Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 4: Identifying the signs of a bed bug infestation
• Part 2 of 4: Finding the bed bugs
• Part 3 of 4: Exterminating and controlling bed bugs
• Part 4 of 4: Preventing bed bugs in your home
• Tips
• Warnings

Bed bugs were once a global scourge and a public health hazard, but their numbers plummeted in the mid-twentieth century. Today, the bed bug is on the rise again, as it has become resistant to widely used insecticides. Bed bugs are real world travelers and are easy to carry in luggage, clothing and furniture. To get rid of bed bugs, you must respond immediately at the first sign of an infestation with a combined approach of prevention, cleaning and chemical treatments. Bed bugs can be very persistent, so you will need a lot of persistence to fight them.

To step

Part 1 of 4: Identifying the signs of a bed bug infestation

1. Recognize the signs of a bed bug infestation. You probably know you have bed bugs if you have a rash that looks like mosquito bites. They often develop at night, but if it is a very large plague you can also get them during the day. A bedbug bite swells and spreads, unlike that of a mosquito. The bites can also line up and cause a burning sensation. A mosquito bite just stays around and looks neater.
2. Watch for other signs of bed bugs. You should also look for the bed bugs themselves, and the light brown skins of the pupae (young bed bugs). Often you will see dark spots from dried feces (blood) along the seams of the mattress, or wherever the bed bugs are. It may stink a bit like spoiled raspberries or dried blood.
3. Don't let the name bed bug fool you. Bed bugs can be anywhere where people sit or lie. You can find them under desks at school, on benches in restaurants, on computers in the library, in chairs, hospital beds, in curtains or on the walls of shops. Just like in carpets. You only have to walk close to a wall where bed bugs are and take them home. Bed bugs can hold on to dust well. Transport hubs such as airports, train stations or bus terminals are also breeding grounds where you should be careful.
   • They can also cling to curtain rails, air conditioners, fans, and even the inside of electronics.
4. Don't believe the stereotype that bed bugs only occur in dirty homes and communities. Bed bugs are also found in many affluent communities and households. A business trip can also be the start of a bed bug infestation.

Part 2 of 4: Finding the bed bugs

1. Take your bed apart and put the parts on one side. The transparent fabric on a box spring must also be removed for proper inspection and treatment if necessary. Look closely for cracks and holes in the frame, especially if it is made of wood (bed bugs like wood and fabric more than metal or plastic).
   • It is difficult to treat a mattress and box spring properly, so unfortunately contaminated parts sometimes have to be thrown away.
   • You can also put a special mattress cover around the infected mattress that bed bugs cannot escape from so that you starve them. Then you do not have to buy a new mattress or box spring, and you can inspect and treat your mattress more easily in the future. (Starving the bed bugs can take up to 400 days, so keep the cover on for at least that long.)
   • Bed bugs can also hide in items you have stored under the bed.
2. Empty your bedside tables and chests of drawers. Look at them inside and out, and turn them over so you can inspect the woodwork on the underside. Often the bed bugs hide in cracks, nooks and recesses.
3. Check upholstered chairs and couches. Pay close attention to the seams, cracks, fringes and buttons. A sofa can be full of bed bugs if it is also used for sleeping.
4. Check out other well-known places. These are, for example, under the edges of wall-to-wall carpeting (especially behind the bed and under furniture), in cracks in wooden frames and beams on the ceiling. Bed bugs like to gather in certain places, but you can also find a loner or some eggs here and there.
5. Use a flashlight. Professional pest repellants sometimes spray a pyrethrin-based rinse in cracks to see where the bed bugs are.

