Deal with Bedbugs
Ugh... bedbugs - a subject no one wants to talk about. Whether they are on your carpet or bed, there's always ways to deal with them. It's not the end of the world! Just read this article and you'll find a resolution to the situation.
Contents
Steps
Killing the bedbugs
Rubbing alcohol or detergent
- Learn how to kill bedbugs. Use rubbing alcohol or water and detergent applied from a good, big spray bottle. The spray bottles from home improvement and department stores are adequate. A better buy would be to use used and higher quality spray bottles for laundry pre-treatment, glass cleaners, car interior cleaners etc.
- Alcohol - buy several large bottles of 70% rubbing alcohol and mix them with water at no less than 50% strength. Drench the ribbings of the mattresses and box springs, cracks where the walls and floors meet, and all cracks and crevices in chairs, furniture and other places.
- Alternatively, use 90% rubbing alcohol and do not dilute; saturate the seams of the mattress. This kills them instantly but do open your windows for a while.
- Detergent and water. Use this like rubbing alcohol and for cleaning of the bed before you encapsulate it. Detergent is a better cleaner than rubbing alcohol and kills bedbugs quickly.
Chemical insecticides
- Apply chemical insecticides. This is optional, because the residual effect they have is minimal at best and its toxicity to humans. Use insecticide in out of the way places or where an aerosol spray would be more effective than from a spray bottle.
Suffocation and/or starvation
- Suffocate bedbugs. After cleaning your bed especially at the corners, cover them with cheap, clear plastic bags for mattresses. Cover the box spring with the mattress cover too. Do not use the mattress cover with zippers because they cost more and especially if they have fibers in them that bedbugs can get a foothold on to climb and lay eggs. Seal the plastic bags with paper or masking tape.
- Starve bedbugs. They can't live without feeding on you, so don't let them. Estimate how long they can live without feeding in your area and make every effort to starve them. Drape a plastic sheet over your bed and chair, it will be impossible for those bedbugs to pass this barrier. Move your bed away from the wall do not allow bedbugs to reach you by letting your blanket be a bridge from the floor to your bed.
Cleaning
- Clean and organize, this is a very important. Cleaning includes washing clothes, sheets, pillows and rugs. Wipe down storage containers, and under and behind shelves and desks.
Dealing with going through a bedbug infestation
- Remember that nearly every household has bed bugs. Your neighbors or your friends might not mention it but they actually have an infested house.[citation needed]
- Always think on the bright side. Did you get bitten by one? If you did, it's not a big deal because you can cure it.
- When you kill the bedbugs, it's a done feat. Don't fuss over a small situation. Bedbugs need food and it's just that way where they live. Even if they do come back, it's simple––kill them. On the flip side, if someone is young, old, handicapped or has an allergy, they are not going to be able to deal with bedbugs. People with untreated bed bug bites, from severe infestations, have required medical attention and hospitalization.
- Read what others have done to get rid of bedbugs. There are a lot of bedbug stories on the internet. Read until the solutions become repetitious, so that you can become an expert on this subject. Ask other people about how they dealt with bedbugs. Deal with bedbugs comprehensively.
Tips
- Dealing with bedbugs comprehensively is not spending a fortune or using insecticides and other methods. Bedbug are living things, they have to eat, breathe and have weaknesses: they are slow moving, cannot jump, cannot fly and cannot climb on slippery surfaces. When mating bedbugs are big and can be easily killed, so even if you cannot spot or kill the smaller ones, they will not be able to mate because you will find and spot kill them then at that stage of their development where they will be very visible and slow moving.
- Get help if you cannot move your bed and furniture, if you cannot bend and reach in those hard to get at places when cleaning, if you are busy and can afford it. However, be wary of using insecticides for health reasons and because they have little residual effect. Bed bugs do go into electrical outlets and this is where an aerosol spray would be safer to use on after you turn off the power.
- Encapsulate them in mattresses and box springs. They are sharing the limited air with other micro organisms. They will die from the severe lack of oxygen and starvation.
- CO2 bait traps may or may not work. Bed bugs are attracted to humans by CO2, heat, and other factors.
- Be knowledgeable about bedbugs, be prepared and have a plan to deal with them in the many situations when you are away from home.
- The simplest and most economic plan: drape a big sheet of plastic over your bed (or sofa) that goes over the mattress and box-spring. Do not let your blanket or comforter become a bridge, to let the bedbugs crawl to the bed from the floor or wall. If all you did was cover your bed with a plastic sheet and cleaned everything vigorously, you would eliminate your bedbug problem. It would not be necessary to use insecticides, vapor bombs, rubbing alcohol, mattress and box spring covers, exterminators, CO2 traps, spray bottles, diatomaceous earth sprinkling, heat treatments, freezing etc. Do not let your bed come into contact with the wall day or night. Inspect everything that you place over your plastic shield.
Warnings
- If you have not dealt with or seen bedbugs, the first few nights will be sheer terror because bedbugs draw a lot of blood. Bedbugs draw a lot more blood than mosquitoes but do not spread diseases like them. Resolve to spend, a certain amount of time, each day to remedy your terrible situation.
