What Kills Bed bugs Instantly and Permanently?

Beyond having an infestation at your homeplace, it can all get worse to worst if you don’t know how you can get to control these little unwelcome visitors. What kills bedbugs instantly and permanently?

It’s always been recommendable to go for the pest control companies if you don’t have any idea on how you can get rid of bedbugs and other pests at your homespace. However, going for the pest control service option can be unfavorable to some affected subjects since it is relatively expensive compared to other control methods. 

Where do Bed bugs come from?

The rapid comeback of these little pests in the United States of America has given a vast number of Americans sleepless nights. Many people have been trying to figure out what the main cause of bed bugs in their homes is whenever they suspect an infestation. However, less than a tenth of bed bug cases called out by individuals have actually been proved to be a bedbug infestation.

It’s therefore advisable to take your time and know if it is an infestation or not. These creatures can crouch down on and into your luggage and you can end up moving them into your house unknowingly. Other than taking rides on luggage, you can easily give them a ride on second hand furniture, clothing, pillows and even mattresses as well. Make sure you inspect your stuff carefully before moving into your house. Furthermore, you can go for mattress covers and pillow covers to keep these foreigners off your property. 

What attracts bedbugs to your home?

Whether you have a neat or messy surrounding at home, all the bedbugs care about is their all-time source of food nearby i.e. any human being around. The key cause of bed bug infestations across homes is feeding purposes since these pests need blood from their host to survive.

Therefore, all you need one or two people and a bedbug or two to start an infestation. Sleepless nights and waking up to an itchy-red skin have always been the major signs of an infestation. You don’t wanna have nights like those, do you? Luckily, there haven’t been any cases of infection caused by bedbug bites yet. 

Unlike other pests like mosquitoes, these blood eaters can’t fly to their hosts or live on them. Therefore, bed bugs have to hide around the host, awaiting the right time for their feeding to come. Bed bugs are very adaptable pests since they can hide and stay unseen anywhere around ‘their meal’ for long periods to feed on blood from their hosts. However, there are more several ways bed bugs can get into your home.

Main causes of a bed bug infestation

1. Buying Used Furniture – If you buy second hand furniture without checking them, you might end up experiencing an infestation. Bed bugs could be hiding in luggage and furniture like couches, backpacks and even suitcases.
2. Guests in your home – If one of your guests has bed bugs back at home, they will most likely introduce bed bugs into your home.
3. Infested hostels, resorts, or hotels – Booking a room in a resort or hotel might end up exposing you to bedbugs if the place is infested. If you sleep in a room with bed bugs, they’ll probably sneak into your luggage and you’ll carrying them home.
4. Cross-contamination in Rooms – Due to their sneaky behavior and ability to stay unseen, these pests can travel across rooms in hotels, apartments, and other multi-unit premises.

What do bed bugs look like?

Their appearance might vary from one region to another but they have a few similarities in their species. Namely:

• Color: When fully grown, they become reddish-brown in color and even redder after feeding well.
• Size: Bed bug eggs are the pin-head sized while full-grown adults look like apple seeds in size.
• Shape: Elongated and oval-shaped body
• Wings: Bed bugs have wings but can’t fly
• Smell: They introduce a musty odor to your mattress and beddings

Signs of a Bed bug Infestation

1. Evident bed bugs in your surrounding.
2. Presence of tiny blood stains on the host’s beddings i.e. sheets, bedcovers or pillow cases.
3. Bed bug bites, bumps and welts on your skin when you wake up from your bed.
4. Rusty or Dark spots on your walls, mattress, sheets or furniture caused by bed bug excrement.
5. White bed bug egg shells, fecal spots and shed skins in their hiding places.
6. An irritative, musty odor on your beddings from these pests’ scent-glands.

How to Identify and Check for Bed bugs

These sneaky pests are highly adaptive whenever it comes to habitat selection. Bed bugs can fit in very tiny spaces usually compared to the thickness of a credit card. During the early stages of infestation, they can hide close or around the bed, close to their meal.

However, bed bugs expand their habitat and reach further as the infestation becomes bigger thus leading to overcrowding. You are therefore recommended to begin your check around your bed if you suspect an infestation. You’ll require a powerful flashlight, a magnifying lens if you can get one, and a credit card (Flat-edged object). With these objects, inspect any cracks or spaces around your bed or on your furniture. Sometimes you’ll have to detach your bed frame apart to make sure your inspection is accurate.

Where you should check for bed bugs

1. Your mattress’ seams and tufts
2. Look into crevices and cracks of your bed’s footboard, headboard, and bedframe
3. Your chairs’ or couches seams
4. Crevices and spaces between drawers and your room’s furniture
5. Check your house’s curtains’ folds
6. Inspect your room’s wallpapers, picture frames and any wall hangings around
7. Behind your wall sockets an other electrical outlets on the room’s walls

Can clothes shield you from Bedbug bites?

Too bad your clothes can’t act as a savior during this itchy and irritating moment. Waking up to several bites on your skin beneath your pajamas has been a big-time redflag for bedbug infestations. Wearing clothes to prevent these midnight terrorists from having a piece of you would only make it better for the creatures.

