Content

• Steps
• Advice
• What you need

The feeling when you find bed bugs in your home is terrible. It's hard to sleep well knowing these tiny bugs crawl all over the place. Although it is certainly difficult to eradicate, bed bugs are relatively harmless to some extent. Bed bugs do not spread diseases such as ticks or mosquitoes unless you are allergic and are not in danger. Although bedbugs are formidable, rest assured they won't harm you, and there are steps you can take to deal with them.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Take the first steps

1. 

   Notify the landlord or manager if you are a tenant. Skip this step if you live in your own home. If not, call the landlord or manager right away. Depending on where you live, they may have to pay or assist with the cost of getting rid of bed bugs. Even if they don't pay, you need to let them know what happened in their home.
   • Although not very common, bed bugs can spread to other floors of buildings. If you live in an apartment building, contact the management to let them know there is a problem in the building.
   • Leave the furniture in place and do not rush. If you remove furniture from a room that is infested with bed bugs, you will only spread the bed bugs. You have a high chance of saving all furniture.

   Advice: Bed bugs are a fairly common problem, and unless you're working with a first-time tenant, they'll get used to it. The appearance of bed bugs has nothing to do with hygiene and is not your fault. Most homeowners know this and will sympathize with you.

   
   

2. 

   Quickly move the pet carrier away from your bedroom. If you have a dog or a cat but have not seen them scratch a lot, they may not have been attacked by bed bugs and have not been infected with bed bugs (bed bugs prefer humans and rarely cling to pets). However, they can be transferred to your pets by the time you handle the mattress. Keep the cat's kennel on the other side of the house to keep them safe.
   • You only need to do this until the problem is resolved. You may have to endure whining for a few nights, but that's better than letting the bugs jump on them!

3. 

   
   
   Get an extermination service quote to see if they can treat bed bugs professionally. In the US, this service costs around $ 1,000-2,500, depending on the severity of the problem. You can of course treat the bedbugs yourself, but hiring a professional service will be much easier. Ask for prices at 4-5 places to see where for the best price.
   • If you rent a service, they will come over to your home, check the contamination level and treat the house for you. You may need to find another place to sleep for 1-2 nights.
   • This is the only effective solution if the whole house is infested with bed bugs. It can be difficult to self-control bed bugs in an "amateur" way when they are everywhere in the home. Fortunately, bed bugs usually appear only in bedrooms.
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Method 2 of 3: Treat mattress and linens

1. 

   
   
   Cover bed sheets, blankets, and infested clothing in a sealed garbage bag. Find a few laced garbage bags. Tuck sheets, blankets, and all infested clothing into the garbage bag and tie it tightly. Use as many bags as needed and take them to the laundry room.
   • Do not worry about bed bugs spreading in the laundry room if you have tightened your bag and did not throw your clothes around, or throw your clothes straight into the washing machine.
   • You can leave clean clothes hanging. Sure, you must wash everything in the drawer, but this can be done later, as bed bugs and bedbug eggs are not a concern at the moment.
   • With an average bedbug infection, about 70% of the number of bed bugs will be in bed mattresses. If an extermination service hasn't arrived immediately or you're still thinking about it, you should at least clean your mattress before going to bed so you can get a good night's sleep.

2. 

   Wash and dry clothes, bed sheets and blankets on high heat. Take the linen bag to the washing machine, and put everything in high heat wash with soap. When washing is finished, put it in the dryer on the high temperature. Wash as many batches as necessary. This step will kill any bed bugs and their eggs in clothing, blankets, and bed sheets.
   • Do this for all the clothes in the drawer for 1-3 days.

3. 

   Place items that cannot be washed in a plastic bag and freeze for 4-12 days. If there are non-washable items or liners, place them in a sealed plastic bag and freezer as far as possible. Keep these items and small items in the freezer. If the temperature in the freezer reaches -18 degrees Celsius, you can leave the bag there for 4 days. If not, you should leave it for about 8-12 days.
   • This applies to teddy bears, jewelry accessories or small fabric items that cannot be washed in the washing machine.
   • The bed bugs will be frozen to death, and the eggs inside the item will not hatch.
   • Freeze in batches if you do not have a large freezer. Make room for space by taking ice out and eating frozen foods.
   • This step is really important only for items near the bed. Fabric items that are left on a table or elsewhere may not be infested with bed bugs.

4. 

   Vacuum mattresses, bed frames, spring frames and carpets to get rid of any bed bugs. Empty the garbage bag in the vacuum cleaner, then use the tip of the small tube attached to the machine and vacuum everything. Vacuum each mattress surface 2-3 times. Vacuum all sides and bottom of the bed frame. Next is vacuuming the floor. Push the brush tip on the carpet 2-3 times. This will get rid of any adult bed bugs crawling around the bed.
   • If possible, use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter or with a trash bag. Bed bugs will not be able to crawl out of the garbage bag once they are sucked in.

