subject: How To Detect And Get Rid Of Bed Bugs [print this page] Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to detect in your home. It can also take a long time to detect a problem when one occurs which is why bed bug infestations are such a problem. When most bed bug problems are discovered it is two to three months after the infestation has started as they hide in tiny and narrow places like the inside seams on mattresses and behind your beds headboard, they can also live in other wooden furniture in your bedroom and house and bed bugs must be removed from all these places to deal with an infestation and prevent it from coming back at a later date.
To detect bed bugs you should look out for bites on your body after you wake up, these may look like tiny spots but you need to check to see if they are from bed bugs. You will also notice black spots around the bed and in the seams of the mattress which can either be the bed bugs themselves or their egg cases. You also need to check for black dots on your mattress which is where blood may have dripped down while you were being bitten and then dried over night. If you notice any of these things you should look into calling in a pest controller and getting them to remove the bed bugs from your house before it gets worse or infects neighbours.
When travelling you can also take measures to make sure you don't get infected or bring back an infection with you. For example you can place your suitcase in the bathtub when you get to a new hotel or motel because bed bugs can not crawl across or up slick metal. You should then inspect the room and check the headboard, the nightstands, and if you can check all wooden furniture. You should also check for the black dots and spots as mentioned earlier to see if there have been any beg bugs in the mattress and bed.
It is also a good idea once you have checked the room for bugs that you places the suitcase on a metal cot. Rather than unpacking to draws you should keep it inside your case where you know it is clean, there could easily be bed bugs inside the draws of the hotel and motel which you can not see. You should also check when you buy second hand clothes, or furniture from stores and garage sales as these items may contain bed bugs too.
What can you do to get rid of bed bugs.
Contrary to popular belief bed bugs are not caused by bad cleanliness. Infestations always start by bringing in an infected item that has bugs or eggs on it and this can happen many ways. However a lack of cleanliness will make it a lot harder to detect and then control and get rid of an infestation.
Treatment options
Getting rid of bed bugs usually involves many steps such as vacuuming, steam cleaning, hot laundering and a chemical treatment. If you call in a proper pest controller they will use a special vacuum designed to hoover up bed bugs and may have chemicals to kill them too. Bed bugs cannot survive above fifty degrees Celsius for any length of time so washing your clothes on a very high heat will kill any infestations on clothes
You can also do this to your home, if you go for a thermal treatment they will warm up your house and all items inside to over sixty degrees for a few hours. If you go for a chemical applications with insecticides these will have to be repeated every few weeks to catch any new eggs that have hatched.
In the UK Bed bugs are not listed as a vector which means there is no reporting system in place when dealing with a bed bug infestation. The UK defines a vector as any organism which is capable of transmitting disease for example fleas, ticks, mosquitoes and rodents.
Bed bugs however are capable of carrying human pathogens, but it has not been proven that they can transmit disease between humans. If bed bugs were classed a vector, landlord and tenant laws could be rewritten to help landlords treat units effectively and help tenants comply with treatment requirements.
