Bed bugs are not considered to be dangerous; however, an allergic reaction to several bites may need medical attention.
Bed bugs are a public health pest. While bed bugs have not been shown to transmit disease, they do cause a variety of negative physical health, mental health and economic consequences. Some of these effects include: Allergic reactions to their bites, which can be severe.
Bed bugs are hard to control, but you can do it! Using insecticides alone to control bed bugs is not the best solution. Cleaning, getting rid of clutter and taking a few other steps are just as important as applying insecticide when you're trying to control bed bugs.
Leaving bed bugs untreated will exacerbate the problem, as infestations do not die out on their own. With a single bed bug laying as many as 200 eggs in a lifetime, an untreated infestation can grow rapidly. The larger the infestation, the more susceptible you are to bed bug bites.
If you've already gone inside your home, use a steamer to clean the carpets, drapes, linens, and mattress. Wrap your mattress in a bed bug proof cover. Place bedbug interceptors on the feet of your bed for a few nights just to be sure you killed everything.
No, you do not need to throw out your mattress after a bed bug infestation. In fact, this is discouraged entirely. Disposing bed bug infested items can be seen as reckless, as it could contribute to the infestation spreading.
Despite the statistics, the chance of encountering bedbugs in any given hotel room is “pretty darn unlikely,” said Michael Potter, a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky. Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure you don't run into bedbugs on your trip.
Among the popular and most effective DIY home treatments for bed bugs is rubbing alcohol. You can dilute it and place it a spray bottle and simply spray the infested areas. The alcohol will kill bed bugs almost immediately. It also evaporates quickly, leaves no traces or bad smells.
Bed bugs are not something to be overly scared of, nor is it the end of the world if you find them in your home. True, they are difficult pests to deal with. But they are manageable. It isn't an impossible job to eliminate them from your home, and they don't transmit diseases when they bite.
How can bed bugs get into my home? They can come from other infested areas or from used furniture. They can hitch a ride in luggage, purses, backpacks, or other items placed on soft or upholstered surfaces. They can travel between rooms in multi-unit buildings, such as apartment complexes and hotels.
Bed bugs are not known to spread pathogens through their bites. Bed bug bites can be itchy and stressful. Do not squish a bed bug as it will release the blood and any pathogens it may be carrying.
Bed bugs are easy to kill using heat. Their thermal death point is reported to be 114-115° F. Putting infested clothing in a hot dryer is an excellent way of killing bed bugs and their eggs. Heat can also be used to kill bed bugs and their eggs in furniture and carpeting.
Do Bed Bugs Usually Stay In One Room? Since bed bugs do not have wings and do not jump, some people incorrectly assume that they tend to stay in one room and not travel much. However, this is not true. Bed bugs move around quickly and seek any place where they can find their next blood meal (i.e. humans).
Panic associated with bed bugs include throwing away all furniture, spraying general pesticides in the bedroom and/or refusing to travel to any place, by any means, at any time. Please do not panic! Panic can make the situation worse.
Mattresses and pillows make potential habitats for bed bugs. Pillows may also be host to bed bug eggs, making them a potential point of bed bug infestations. A possible sign that bed bugs have infested pillows may be the appearance of bites.
Often a great indicator of how long an infestation has been around is the number of adult bed bugs present. Generally it takes at least seven weeks for a bed bug to grow from an egg to an adult, so there should be no new adults from eggs during that period.
Tell someone!
Don't keep this to yourself. Yes, it can feel intimidating telling someone about an issue you might feel embarrassed about, but the relief of bringing someone into the experience of this issue can be a huge help and can take away the sense of isolation often incurred when someone has bed bugs.
Heat Treatment – If your main concern is killing bed bugs fast, heat treatment may be a good option for you. Heat treatments can kill bed bugs in one day by a licensed pest control company. The affected room is heated to between 135°F (57.2°C) and 145°F (62.7 °C).
Diatomaceous earth is a great chemical-free option for getting rid of a number of pests, including bed bugs. This natural powder contains properties that can dehydrate bed bugs, absorbing their fat and oil, and killing them dead as a doornail. Spray or sprinkle in infected areas and allow it to sit for at least a week.
Most people believe that you get a bed bug infestation if your house is dirty, however, this is not the case. The truth is that bed bugs can make their way into any home, regardless of how clean or dirty your house is. To get bed bugs in your home all you have to do is to come in contact with them.
The first clue suggesting that you may have a bed bug infestation is often the presence of itching bites. However, bites reactions are quite variable and may not be due to bed bugs at all. Be aware of the other signs that bed bugs leave behind: fecal spots, molted skins, and aggregations.
They are visible to the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are usually brown in colour. When filled with blood, their colour ranges from red to dark brown. They are oval in shape and about the size of a flattened apple seed, 4 to 7 mm in length.