How to Get Rid of Bedbugs From Your Home
Eradicating bedbugs can be a costly and long drawn out business and the best advice is to avoid an infestation in the first place.
This means you need to be very wary of bringing in secondhand clothes or furniture in to your home.
If you can’t resist the temptation, then make sure all clothes are thoroughly washed in very hot water or dry cleaned.
For furniture, check carefully around cracks and joints for evidence of bedbug infestation. (bedbugs can lay dormant for about a year before they need to feed again). Also fill-in any cracks in walls or power sockets as bedbugs will nest in these hidden places, too.
If you have been traveling then check your luggage for evidence of bedbugs as you unpack.
It’s also wise to de-clutter your home as this provides fewer hiding places and nesting opportunities for bedbugs.
Eliminating bedbugs
Bedbugs are now resistant to many pesticides that were previously used to eradicate them but there are still many insecticides that will get rid of bedbugs from your home.
For many people the quickest and most effective option to eradicate bedbugs is to call in a professional pest control company to eliminate them with a controlled pesticide spray.
However, it’s likely that follow-up visits will be required to keep the bedbug problem in check and this can continue for several months.
Advanced methods are now used by pest control companies to pinpoint bedbug infestations.
Bedbug detection
Bedbug detection dogs can be trained to pinpoint infestations in a matter of minutes where a human pest controller might take an hour to locate it.
If you opt for a professional pest control firm and you live in an apartment block then all apartments should be treated or the bedbugs will continue to move from one apartment to another.
The same goes for a single house. If just one bedroom is affected by bedbugs and the occupant moves to another room before the infestation is eliminated, then the bedbugs will also move to another room to hunt for a new host.
To prevent bedbugs, it's worth considering investing in a bedbug guard or bedbug monitor.
Self-help for bedbugs
Successful bedbugs self-help options include:
- Completely encase your mattresses, box springs and pillows in dust-mite covers, or specially made anti-bedbug covers, as this will prevent bedbugs.
- High-suction vacuuming or hot steam treatment of infested furniture is highly effective.
- Place all infested or suspect furniture in the sun for several days, or outside in the cold for about two weeks in winter - this will kill off the bedbugs because they cannot cope with extremes of temperature combined with no food source.
- Make sure you check your house for bats, rodents and birds. If they have come inside, or have nested in your home, they may be the cause of the bedbug infestation as they are hosts to bedbugs.
- Pesticide treatment. You can buy over the counter pesticides to get rid of bedbugs but many leave this to a professional pest control company as the most effective insecticides used to treat bedbugs are usually licensed products that can't be bought over the counter. They will usually deploy contact insecticides or IGR (insect growth regulator) solutions. Check that the pest control firm you choose is properly licensed and is affiliated to a trade/professional association. Unfortunately, there are plenty of cowboys out there.
Whichever, method you choose then be prepared to be patient and be aware that there will be many battles to win before you win the war!
On to home remedies for bedbugs >.
