subject: Getting Rid Of Bed Bugs [print this page] It is doubtful that you grew up with bed bugs and the chances of you having come across one over the last fifteen years is still fairly slim, but the chances are increasing. In some parts of the world's inner cities, the occurrence of bed bug encounters has risen by up to 100% per annum since the year 2000. Another survey says that of 700 hotels surveyed, a quarter of them had problems relating to bedbug infestation.
The key problem with bed bugs is their detection. Not everyone gets a reaction to bed bug bites and if they do, it can take up to nine days to develop. That means that you could easily blame a motel for the infestation, when you were bitten thousands of miles away on a different continent.
This can be a real difficulty if you travel a great deal. Then there is the fact that bedbug bites are not easily discernible. There is no red mark in the middle of the swelling as with mosquito bites, but they are frequently in rows of three, just like flea bites.
The good news is that although bedbugs are capable of transmitting human diseases, they never have done so far to now. However, it is a terrifying possibility, if it ever were to take place.
The bad news is that they are hardly affected by normal domestic pesticides. This is because bed bugs have become almost immune to the average insecticides available on the shelf in your superstore. Bedbugs also have a waxy top coat, which inhibits contact insecticides from being totally efficacious in killing them.
Therefore, the most effective bedbug killers endeavor to scrape off this waxy top coat. Some bedbug sprays do this by including powered glass or powdered silica, which attaches itself to that waxy coat. As the insect wriggles itself into thin cracks, the powder abrades the wax. This then allows the insecticides to do their work. The downside of this methodology is that it will take quite a few days to get rid of them.
Professional bedbug exterminators use steam to eradicate an infestation these days. This is because no stage of the bed bug's life, egg, nymph or adult can survive temperatures above 45c. If you want to try getting rid of your bedbugs yourself, you could hire a wall paper steam stripper or buy a hot air paint stripper. These will generate a temperature sufficient to destroy bedbugs.
The places where bedbugs like to hide are behind loose-fitting skirtings and architraves, in cracks in plaster and behind tears in wall paper. Their number one favourite of all time though is inside a ripped or frayed mattress. They like to be as close to their hosts as they can, which is something to bear in mind, when you go looking for bed bugs' hiding places.
The other method of solving your bed bug problem is to call in the experts. This is also the best, if the most expensive, method of doing it, but at least you will know that your bedbug problem is over and you should get a guarantee too.