5. 

   Cover the mattress before sleeping. After vacuuming everything, insert the mattress into a plastic cover designed to prevent bed bugs. Cover your mattress and change into new bedding. You'll sleep better when you are confident that the chance of getting a bed bug bite tonight is extremely low. Some aphids can get in, but you probably won't have to wake up with the bite on.
   • Find another mattress cover to cover the spring frame if your bed has springs.
   • Store your laundry in a clean area of ​​the house where you usually hang out and do not have bed bugs to keep items separate.

6. 

   Place aphid traps along the legs of the bed to catch wandering bed bugs. Bedbug traps will attract the bed bugs and prevent them from crawling around. Buy 4-8 traps and place them on the legs of the bed. These traps will prevent bed bugs from climbing into bed while you are sleeping. When you wake up, check the bedbug traps to see how many bed bugs you are dealing with and throw them in the trash outdoors.
   • This will also help you figure out how much the infestation is. The more aphids that are trapped, the more serious the problem is.

   Warning: Be clear, you have not completely solved the problem. All you have to do is clean the mattress and remove the adult bed bugs in the surrounding area. Some bedbug eggs or adult aphids may still be hiding somewhere.

7. 

   Repeat this process on the day you will treat all the bed bugs. These will prevent the bed bugs from crawling into bed, but your job is not done here yet. When you are ready to get rid of the bugs for the last time, repeat all of these steps. Vacuum everything, wash dirty clothes and freeze everything you've left behind. This will make it much easier to get rid of the rest of the bedbugs.
   • The only thing you don't need to do again is the upholstery and spring frame. Once you have wrapped these things, you just leave them there, no need to remove the mattress to vacuum again.
   • If you've completed all the steps above and don't have to sleep overnight or wait for the extermination service to arrive, you don't need to do it again.

8. 

   Use a steam cleaner to clean walls, furniture and carpets at a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius. On the day you plan to get rid of the bugs for the last time, use a steam cleaner to clean everything. Fill the machine with water and turn it on to maximum heat to clean all bed frames, floors, baseboards, carpets, and wall cladding only. This step will kill any bed bugs that come into contact with the steam.
   • Use a steam cleaner to clean high-risk surfaces for bed bugs to kill any bed bugs and bedbug eggs that come in contact with the hot steam.
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Method 3 of 3: Kill bed bugs

1. 

   Buy silica aerogel or diatom soil to kill bed bugs. When it comes to bed bug killers, there are two safe options for you. Silica aerogel is an insecticide that by enveloping all aphids that come into contact with the drug and suffocating them. A more common option is diatom soil, a powder that is toxic to any bedbug touches. Both are safe for indoor use.
   • Organic or “natural” therapies like tea tree oil or homemade solutions are not effective against aphids.
   • Insecticidal “bombs” or nebulizers are generally not recommended to kill bed bugs. These convenient therapies are attractive, but bed bugs are very good at hiding in the cracks that cannot be sprayed by the spray.

   Warning: You must wear gloves and a respirator when working with pesticides, but these powders will not be toxic if you are not immersed in them. You just need to read the product label carefully and follow the instruction manual to be safe.

2. 

   Spray all cracks, baseboards, drawers and carpets with insecticide. Cut off the nozzle of the pesticide bottle and quickly spray it below the baseboards, around the bed frame, inside drawers, and around corners of the house. If there are cracks on the wall, pump the powder inside. Treat all hidden and difficult to reach areas and let the powder work.
   • You may want to just spray the entire house, but this is not more effective than just spraying on targeted areas where bed bugs often crawl around.

3. 

   Leave the pesticide in place for at least 10 days before smoking it. You should let the drug stay for at least 10 days, which is about enough time for the eggs to hatch. However, if you can leave it for as long, the better. When you are sure that the bed bugs are gone, you can vacuum up with a vacuum cleaner, put your clothes back in the drawer and rest assured that the problem is resolved.
   • If you have been bitten again or found new ones, you need to repeat the whole process. You may need to do 2-3 times to completely get rid of the bedbugs.
   • If the bedbug continues to re-infect even though you've treated it many times, you may have to bite your teeth and get an extermination service.
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Advice

• Bed bugs cause fear, but they are basically just that. They pose no significant risk to your health, so you don't have to worry about getting sick while you sleep.

What you need

• Garbage bag
• Washing machine
• Dryer
• Sealed plastic bag
• Pesticides
• Aphid traps
• Gloves
• Face mask