Bed bug infestations usually occur around or near the areas where people sleep. These areas include apartments, shelters, rooming houses, hotels, cruise ships, buses, trains, and dorm rooms. They hide during the day in places such as seams of mattresses, box springs, bed frames, headboards, dresser tables, inside cracks or crevices, behind wallpaper, or any other clutter or objects around a bed. Bed bugs have been shown to be able to travel over 100 feet in a night but tend to live within 8 feet of where people sleep.
Bedbug bites may go unnoticed or be mistaken for flea or mosquito bites or other types of rash or skin conditions, since the signs of bedbug bites are difficult to distinguish from other bites or skin conditions. Bedbugs also have glands whose secretions may leave musty odors, and they also may leave dark fecal spots on bed sheets and around places where they hide (in crevices or protected areas around the bed or anywhere in the room).
Alcohol will kill bed bugs but not their eggs and will need to be used often to control infestation. It is not an effective way to get rid of bed bugs permanently. If you want to use this bed bug treatment you need to mix nine parts 91 percent isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol with one part water. Place the solution in a chemical sprayer to cover large areas. Use a spray bottle for small areas and to get into crevices. Spray all areas including head/foot boards, hard surfaces, base boards, door jams and any other bed bug hiding spots.
Some pest control firms also employ commercial steamers or spot-freezing equipment to treat areas where bed bugs are found or suspected. Used correctly, they kill bugs and eggs on contact. Neither method, however, affords residual protection against bed bugs which may have been missed. Steaming and spot-freezing equipment also have limited ability to penetrate fabric, wood, and other materials where bed bugs often reside.
Heat Treatment – this method kills bed bugs with heat. This could be implemented on clothes by putting them in a drier at a high temperature for 30 minutes. In a room, the use of heating devices could kill even the eggs and the nymphs of bed bugs at certain levels temperature at different durations of time. Ideally, to kill bed bugs in all stages, the temperature must be 115 degrees F or 46 degrees C.
Until fairly recently, most people (and even pest control professionals) had never seen a bed bug. Bed bug infestations actually used to be very common in the United States before World War II. But with improvements in hygiene, and especially the widespread use of DDT during the 1940s and ‘50s, the bed bugs all but vanished. The pests persisted, however, in some areas of the world including parts of Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Over roughly the past decade, bed bugs have made a dramatic comeback in the U.S.― they’re appearing increasingly in homes, apartments, hotels, health care facilities, dormitories, shelters, schools and public transportation. Other places where bed bugs sometimes occur include movie theaters, laundries, rental furniture, and office buildings. Immigration and international travel have contributed to the resurgence of bed bugs in the U.S. Changes in modern pest control practice, less effective insecticides ― and a decrease in societal vigilance ― are other factors suspected for the recurrence.
As soon as you determine you have bedbugs, isolate clothing, and start putting them into clean plastic bags. Accuracy is very important, so pinpoint the areas and rooms that need treatment and act swiftly. While some people think over-the-counter sprays are a solution, pyrethroid-based pesticides may kill or repel some of the insects, but can be dangerous if misused, and it's doubtful you'll be successful on your own.
Bed bugs occur around the world.[36] Before the 1950s about 30% of houses in the United States had bedbugs.[2] Rates of infestations in developed countries, while decreasing from the 1930s to the 1980s, have increased dramatically since the 1980s.[3][4][36] Before the 1980s they were common in the developing world but rare in the developed world.[4] The increase in the developed world may have been caused by increased international travel, resistance to insecticides, and the use of new pest-control methods that do not affect bed bugs.[37]
Although bedbugs are generally nocturnal, they're like humans—if they're hungry, they'll get up and get something to eat. "If you go away to visit a friend for a week and you come back and sit down on the couch, even though it's daytime the bedbugs will come looking for you," Schal says. Keeping a light on, then, unfortunately does not keep these tiny vampires away.
In the chemical-based category, there are two methods included. Though we consider the two as different means, they both rely on the use chemical pesticides. The first method is by hiring bed bug exterminators who use strong solutions to eliminate the pests. It offers an easy yet expensive and risky bed bug treatment even if the exterminator use the best chemical to kill bed bugs.
The Diatomaceous Earth seems to kill them and centipedes. Didn’t even know I had those til I put powder down to prevent bed bugs and found one curled up dead. It dries them out and kills them. Works great! I’ve heard boric acid doesn’t work on bed bugs but I do know it works wonders on killing roaches. My sister had them in an apartment & boric acid wiped them out!
Heat Treatment – this method kills bed bugs with heat. This could be implemented on clothes by putting them in a drier at a high temperature for 30 minutes. In a room, the use of heating devices could kill even the eggs and the nymphs of bed bugs at certain levels temperature at different durations of time. Ideally, to kill bed bugs in all stages, the temperature must be 115 degrees F or 46 degrees C.
With the bed now fully isolated and elevated, bed bugs hiding elsewhere in the room won’t be able to feed on you or hide in your bed. You can also use the ClimbUps to monitor the changing population of bed bugs in your home. Hopefully, you will see less and less bugs appear in the traps as you go through the next steps. Now that you have created a safe haven in your bed, you can move on to treating the rest of the room.
Some pest control firms utilize specialized heating equipment to de-infest furnishings, rooms, and entire dwellings. The procedure involves heating up the infested item or area to temperatures lethal to bed bugs. Portable heaters and fans are used to gradually heat the air to about 120 - 130°F while monitoring with strategically placed sensors. By carefully controlling the temperature, bugs and eggs are killed wherever they may be without damaging household items.
Both of these types of Hemiptera are sensitive to extreme temperatures. It may be necessary to rid the infestation by exposing the area to extreme heat or cold; they are most comfortable in temperatures around eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Raising the temperature to ninety-seven to ninety-nine degrees may kill off a significant portion of the population.
Bed bug infestations are primarily the result of two species of insects from genus Cimex: Cimex lectularius (the common bed bug) and Cimex hemipterus.[3] These insects feed exclusively on blood and may survive a year without eating.[3] Adult Cimex are light brown to reddish-brown, flat, oval, and have no hind wings. The front wings are vestigial and reduced to pad-like structures. Adults grow to 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) wide.