A bed bug cannot fly, they can only crawl, so chemical treatment makes the most sense. The University of A&M has shown that chemical vs. heat when properly prepared for and carried out by a proficient certified applicator both have a 97% kill rate leaving 3% behind to proliferate.
Bed bug treatments can be complicated, so trust us to assess the problem and get the job done right the first time! Even with a professional pest control company, it may take two to four treatments to completely eradicate bed bugs from your home.
The days after a treatment
If you've brought the bed bug professionals to your home, they should be gone. However, it is always good to stay watchful in the weeks following a bed bug infestation. Vacuum daily in the first few weeks.
It will take at least three weeks to be rid of bed bugs. Here's why: Preparation usually takes about a week. Insecticides often don't kill the eggs, which take about two weeks to hatch—the pest management professional (PMP) should reinspect and apply more insecticides if needed two full weeks after the first treatment.
To succeed, you must be patient and work with your bed bug exterminator. In most cases, three to four visits can solve bed bug infestations.
If One Room Has Bed Bugs, Do They All? Bed bugs are one of the worst pests when it comes to the spread of infestation. Bed bugs can move up to 25 feet per day, so if they really wanted to, so it's safe to say that you have a high risk of bugs in every room of your home.
Generally, when the itchy bites stop and you don't see further signs of bed bugs, you can be comfortable that your treatments worked, but if you're still experiencing bites or seeing bed bugs, you're probably still battling an infestation.
It's best to keep the infestation localized to as few rooms as possible. This will also make remediation easier. Do continue to sleep in your bedroom after identifying a bed bug infestation. If you move rooms or start sleeping on the couch you run the risk of contaminating these other areas of your home.
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.
Until you are able to ensure that all the bed bugs and their eggs are gone, they will continue to come back and infest your home. Bed bugs feed on your blood, so you will often see little reddish brown stains on your bed (or other pieces of furniture) and may see small bruises or bite marks on your body.
Don't panic! It can be difficult to eliminate bed bugs, but it's not impossible. Don't throw out all of your things because most of them can be treated and saved.
A professional pest control service can effectively treat bed bug infestations, and just throwing out your mattress may not solve your problem. If you buy a new mattress but don't kill the other bed bugs that are hiding in your room, they will just come back.
Bed bugs may have lived through the treatment or were not quite dead (“walking dead”). It is possible that during the application the bugs were not exposed to enough chemical or heat, causing the customer to find them 7 to 10 days after the treatment was completed.
Travel – Bedbugs may find their way onto luggage in hotels and motels with a high number of occupants. If you have stayed at a hotel or other home recently, leave bags and clothes in the garage or somewhere far from upholstered surfaces, suggests Allan Bossel, to avoid unintentionally transporting them to your home.
Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids: Pyrethrins and pyrethroids are the most common compounds used to control bed bugs and other indoor pests. Pyrethrins are botanical insecticides derived from chrysanthemum flowers. Pyrethroids are synthetic chemical insecticides that act like pyrethrins.
As bed bugs feed on warm-blooded creatures, it's only natural that they're attracted to you. Specifically, they're drawn in by your body heat, the carbon dioxide you exhale and other biological signatures. In fact, they're called bed bugs because they're often found on or around bedding.
Vacuum your mattress and floors often.
Wash all sheets, clothing, and textiles at least once a week in hot water. Use caulk to seal cracks around baseboards, electrical outlets, light sockets, and furniture, so bed bugs can't hide in them. Check for bed bugs in hotels, hostels, and guest rooms you sleep in.
Lemon (Or Any Citrus)
Like many other animals, bed bugs hate the smell of citrus plants. Citrus, particularly oranges and lemons, will smell gross to them. As a result, most bed bugs will not want to stick around this aroma for too long. There are several ways to make this work for you if you want to repel insects.
Avoid bringing worn items into bedrooms or placing items on furniture. Showering using soap and water is sufficient to remove bed bugs from your person.
The bottom line. You may be worried about getting bitten if you have to sleep in a bed with bedbugs. Although eliminating them is the best way to stop the bites, there are steps — from vacuuming and steam cleaning to wearing long-sleeved pajamas — you can take to keep bedbugs from ruining your rest.
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.
There is a chance that some bedbugs may have lived through the treatment. Your bed bug problem could actually seem to be worse after the treatment, but don't worry. It's normal to see more bed bugs, and there are clear reasons why this can happen. The pest control treatment makes them more active.
It is not normal to see bed bugs after treatment especially the same ones. If you still have bed bugs after 3 treatments it is most likely because they are coming into your home again from you frequently visiting a place that has a bed bug infestation.