Bed bugs can easily turn a beautiful night’s sleep into a very long night. These tiny insects tend to bite their hosts in the wee hours of the night. To avoid any bed bug effects like bites and sleeplessness, you need to familiarize yourself with bed bug control tips. Below is your simple guide.
- Once you have identified an infestation, you must call for professional assistance given that controlling bed bugs is not usually an A, B, and C task.
- Reduce clutter to enable inspection. When doing this, be very careful not to transfer the bugs to other areas.
- Your personal items like blankets and stuffed animals must be removed, vacuumed, and bagged in a plastic bag. You can also use nuval strips when bagging especially when the infestation is serious.
- Bed bugs tend to hide near the host preferably in your bedding. Another effective bed bug control tip is dismantling the bed frames, as you will be able to expose any hiding bugs. The best way to uncover their hiding areas is by inspecting all hiding spots including drawers.
- If your mattress is infested, treat the mattress with effective bed bug sprays and cover the mattress in a plastic bag. This will deter the bugs from entering or exiting the mattress. Keep the cover on for as long as possible.
- Caulk and seal all holes especially where pipes and wires penetrate floor and walls. Also, fill cracks around moldings and baseboards to reduce harboring areas.
- All the infested garments must be laundered in hot water (120°F minimum). Alternatively, you may heat the garments in cloth dryers for several minutes when washing is not available.
- Another effective bed bug control tip is vacuuming all areas with vacuum attachment near bed stands, bed seams, rails, the nearby furniture, edges of the bed, and the carpet. The vacuuming is done to remove particles from cracks to encourage penetration of bed bug insecticide.
Have a consistent inspection and monitoring system.