Date Posted: January 8, 2020
Category: Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are some of life’s most useless creatures. Born to feed on the blood of humans, bed bugs pose no benefit to society. Even cockroaches have a use in that they help break down dead and decaying organisms. The only thing bed bugs are good at is sucking blood, hiding, and keeping homeowners up at night. If you are looking for a way to get rid of bed bugs in your Worcester home, we have some things you should know before trying to handle them by yourself.
How To Identify A Bed Bug Infestation
Before you can properly deal with bed bugs, you have to know that they are what is causing your sleeping troubles. Often times people mistake bad sleep and spider bites as signs of a bed bug infestation and will leap right into DIY without ever seeing a single bed bug. To avoid this, here are some real bed bug signs you can look for.
- Bloodstains on bed covers. These are the result of bed bugs dribbling after they have finished feeding.
- Dots of reddish-black fecal matter around the room. Most commonly, bed bugs will leave their excrement in places they hide in your home. Common locations for this include around outlets, along baseboards, or near small cracks and crevices.Tiny almost see-through eggs, inside cracks and crevices. Bed bug eggs can be found between floorboards. Use a flashlight to look for them.
- Live bed bugs crawling around. Bed bugs are roughly the size of an apple seed, small but not to hard to see. If you see reddish-brown, oval-shaped bugs crawling around your home, it’s safe to say, you have bed bugs.
- A musty odor in the air. Although this is not a direct sign of bed bugs, it can be a hint that bed bugs are around.
What Methods Do Not Work To Eliminate Bed Bugs?
There are many DIY bed bug elimination techniques that can be found on the internet. Not all of them are effective and some do not work at all. Here are a few methods, in particular, that will not effectively get rid of bed bugs.
- Essential Oils: Although there are some essential oils that are displeasing to bed bugs and might make them avoid a particular location in your home for a time, there are no natural scents that can push bed bugs out of your home. Bed bugs will likely grow accustomed to the bad smell and eventually will ignore it entirely.
- Over-The-Counter Sprays: There are many bed bug control products you can buy at the store. The first problem with these sprays is that many contain dangerous chemicals that, when used improperly or in the wrong location, can pose a direct health risk to you and your family. The second problem is that if these sprays do not completely eliminate bed bugs in their first usage, bed bugs will flee deep into cracks and crevices and can survive upwards of 5 months without needing a blood meal. They can wait out the effectiveness of sprays and return once the danger is gone.
- Gimmicks: Many other bed bug “solutions” can be found on the internet that just do not make sense. If you read about using sound or some other strange technique to get rid of bed bugs, do your research first. We don’t want you spending time and effort trying things that will do nothing to get rid of bed bugs.
Some DIY That Is Effective But Difficult
There is one way you can deal with bed bugs on your own, but some might argue that this method is too difficult to bother with. To start you have to wash all clothing, fabrics, and bed sheets in your home on a high temperature, bagging them in sealed plastic bags as they come out of the dryer. Then you have to clean your mattresses, box springs, and furniture, using a steam cleaner. This will heat and kill any hiding bed bugs lurking within. Finally, vacuum your home thoroughly, making sure not to miss a single spot. The kicker is, even with doing this, there is a chance that bed bugs will reemerge a few weeks or months after you have finished. Remember, it only takes a few bed bugs escaping into your walls for a problem to reemerge.
The Best And Easiest Way To Deal With Bed Bugs
The only reliable way you can deal with bed bugs is with professional pest control services. Here at Big Blue Bug Solutions, we have just that. With us on your side, you do not have to worry about bed bug problems reemerging, our methods ensure that no bed bug makes it out alive.
Give us a call today to schedule an inspection for your home, or to have it treated for bed bugs.
