Bed bugs are very resistant and invasive blood-sucking insects. They can integrate the house by buying a mattress or returning from vacation, especially by plane. Here are 5 tips to get rid of these annoying little bugs and their recognizable bedbug bite.
Summary
bed bugs
They are small insects, resembling wood bugs, green or brown. These are flatter but they have the same shape. They only measure 4 to 7 mm in adulthood. We see them only rarely, because they flee the light.
They are haematophagous parasites (Blood as only food). Bed bugs don’t fly she walks on the ground and the walls like an ant. The female lays white eggs from which emerge small larvae of 1 to 2 mm about 15 days after laying.
In bed bugs, both male and female bite. They bite their prey, inject saliva which anesthetizes and liquefies the blood, as the mosquito does, and sucks in their meal. The bitten place can itch a lot. It is recognized by the bed bug bite and the droppings it leaves behind. Small heaps of black substances litter the corners of the bed, they are balls of digested blood.
Also read: How to get rid of ants in a house?
How to get rid of it?
Once we are sure to be confronted with bedbugs, we must use the drastic measures to destroy them. The authorized insecticide products are not strong enough to overcome them, those that work are used by specialists. Only the mechanical disinfection. We roll up our sleeves:
Beds and curtains
Bedbugs love the bed for the good reason, that they are attracted by the heat, and that our 37°C suits them perfectly, moreover, we serve as a pantry. But they are not satisfied with the mattress and sheets.
As they can abstain from eating for a long time, up to a year and a half if necessary, they take the opportunity to go for a walk in the house and lay eggs everywhere. We have to check the beds, but also the curtains all the way up. The vacuum cleaner is a very good solution, provided the bag or dust is discarded immediately after use. Close the trash can and throw it in the dumpster as soon as possible.
If you have a chimney you can burn the vacuum bag, the bedbugs will be killed. The vacuum cleaner does not remove everything, some eggs or insects may remain attached to the fabric, in this case, pass a special sticky roller. What remains will thus be eliminated. This work must be carried out before decontamination by professionals for example.
It is rare that our mechanical work for bedbug treatment is enough to eradicate bedbugs from the house if the infestation is important.
Wash the laundry
Wash the sheets from 60°C, bedbugs are resistant to lukewarm water. Attention, if you regularly wash your laundry at 30 or 40°, you could contaminate it with bedbugs that have taken their ease under the drum. To be sure you don’t have bed bugs in your washing machine, clean the filter and run the machine empty, at a very high temperature. No need to wash delicate laundry if you have any doubts about its contamination, you risk re-infesting the washing machine.
Freeze laundry
If you have a big freezer, put your laundry in a bag (trash can or other), close it, and put it in the freezer at -20° or more. Leave it overnight, bedbugs can’t resist this cold. Eggs and larvae will also be eliminated. You can then check whether your laundry was infested or not. If it was, machine wash it at the heat you desire. You can do the same for curtains that cannot be washed too hot.
Freeze your suitcase as it is when you return from vacation, if there were no bed bugs at your vacation spot, there might have been some on the plane. Arrived at the car, put the suitcase in a large garbage bag, (remove the toilet bag beforehand) you will only open it after a night of freezing. It is better to prevent than to cure, and therefore, freeze for nothing rather than find yourself in 15 days invaded by bed bugs. If you don’t have a freezer, leave the laundry or the suitcase in the bag, in the basement, garage or in the garden shed for 3 weeks. You will be sure, if you do not see any bugs, that your suitcase, your laundry is healthy.
Clean thoroughly
As indicated above, even if a company is then called upon, one must first clean as well as possible to prepare the ground and be sure to eradicate this infestation. The beds, the curtains and the linen have been cleaned as well as the washing machine, there remains…everything else.
- The paintings allow you to shelter from the light.
- Radiators in winter are a haven of peace and warmth, bed bugs love them as long as they are not too hungry.
- Skirting boards and floorboards are real friends of bedbugs. Inaccessible to a broom or even often to a vacuum cleaner. One more reason to call professionals.
- Cupboards, linen cupboards, cupboards, sofa, armchairs, chairs with slabs, you have to think of everything, vacuum, clean, wipe with a cloth, sticky roller… but during this time, bedbugs can move around, hide under the seat of the chair, the table, under the rug…
Hire a disinfection company
We cleaned as best we could, but depending on the initial infestation, we are aware that these more than resistant little beasts may still be in sufficient numbers to reinfest the whole house. If the infestation was less, you can wait 15 days to see if you managed to dislodge them all.
Bed bug treatment professionals are the only ones authorized to use products that can really get rid of bed bugs, but also flies, fleas… cockroaches. Their insecticides are very strong and kill most insects, but not bedbugs. To annihilate these more than resistant insects, you have been given the solution, the cold. And it is precisely by the cold that the professionals of the disinfection company will overcome bedbugs. Liquid nitrogen will destroy 100% of individuals, larvae and eggs. They will also use a professional vacuum cleaner with very high suction to dislodge vermin.
Read also: How to get rid of flies in a house?
