Bed bugs have to be one of the most annoying house pests. They leave itchy bites on your skin, and they are notoriously tough to exterminate. If you have them in your home, then you need to be absolutely vigilant in your extermination efforts. The little steps can make all the difference. So what are those little steps? Take a look.
1. Launder your clothing, drapes, and bedding.
Sometimes homeowners pay to have their spaces and furniture treated for bed bugs, but they do not address their clothing, drapes, bedding, and other soft items. If even one or two bed bugs are still hiding in these items, your infestation will come right back after your initial extermination efforts. So you need to launder these items! Wash them in hot water, which should kill the bed bugs, and then as an extra preventative measure, dry them on high heat. Bed bugs cannot survive more than a minute or two above 120 degrees F, and most dryers exceed this temperature.
2. Vacuum the corners and crevices.
Your bed bug exterminator will do their best to spray the most important areas with insecticides, but they may not be able to get into all of the cracks and crevices around your home, such as in a little gap behind the radiator or along the baseboards. Bed bugs or their eggs could be hiding here. Use a vacuum with a wand attachment to vacuum along these areas. Make sure you immediately dispose of the vacuum bag outside afterward.
3. Put a cover on your mattress.
After your pest control company comes through and treats your home, put a plastic cover on your mattress. This way, if there was a bug or two that happened to survive the treatment, they will be trapped inside the plastic cover, and they won't be able to emerge and bite you again. Any bugs inside the case will eventually die since they don't have a food source.
4. Treat inside the outlet covers.
One really common place for bed bugs to hide is behind the outlet covers, especially if there is an outlet behind the bed. Make sure your pest control company sprays behind the outlet covers. You can easily unscrew the covers with just a screwdriver.
If you take the time to complete the little steps above, your bed bug extermination efforts will be more complete and likely more effective.
to find out more about bed bug extermination, reach out to a pest control company near you.