However, some people act as hosts for these bedbugs therefore not experiencing the biting part more compared to their partners who may get exposed to them. Reports of bed bugs in hotels, stores and movie theatres in the US has made headlines and all the people want to know is, what kills bedbugs instantly? 

Get in touch with the professionals as soon as you recognize an infestation in your homestead to ensure the whole process is undertaken with caution and profession;  thus a higher success probability. After understanding and knowing what kills bedbugs instantly, I believe the whole bedbug treatment process won’t be a bother to you anymore. 

You might also like: How to get rid of bedbugs

How to kill bedbugs and their eggs permanently- Home Remedy

1. Diagnose the infested spots

If you realize your home is infested, you would really want to work fast and get rid of the bugs before it gets late. Controlling a smaller infestation is quite easier and cheaper compared to treating a larger one. Find the spots early and take another step before things get out of hand in no time. However, small infestations can be so difficult to detect. 

Therefore, if you suspect an infestation in your homestead, search for the spots yourself or higher professional inspectors to help you do the task. Since these bugs can be too tiny even for the human eye to see, professional inspectors may come along with trained dogs to make the detection process simple. With their tiny and very narrow bodies, bugs can hide underneath curtain folds, couches, mattresses, bed-cracks and inside wood-joints. 

2. Curbing the Infestation

As soon as you’re sure you are under a bedbug infestation, find a way to keep them contained so you can get rid of them easily. The best and recommendable way to trap these bloodsuckers is by using your vacuum cleaner. Run your vacuum on the possible hiding spots including your bed, carpets, couches and even electronics. Collect and seal the vacuumed loads into a plastic bag and dispose. Make sure you thoroughly clean your vacuum before putting it back into the store.

Any infested clothes or linen should be kept inside plastic bags as they wait for washing. Put a very high temperature on your washer as well as dryer. Unwashable items should be left in the dryer for at least 30 minutes at very high temperatures to get rid of the bugs.  Anything giving you a hard time cleaning or treating should be labeled ‘bedbugs’ and thrown away.

3. Prepping for bedbug control

In advance of starting the treatment process, it is advisable to perform a small prep to make sure the step is keenly executed and the chances of success maximized. Make sure all the hiding spots have been dismantled. Thoroughly clean all your clothing, carpets, curtains, couches and even linens before hopping in to the treatment process. Avoid mixing items from an infested room with those from other cleaner rooms to avoid spreading the bugs around the house. Throw away any disposable and infested items in the house. Seal any cracks on your furniture and keep the loose wallpaper glued to the wall. Ensure your bed is 6-8 inches away from the wall to prevent bedbugs from climbing on the walls.

4. Time to kill the bloodsuckers (Bed bugs)

Try going for the non-chemical approaches since these bugs can be easy to kill using elements like heat change. You can get rid of these tiny creatures by exposing them to very high temperatures of up to 45 °C or extremely low temperatures of up to 0°C or even less.

Home cleaning methods- Bed bug remedies

•  Wash your clothes, beddings or the infested linen in hot water for about 30minutes then throw it in the drier for around 30 minutes.
• You’ll have to use a steamer on hidespots like mattresses and couches since bedbugs can crouch and hide in there easily.
• Bundle up the infested stuff in black plastic bags and keep them outside on a hot day or lock them up in a car to get rid of the bedbugs easily.
• You can place the bedbug carriers in a freezer and select a temperature setting of -17°C and leave them in there for 4-5 days.

As soon as you’re done cleaning and getting rid of all visible bloodsuckers, make the environment inhabitable by the hiding ones by bringing in new bug-proof covers for your mattresses and couches. Cover the items well to make sure that bugs trapped in will die and other new bugs from outside won’t be able to get in. If these home treatment approaches don’t work, you’ll have to go the chemical and professional way. There are a few pesticides you can rely on to kill bed bugs instantly in your home. Let’s check them out!

Which Effective Pesticides Kill Bed bugs?

• Desiccants
• Pyrethroids- Just like Pyrethrins, pyrethroid is a very lethal pesticide that can help you flush these blood suckers out of your furniture’s crevices.
• Neonicotinoids

5. Keep an eye on infested spots

After treating, cleaning and freshly covering the infested area, you will have to monitor the spot to make sure that the bugs are gone. Check the affected areas once in a week for any signs of bloodsuckers hanging around. It’s advisable to place bedbug catchers under bed legs to intercept any bugs trying to climb up your bed. Remember to check the interceptors throughout the year for cleaning purposes.

6. Do a retreat as required

These little creatures are known to be very stubborn and hardy pests. Therefore, before you conclude that they are completely gone, you need to look-see that they’ve really left the area. Do a check after every seven days just to make sure there’s none left. Try the home treatment methods stated above and if they still won’t work; you will have to reach out to the exterminators. The bug-treatment companies will give you prep instructions to make the treatment approach simpler.

Lastly, make sure you try as much as you can to keep the bedbugs away and gone after the treatment. Now that you’ve mastered how to kill bedbugs fast, prevent them from coming back by covering your mattresses and furniture with bug-proof covers; seal cracks and clear up any mess around your house to keep these bloodsuckers off your lane.

Also read: 6 ways to kill bedbugs fast

References

EPA.GOV

What Kills Bed bugs Instantly- FAQ’S