Part 3 of 4: Exterminating and controlling bed bugs

1. Use integrated control techniques. In this approach you combine different techniques such as preventive measures, cleaning and the use of chemicals in the areas that are contaminated.
2. Pack all contaminated objects and put them in the washing machine (at a minimum of 50ºC). Small items that cannot be washed can sometimes be disinfected by heating them. You can wrap individual items in plastic and place them in a warm, sunny place for a few days (a thermometer should indicate at least 50ºC in the center of these items). Bed bugs cannot tolerate freezing temperatures either, but you will need to expose them to freezing temperatures for at least two weeks. You can't get rid of a bed bug infestation in your home just by turning the thermostat up or down.
   • Wash all your bedding on a hot cycle, then tumble dry on the highest setting. Pack all your bedding, clothes, leather bags, mattress covers, teddy bears, etc. Wash it on the hottest cycle in the washing machine, laundry bag and all. Then put it in the dryer and set it on the hottest cycle. You can also take your things to a laundry, which has the advantage that the things are out of the house while it is being disinfected.
   • If something can't be washed, but you don't want to throw it away either (an expensive leather bag, for example), spray it with a non-toxic bug spray, put it in a well-buttoned plastic bag and leave it like that for a few months .
   • Take it to the dry cleaner to get rid of bad odors, if necessary.
3. Treat your stuff with steam. You can rent steam cleaners from a DIY store. You can also just use a kettle to which you attach a flexible hose. Steam can kill bed bugs and eggs. Spray thoroughly with steam in all corners and seams.
4. Vacuum your house. This removes bed bugs and eggs from your mattress, carpet, wall and other surfaces. Pay close attention to seams, edges and folds on your mattress and box spring, and go all the way around the edges of your carpet. Then throw your vacuum cleaner bag in a garbage bag that you close properly. It can be good to treat your carpet with steam afterwards to kill any bed bugs and eggs you have missed.
   • A vacuum cleaner with HEPA filter is very effective for this.
5. Repair cracks in the stucco and tape the edges of the wallpaper tightly so that the bed bugs cannot live there. Remove birds' nests and nests from other wild animals as much as possible.
6. Consider using an insecticide. You can spray pesticides (usually pyrethrin) into crevices and recesses where bed bugs hide. If you first clean the crevices and recesses with the vacuum cleaner, more insecticide can be added. Pesticides from a pressurized aerosol can spread the bed bugs, making them more difficult to get rid of. You can also use a powder to treat cavities in the walls and attic.
   • If the bed bugs are still there after two weeks, repeat the insecticide treatment. It can be difficult to find all the hiding places and eggs at once.
   • Beware of commercially available pesticides (often multiple treatments are required) that contain unnecessary junk and poison. Many of these resources do not even work well and are very expensive. Try other options.
7. Enlist the help of a pest control company. Experienced companies know where to find the bed bugs and have all kinds of resources at their disposal. Homeowners or residents must assist the craftsmen. It is important to give permission for the home to be inspected and treated, and any excess items should be removed first.
8. Dispose of contaminated items. In some cases, you have to throw away mattresses and box springs that are infested with bed bugs. Since bed bugs can spread throughout the home, it may also be necessary to inspect adjacent rooms and apartments. Be bold: break the items so that no one is tempted to take them home and spread the problem further.
9. Apply silica gel. Grind a few silica beads and sprinkle them all over your bedroom. Put some on your mattress, around your bed and along the walls. The silica gel sticks to the bed bug and it cannot shake it off, causing it to dry out and die. Be careful not to inhale it.
   • Diatomaceous earth has the same effect as silica gel, and can also be used in the seams of the mattress and along the edges of your box spring. The bed bugs cut themselves on the sharp microparticles, causing them to bleed to death.
   • If you have a cat, change the litter box (silica granules) every 5 days so that the hatched eggs also dry out. Keep doing this for 5 weeks.
10. Use tea tree oil for cleaning. With this oil you can eradicate bed bugs in the house.
    • Thoroughly clean your house from top to bottom.
    • Wash all of your bedding and clothing, and add a few drops of tea tree oil to your laundry detergent.
    • Vacuum and clean all your carpets.
    • Take all the beds apart. Spray them with tea tree oil.
    • Apply a special bed bug spray all over your home, both indoors and outdoors. Here's how to make this spray: Mix 500ml of water with 18 drops of tea tree oil and spray everything in your home - the carpets, beds and furniture.
    • Use rubbing alcohol to kill the bed bugs and eggs immediately. It is very cheap and easily available. Pour the cleaning alcohol into a plant sprayer and spray it directly on the bed bugs and eggs. The alcohol burns the bed bugs. You can also soak your mattress and box spring with this.

Part 4 of 4: Preventing bed bugs in your home

1. Protest against garbage on the street. Bed bugs like to hide in bulky waste, so if there is often bulky waste close to your house, they can easily enter you. It doesn't look like much for the neighborhood either, and it stinks.
2. Take precautions in your home. Buy a special mattress cover to cover your mattress and box spring. Make sure the zippers are of good quality and that the fabric does not tear easily. Don't buy a cheap version, because bed bugs can just bite through it.
3. Be careful when buying second-hand beds, bedding, and furniture. In any case, take a good look at each item before bringing it into your house.
4. Take a close look at beds and headboards when you travel. In some countries, such as the USA covers against bed bugs are mandatory in hotels.
5. Get your luggage off the ground.
6. Be alert. Shops, trucks and trains can also be full of bed bugs, so having new furniture in them can bring a pest into your home. If you know what to look out for, you can prevent a plague, or at least intervene quickly.

Tips

• You often find bed bugs in the corners of the mattress. Check those spots very carefully.
• Depending on your tolerance for bug bites, you may not discover you've been bitten until days later, when some people feel it right away.
• The bed bugs look like they are dead when they hide, but they are not. They usually don't move until you spray steam on them. Make sure to keep steaming until they stop moving.
• Apply witch hazel to your skin to relieve itching.
• Check to see if you have new bites from time to time. Then you can prevent problems in the future.
• Bed bugs usually do not show themselves during the day. They only come out of their hiding places at night.
• Thoroughly treating a house, hotel or apartment can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
• A wallpaper steamer is a cheap alternative to the more expensive steam cleaner, and often more powerful.
• Bed bugs can go without food for a year. If you want to cover your mattress with a cover, do so for at least a year.
• Also check the folds of the seams of your curtains. That is also a favorite hiding and breeding place.

Warnings

• Bed bugs can go without food (blood) for three months or more, so that is how long they sometimes stay in their hiding place.
• If you have been bitten by bedbugs repeatedly, the skin can become sensitive to the bedbug saliva, causing an allergic reaction. Do not scratch the red, itchy areas as they can become inflamed. If you think you've been bitten by bed bugs, see your doctor. He / she can prescribe antibiotics or a cream for the itching or allergic reaction.
• Bed bugs can travel long distances and survive in suitcases, clothing, cars, planes, cruise ships and other means of transport.
• Bed bugs are usually not all dead after your first attempt to exterminate them. You will have to make several attempts to kill them all, so hang on. You may have to do four to five treatments.
• Don't spread bed bugs. Don't sleep anywhere but in your own bed. If you do have to travel, buy a new suitcase and pack it outside the house, such as in your car, and only bring clothes that are really clean and have been checked for bed bugs.
• Do not use pesticides that contain toxic and hazardous substances.
• The poison of a bed bug can accumulate in the body, which can sometimes cause an allergic reaction to the place where you were bitten after years.