What bedbugs look like?
One of the easiest ways to know you have bedbugs is to wake up with a rash, but not all people have an
allergic reaction to the bugs. They bite you anywhere there is exposed skin, including your face, neck, arms,
legs and body.
Bedbugs cannot fly or jump and but are difficult to detect because they do most of their work at night and
tend to hide during the day, however, there are some ways you can increase your chances of finding them
during the day.
1. Open your curtains and shades and turn on the lights. You may also use a flashlight to see in the dark
corners you will be looking in.
2. Start with the crevices of the mattress, using the flashlight to see, and raise up the flaps of material
where the mattress and box spring has been sewn together. If you have a serious infestation, you will
actually see the bugs hiding in the crevices. You also need to check for little black spots on the mattress
and everywhere you will look. These black spots are their excrement and look like someone dotted the bed
or wall with a magic marker. The eggs look like grains of rice. They leave shells of their body behind when
they molt.
3. Next look at all the corners of your bed frame. Looking for the same evidence as above.
4. Bedbugs like to hide in many places you wouldn't normally think to look. They love the tops of curtains
because of the folds in the curtains, inside wall sockets and under baseboards. You need to thoroughly
check all those areas.
5. If you have found bedbugs in any of these places, you should also know that bedbugs will bury
themselves head down in the carpet, if it is thick enough, so by brushing aside the carpet will expose some
to you. They will hide in books and bookshelves, door jams and hinges, and also anywhere there is clutter.
6. Additionally, when they feed on you at night, sometimes they will leave small spots of blood on your bed
sheets.
Now that you know for certain if you have them, there are a few things you can do to get rid of them. Bed
bugs can be extremely hard to get rid of on your own, so the first thing you might consider is having a
professional exterminator to come to your home and give you an estimate of extermination. Make sure
you choose a reputable business, and they should be able to give you some kind of guarantee that they
performed the job required of them. Be aware that this option can be very expensive.
Your second option can also get pricy, but much less so than the first option.
Things you can do to get rid of them on your own:
1. Don't throw out your mattresses; instead, buy mattress covers, one for each mattress and one for each
box spring, as well as one for each of the pillows on the bed. These should be specified as bedbug covers,
as those that are not, don't have the correct closures to trap the bedbugs inside, or keep new bedbugs
out. After doing step 3, put the covers on the mattresses, box springs, and pillows, being careful not to tear
the new covers. Bed bugs can live inside the covers for up to a year with no food, so make sure the covers
stay tear free.
2. Remove any clutter from your home that you can. Be sure that anything you throw away is marked with
the word "Bedbugs" to prevent anyone who treasures "another man’s trash" from acquiring pests.
3. Vacuum slowly the entire home, including carpets, hardwoods, baseboards, bookshelves, mattresses,
box springs, bed frames, couches, chairs, and anything else you can think of. This is not a waste of time,
and is necessary, though it will take a long time. Make sure that each time you empty the vacuum or
remove the bag that you place the contents into a small plastic bag that can be tied. A wal-mart sack
without holes works well, just double them. These should be removed from the home as soon as they are
removed from the vacuum.
4. Take down all the curtains and launder in the hottest water possible and then dry on the hottest heat
setting possible for at least 30 minutes. This will kill any bugs and the eggs that might have been on them.
5. All clothing, backpacks, and soft materials can be put through the dryer on the hottest heat setting
possible for 30 minutes to kill any bugs or eggs on them. If you take them to a laundry mat, be sure to keep
the clothes fully contained in plastic bags until you put the items into the washer or dryer, don't reuse the
plastic bags, and don't throw them into the trash there, this will prevent you giving the bugs to an
unsuspecting victim. Instead tie them all up into a single new trash bag, and dispose of it with the rest of
your bedbug trash.
6. Bed bugs can be killed by heat treating to 130 for 30 minutes, by being frozen, or by some
chemicals. Here are some ideas for that:
Use the dryer for soft items, 30 minutes at the highest heat setting is sufficient.
Buy canned air at the office supply store; this is usually used to blow clean electronics and can cause frost
bite if you touch the air. The nozzle can be used to spot treat areas such as baseboards or door frames.
Diatomaceous earth can be placed around the home. It should be pest- grade and can be purchased at your
local feed store or co-op. It causes the bugs that come into contact with it to die, in short, from
dehydration.
Some bedbug foggers can be purchased at local stores, such as wal-mart, that can be used in the
home. These fogger type pesticides are used in homes and seep into all crevices, killing the live
bugs. These should be used at night, when the bugs are more active and more likely to be exposed to
them. Also remember that all humans and all pets should be removed from the area for at least four hours
before ventilation occurs. These pesticides cost about $10-15 for three cans. It takes approximately 15
cans to do a 4 bedroom home. Large rooms require more cans. The house should be treated every two
weeks until they are irradiated because the pesticides usually don't kill the eggs.
If you do use pesticides, you should used different pesticides each time, because bedbugs adapt
quickly to and become immune to pesticides they are exposed to.
7. Additional measures you should take include:
Place bedbug traps under the feet of all beds in the home. These can be purchased at some retail stores
or bought online; also, you can make them yourself. Make sure the bed does not touch the wall and that
the covers or bed skirt does not touch the floor. This allows the bedbug traps to stop the pests from
crawling onto the bed at night, essentially cutting them off from their food source-you.
With continued monitoring, you will be able to get rid of your bedbugs, but it requires work on your part,
and dedication to the job.