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Getting Rid Of Bed Bugs: You Can Win The Bug War!

by Thomas Proctor

It's not easy getting rid of bed bugs. It helps to know what to look for. Red or brown stains on the sheets are evidence of bed bug infestation. Any time you notice such evidence of bed bugs when you are staying at a hotel or motel you should demand that they give you another room.

One of the things that makes it extremely hard "getting rid of bed bugs" is that most people are unaware they are even an issue. Bed bugs hide until just before dawn when they come out to feed, this is when they can be seen with a flash light. An adult size bed bug is only the size of an apple seed, the younger ones are tiny making them extremely hard to see.

There are sprays you can purchase that will help in getting rid of bed bugs, but the majority of them do not work as well as we wish they would. If only 2 bed bugs escape during the process of trying to get rid of them, they will reproduce, creating the bed bug infestation to re-occur.

The first step in the process of getting rid of bedbugs is a thorough cleaning, beginning with stripping the beds. Thoroughly vaccum each living area, and treat your couch as well as your mattress. Many people do not realize that bed bugs can and will travel with you wherever you go. Linens must be treated in water heated to at least 113 degrees in order to kill the bugs, and it may be easier to just replace your mattress.

Bedbug eradication is not something that should focus solely on the bed. They can be found in other places in the bedroom, such as cracks in the walls. That is why you should spray and repair any cracks in the walls or baseboards to keep them from returning after you have eliminated them from the bed.

Calling a "pest control" is the number one way to eliminate bed bugs. Suppose you are not positive the bed but is there, it is better to take care of it any ways then to be sorry later. Experts will come over and spray with some type of chemicals to get rid of the bugs, in sensitive areas such as where you sit and touch they will use hot steam to kill the bed bugs.

If you are getting rid of bed bugs, gather up the bedding in your house then vacuum. Launder your bedding in 113 degree water. It might be easier to throw out your infested mattress and focus on treating the other areas. The biggest thing you need to realize with bedbug eradication is that they are not strictly in your bed. They will live in cracks in the walls. Calling pest control is the best way to eliminate bed bugs. Experts will come over and spray chemicals to get rid of the bugs. In areas where you sit and touch they will use hot steam to kill the bed bugs.

Published November 3rd, 2008

Filed in Health