Home bed bug control: tips on how to say goodbye to these pests in your home for good
The company of small, pesky beetles in the home is unpleasant for none of us. The same goes for bed bugs, a blood-sucking pest that can enter our homes completely by accident, for example, by taking up residence in a suitcase on the way back from a trip. So, can home bed bug control be effective? What can you do yourself?
Table of contents
First of all, what gives away the presence of bed bugs in a house, and where do they live?
As we have said many times in our articles and tips, to destroy an enemy, you first need to know him well. So, to predict the presence of bed bugs in your home, you can:
- You’ve noticed black or brown spots on your mattress or bedding, caused by bed bug droppings;
- Small spots of your blood on the bed linen;
- There is an unpleasant musty smell in the room;
- You find live insects or their bodies.
Where do the bed bugs hide?
Bed bugs usually hide in furniture, bedding, mattress seams, etc., close to the bed so that the sleeping victim is easily accessible.
You can learn more about bed bugs in this article.
How to control bed bugs at home?
To control bed bugs in your home, you should start by thoroughly cleaning the premises. Bed bugs don’t like cleanliness: the more stuff in the bedroom, the easier it is for them to breed and hide. So you can start with a general tidy-up:
- Sort and dispose of or give away all unwanted items, textiles, paper products (books, magazines).
- Uproot all furniture, clean inside, clean outside.
- Vacuum and mop the floors, not forgetting the skirting boards. It is also very important to shake out (or, if disposable, throw away) the vacuum cleaner bag immediately, as it may contain both bed bugs and their eggs.
- Wash your clothes, then put them in the tumble dryer, and finally put everything in sealed textile storage bags before moving them to the wardrobe or chest of drawers.
- Unmake the bed, take off all the bed linen, wash it and all the bedding – pillows, blankets. Take everything out of the bedding box and do a revision there too – what you don’t need, throw away, what you keep, wash and put in sealed bags.
- Remove the mattress from the bed, give the bed frame a good vacuum and wipe it with a damp cloth. Vacuum the mattress, spray it with a special bed bug control product, dry it thoroughly, cover it with a special sanitary mattress pad and ventilate the bedroom. You can find bed bug killers on the internet. They cost from a few to tens of euros. Special sticky bed bug traps are also available.
- Wash the curtains and do other final cleaning tasks.
- Buy or rent a steam cleaner. Hot steam will easily kill bed bugs and their eggs that settle on all surfaces and textiles. It is important to move the nozzle slowly and not to clean in a hurry. The advantage of steam over chemicals is that it penetrates better into cracks, permeates through fabrics and is non-toxic, which is very important in homes with small children and animals.
Controlling bed bugs at home – measures
Valerian tincture. Spray areas where bed bugs are hiding with tincture of valerian. The insects will quickly disperse so you can vacuum them up or remove them by other means. However, bed bug eggs will still remain.
Turmeric, cloves. It is recommended to sprinkle turmeric or clove powder on crawl spaces and other places where bed bugs hide. The bed bugs hate the smell and will move to another place where you are more likely to catch them.
Radical ways to kill bed bugs at home: some are better left untried
- Bed bugs are afraid of the cold (temperatures below 20 °C), so you can hang textiles outside on a clothesline or take them out on the balcony. Ventilating rooms and keeping windows open, as some sources advise, is unlikely to help.
- Bed bugs also dislike bright light and are most active at night. Some places advise leaving the lights on for several consecutive nights to prevent the bed bugs from approaching humans and disrupting their feeding cycle. But again, the light will interfere with your own sleep, you will be burning electricity for nothing, and the result will be very uncertain.
- Burning bed bugs with a gas burner. This is one of the most radical ways to kill bed bugs. However, this torch can only be used to burn metal parts of the furniture, and safety must be observed, because just one wrong move and the bedroom will catch fire in an instant.
Professional bed bug control
If home extermination has failed and the pests keep coming back, we invite you to seek professional extermination. We will eradicate bed bugs quickly and professionally, safely – using certified products and equipment, and we even offer a 30-day guarantee on our services!
