Discovering that you have bed bugs is a nightmare scenario that you hope never to experience. Unless your particular infestation is very large and has been there for a significant amount of time, chances are you won’t discover the bed bug problem by seeing them crawling around your home.
Diagnosing your bed bug bites
When you wake up in the morning with a bug bite, it’s easy to dismiss it as a mystery bug. If you have recurring bug bites and itchy spots when you wake up in the mornings, or after sitting on your couch for an extended period of time, then it’s possible you’re experiencing bed bug bites. They will often leave bites in a trail on your skin; so there will be a line of bites on your body in succession. This is your first clue that it’s bed bugs. Another way to tell if you have bed bugs is if you wake up to small smears of blood on your bedding. This happens when you accidentally squish the bug as you sleep, usually by rolling over or tossing and turning.
How to get rid of the bed bugs
Bed bugs can be really difficult to get rid of. They can easily spread from one room to the next by hitching a ride on your clothes. Once they lay eggs, you’re in trouble. Once you diagnose this as the issue, follow these steps to help get rid of bed bugs:
- The first thing you need to do is place a bed bug specific mattress cover on your mattress. This will trap all remaining bed bugs inside, where they will die without access to their food source. It will also prevent bed bugs from entering your mattress later.
- Anything that could’ve come in contact with bed bugs will need to be both thoroughly inspected, and cleaned. The easiest way to kill them is with heat. Put all of your clothing through the dryer on high heat. The same goes for all bedding, towels, and pillows. Anything that CAN go through the dryer, should. Things that can’t go through the dryer should be placed in direct sunlight on a hot day.
- The next step is to wipe down your baseboards and walls in the room with the issue, and then carefully clean all picture frames and anything else that hangs on the walls.
- Last, you’ll need to have an exterminator come and fumigate your home, which will require you to leave for 48 hours to ensure that all of the bed bugs are killed.
Getting bed bugs is horrifying, and it’s a time extensive process to get rid of them, but you’ll want to act fast to make sure you catch the problem before it gets any worse.
If you need help getting rid of bed bugs, Stewart’s is here. Get in touch with us today.