It may shock you to know this, but vampires are not just the stuff of legend. There is indeed a nocturnal parasite that climbs into your bed and enjoys a meal of blood before dragging their engorged bodies back to their cavernous abodes.
While this may sound like a far-fetched tale from the twisted imagination of Clive Barker, most people aren’t too alarmed by the presence of the common bed bug.
Bed bugs have made themselves comfy in the bedrooms of kings and peasants alike since time immemorial. From their strongholds in the nook and crannies of furniture and deep within fabrics and upholstery, these minuscule creatures will make nightly forays to drink the blood of their sleeping victims.
Most often, a bed bug presence can be identified by the neat rows of bite marks left by these meticulous little eaters. This is a particularly dangerous hunt for the bed bug, and many will not make it back alive. But a single meal can last a bed bug for many months, so they risk their lives. After they have eaten their fill, the engorged bed bug must make the return journey. Another way bed bugs can be identified is the small brown spots they leave on the sheets when they are squashed by the sleeper.
Bed bugs can be a particularly difficult menace to eradicate from your home. But if you suspect that you may be under attack, here is some general information that can improve your chances of success in your war on these vampires.
Prevent the Spread
Once you believe that bed bugs could be affecting your home, you must begin locking down all transport across the home. Bed bugs are hitchhikers and survive by traveling in the clothes, shoes, bags, and personal belongings of the humans they encounter. So, begin zeroing in on the infected areas of the home and lock them down.
Debugging Bedding
The bedding is where most bed bugs will be located, so strip all bedding from the bed. Place it in plastic bags, and take it directly to the washing machine, where it will be washed with the hottest water possible. Then it can be placed in the dryer on the hottest and highest settings possible. Place cleaned bedding in clean areas of the home.
Clothing
Clothing provides bed bugs with another way to get from place to place and should also undergo the same heat treatment process as the bedding. Do not place anything that could be infected in a room that might not be infected, as this is the best way to hasten contamination.
Other Items
In addition to the clothing and bedding, there will be many items in the room that can also be infected with bed bugs or eggs. Electronics, books, picture frames, stuffed animals, and a host of other items will also need to be cleaned in due order.
There are two ways to debug these items.”
Heat treatment — some items can be placed in the washing machine. Others, like certain toys and waterproof frames, can be dipped in boiling water. Hot water for a long enough time will eliminate bed bugs.
Chemical Treatment — you can also try to poison these little buggers, but they have become resistant to most toxins over their eternity living with humans. Special toxins will have to be selected by your local bed bug “Van Helsing”, who will know exactly what will be effective on the local populations.
Steam Cleaning — another effective way to treat bed bugs in your home is with steam cleaning. The high temperatures of water billowing through crevices, fabrics, and upholstery are more than enough to wipe out a bed bug hideout.
Clean the Room
The entire room will need to be cleaned as well because the tiny bugs will hide in floorboards, dressers, carpets, and upholstery. Steam cleaning is one of the best ways to clean the rest of the room. Mattresses can be placed in large plastic bags and filled with toxins that will kill the bed bugs and leave no residue that would affect the human. This is a fairly precise task, and your local pest removal experts can provide you with more information on how this can be done.
Declutter
A cluttered home is always more susceptible to bed bug attacks and will better support its population. With this in mind, follow up your bed bug elimination plan with regular deep cleanings and sanitization. When you keep things clean, and in order, bed bugs are less likely to thrive.
Final Notes on Bed Bug Treatment
After you have completed the task once, you may have reduced the population to undetectable levels. Be on the lookout for any signs of their return. You may need to repeat the bed bug elimination process a few times before they are finally gone for good.
