Bed bugs can be the most annoying pests you can find yourself afflicted with. They can enter your home burrowed in clothing and other household items. The bed bugs come out at night and feast on your blood, leaving itchy welts on your skin. Having bed bugs can cause a social stigma as well, as people tend to avoid infested people and places for fear of getting the pests themselves. Getting rid of bed bugs should be left to professionals as anything that a do-it-yourself exterminator might use can be ineffective at best and dangerous at worst. Currently, the top three bed bug control methods include thermal heat remediation, freezing bed bugs, and using insecticides. Of the three methods, thermal heat remediation is seen as the most effective and long lasting. Here are important questions to consider when researching bed bug control methods.
Frequently Asked Questions ( 8 ) Add a Question
- Bed bugs are reddish-brown creatures around a quarter of an inch in length. They enter residences and other buildings hidden in clothing, luggage, and furniture. They reside in cracks and crevices during the day and come out at night to feast on blood.Best Answer
- In times past, bed bugs were considered a novelty in North America and Europe. As near as scientists can ascertain, the pests have evolved to resist some of the standard pesticides that have been used to control them, making them difficult to exterminate.Best Answer
- Bed bugs have a fairly gruesome method of reproduction. The male stabs the female in the abdomen and injects sperm. The female then can lay as many as 300 eggs which are then fertilized and go through several stages of development as nymphs before becoming full-grown bed bugs.Best Answer
- While some people will not notice if they are bitten, often bed bugs will leave an angry, itchy welt that causes a great deal of irritation. Some people are allergic to bed bug bites, meaning they will need medical attention immediately. The itching that accompanies the bites can lead to secondary skin infections.Best Answer
- The exterminator will place heaters around the infested areas, raising the temperature in the room to about 135 degrees. Fans will be used to spread the heat to cracks and crevices where the bed bugs hide. The method is chemical free and does not involve a lot of moving around of clothing and furniture.Best Answer
- Extreme cold will also kill bed bugs. Many exterminators do not use this particular method, which involves the use of liquid nitrogen sprayers or some other ultra-cold devices. Moreover, some bed bugs can last for many hours or days under extreme cold, unlike the use of heat, which is easy to apply and kills within hours.Best Answer
- Some exterminators use chemical sprays, and some do-it-yourself products exist on the market. But, as mentioned before, many bed bugs have developed a resistance to pesticides. No guarantees exist that pesticides will reach all of the cracks and crevices where bed bugs might hide. You usually have to get rid of a lot of clothing and mattresses that have been infested. And chemicals are dangerous, especially for children and small pets.Best Answer
- If you suspect you have been in a place that might have bed bugs, immediately strip off your clothes and put them in a sealed plastic bag. Put any items you may have in another sealed bag. Wash the clothes immediately in hot water and dry on the highest heat. Small items like purses can be placed in the freezer for several days to make sure that any pests they carried are killed.Best Answer