside (hatchlings can wiggle through a stitch hole). Wash or dry clean everything moveable (clothes, bedspreads, throw rugs) in hottest water. If one happy couple escapes, though, it's all for naught.
Baumann points out that people pay plenty trying various home remedies that don't go so well, and recommends that you bite the bullet and foot the bill for an exterminator to begin with.

How Exterminating Works
The exterminator will have instructions regarding jobs you should complete prior to his arrival.

You may have to:
- Pile up furniture.
- Remove light switchplates (the bugs hide back there).

You may want to:
- Toss mattresses.
- Caulk wall and wood cracks (they hide there, too) — get caulk and a caulking gun at a hardware store and practice using a finger to smooth the goop flat against surfaces (easy).

Do:
- Completely strip all bedding (get to bare mattress). Craft says to fold bedding in on itself to contain the bugs; wash it or dry clean at high temps. Interesting factoid: Craft says that in hot desert areas, folks with infestations often hang bedding and clothes in the blistering sun — remember that temps over 113 kill bed bugs.
Orkin exterminators will use hot, dry steam to kill bed bugs in places you touch; chemicals are used to kill bed bugs in other spots by flushing the bugs out for steaming.

Lastly, don't open travel bags on home furniture, like beds, and store them away from furniture (like in an outside shed) and any bugs who've hitchhiked may not get the chance to move in.

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