How To Kill Bed Bugs
For a couple of weeks, my body became the feeding ground of bed bugs. Almost every night, bed bugs fed on my blood which saw their them surviving and me suffering from intense itch, not to mention the possibility of contracting some dreaded disease from these nocturnal pests.
There are several methods to get rid of bed bugs as listed below:
- Move out of your home for 12 months - this is known to get rid of bed bugs because they will die from not feeding on you. However, cockroaches will be the head of your home.
- Take a big piece of fabric and seal the entire mattress in it - because your mattress is sealed, no bed bugs can get in or out of it causing all bed bugs and their youngs to starve inside the mattress. They will die after 6 to 12 months or so, therefore, you cannot remove the mattress cover for that period. I tried using a large plastic sheet sealed around the mattress but it caused uncomfortable sleep and heat too. The other fact I found was that this method is good only to kill bed bugs in your mattress but not entirely since bed bugs can live just about anywhere; bed frames, cracks in the wall, curtains, etc.
- Drown them - bed bugs die easily when immersed in water. Wash all your linens, fabrics (bed sheet, curtain, clothing, etc) that is in the room.
- Sun everything - take your mattress out into the sun and let the sun ray do their magic. Remember to turn the mattress over for a good and even tan. If possible, take your bed frames out for sunning. If you are really desperate, move your furnitures out into the sun too. The heat from the sun either kills them or makes them leave.
- Use insect aerosol - Spray them with insect aerosol. I targeted the bed frames and furnitures but made one critical mistake, I used a non-water based aerosol which made my furnitures all oily and sticky. Your room will stink for a few days, trust me on this.
- Use steam to kill bed bugs - Heat from the steam makes bed bugs pop like making popcorn. And if you are wondering where to get steam to the room, I used a steam iron.
- Call for professional help - if you can afford their fees. Any pest-control company should know what to do.
Good night;
sleep tight;
don’t let the bed bugs bite.
jason said,
October 26, 2008 @ 5:26 am
Bed bugs are a pest and really hard to handle..
I once had a bed bug problem too.. So I called the professional to come out and get rid of my bed bug problems. They had stated that bed bugs do not go away in just one treatment it usually takes 3-4 different treatments so they had recommend several different products that i could purchase online and use to treat the bed bugs.
One of the products I found that was very useful is call Steri- Fab you spray it almost anywhere mattress, clothes and even carpets. Also using natural products such as rest easy is a good idea too, taking these types of product when your traveling so that you don’t bring them back with you. Also getting box spring and mattress encasements is a good idea it not only helps eliminate but help prevent them. If you try to cover your mattress and box spring with plastic the bed bugs will just chew right through it. Spraying the mattress and putting dust into the holes in the sides of the mattress before covering the infested mattress is a good idea.
joop said,
June 22, 2009 @ 3:11 am
“If you try to cover your mattress and box spring with plastic the bed bugs will just chew right through it. ”
Bedbugs cannot chew through plastic, come on.
Bedbugs can live longer than 9 months encased in a plastic covered mattress. I know I tried it and then took off the plastic 9 months later.
Melissa said,
June 30, 2009 @ 3:40 am
Bed bugs are a nightmare. This article might have been written with good intentions but it is misleading, and considering what a huge, disgusting, traumatizing head ache bed bugs are, I hate to see wrong information about them on the net. They live for longer than 6-12 months, it’s been recorded that bed bugs live up to 18 months without feeding.
Also, bed bugs do not seem to drown because they don’t breathe the same way mammals do. It’s the heat that kills them. If you want to kill them with water, it has to be hot water. Putting clothes in the dryer with the high setting on works even better. But you can’t just expect regular water to kill them, unfortunately.
Melissa said,
June 30, 2009 @ 3:42 am
Two last things: do not spray them with insect aerosol. They are highly resistant to pesticides and that is why it is absolutely necessary to call a profesionnal who knows how to deal with them. Spraying the wrong thing might actually spread them.
Don’t think that you can beat this without the help of a professional, the problem will just get worse quicker.
nick said,
December 20, 2009 @ 12:05 pm
Cleaning, spraying and searching like a bitch will not help you. Call an exterminator.
Vicky said,
December 24, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
This article is very misleading. you really need to get a professional to treat a home with bed bugs, since “bombs” really havve no effect on them. Getting a allergen mattress cover(you can get them at walmart) is a real life saver, they only cost around $30 and $6 each for the pillow covers. They feel like fabric and are easy to sleep on, just make sure you keep them on for a very long time!