Summary: Dealing with a potential bed bug infestation requires careful action. This blog post offers four essential tips:
- Confirm the Infestation: Don’t rely on bite marks alone—capture a specimen to accurately identify bed bugs.
- Declutter Your Home: Reducing clutter minimizes hiding places, making it easier to eliminate bed bugs.
- Wash Items in Hot Water: Regularly launder bed sheets and clothing at high temperatures to kill bed bugs.
- Use Effective Heat Treatments: Place non-washable items in sealed bags under direct sunlight when temperatures exceed 113°F.
For complete eradication, consider seeking professional assistance.
So, you think you might be dealing with a bed bug infestation? The first and most important thing to know is that you should not jump to conclusions. Just because you are waking up with bite marks on your body, does not necessarily mean that you are suffering from a bed bug infestation.
There could be many explanations for your bite marks. Always remember that not even an exterminator or a medical physician can look at your bite marks and tell you if they are bed bug related. The only true way to determine an infestation is by actually capturing one of these bugs. Once you have captured a bug, you will have to compare it to pictures to make a proper identification.
Eliminate Clutter
If you have determined that you are dealing with bed bugs, you do not necessarily need to throw away all your items. This could get expensive and potentially spread the bugs to someone else. However, if you do have a cluttered home, you need to get rid of the clutter. Clutter just gives bedbugs more hiding places. This will make locating and eliminating them twice as hard.
If bed bugs are biting you while you sleep, then buy special mattress and box springs encasements. This will make it much harder for the bed bug to get to you while you are sleeping.
Washing and Cleaning Regularly
Bed bugs like to hide in your laundry and bed sheet. If you wash your bed sheet and clothing on a regular basis in hot water, you are going to eliminate them. This is possible because bed bugs cannot survive in hot temperatures.
Only Certain Heat Works
Yes, washing your clothes and bed sheet in hot water will kill bed bugs, but trying to raise the temperature in your home with space heaters will not eliminate your problem. In order to perform a task like this it takes very special equipment. However, if you place items like your luggage and clothes that cannot be washed in plastic bags and place the bags in the direct sunlight, this will kill the bed bugs as well.
However, you would have to live in a pretty warm climate in order for this to work because bed bugs begin to die off at 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
Turning To a Professional
While there are many treatments that you can try on your own, in the end it might be best to turn to a professional like Bed Bug Exterminator in Brooklyn.
EZ Bed Bug Exterminator Brooklyn
1681 83rd St
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(646) 760-5999