Bed bugs have a very secretive lifestyle which is majorly because they are tiny and can easily be missed by the naked eye until there is an infestation and this makes their control quite hard. To effectively control bed bugs, you need to know if the issue is bed bugs and not fleas or ticks to ensure that the control method you choose is suitable for the task. To make sure they are effectively exterminated call a professional for help.
Bed Bug Control
Bed bugs are usually small and about a ¼ inch long, brown with a flat oval shape body. They can be found almost everywhere in the house from the bedding, clothes, furniture, carpet, and pillows among many other hiding places. Some of the most common indicators of bed bugs in your Winston-Salem, NC home include when you start seeing bite marks on your body, your pets start itching all over, and dried feces on the mattress.
Some Methods That Have Been Proven To Be Effective Include:
In order to effectively get rid of bed bugs, the integrated pest management method has proven to be the best.
It uses a combination of various methods, both chemical and non-chemical, to methods to combat and efficiently eliminate the bug:
- Vacuuming: This is the first step in the do-it-yourself category and involves you using a vacuum cleaner to draw out the bugs from places that you couldn’t have reached easily like inside furniture and carpets. Vacuuming enables you to be able to get rid of the eggs and larvae that are usually found deep in the fabric as well as the adult bed bugs.
- Sealant and De-cluttering: This control method is quite effective because when you seal the cracks and crevices, their hiding site will be reduced. Areas around electrical outlets, window frames, and seams of furniture should be specially treated.
- Steam Cleaning: Bed bugs can’t withstand high temperatures and that made the control method to be very effective. A steamer can be used to kill bed bugs that are under the carpet, inside mattress seams, baseboards among many other places around the house. Washing your clothes and bedding in really hot water can also help kill any egg and larvae hiding as well as adult bugs.
- Proper Cleaning of your Home: You should always make sure your environment is clean and neat because this is a great way to prevent the infestation of bed bugs.
Pesticides Used In Bed Bug Control
There are about 300 products registered under seven categories of chemicals in the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that can be used to control bed bugs and these categories are:
- Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids, are very good in killing bed bugs and are made from chrysanthemum flowers.
- Desiccants work by desiccating the outer waxy protective layer of the bed bug. Boric acid is also a very good example.
- Biochemicals such as neem oil have been proven to be effective against bed bugs.
- Pyrroles, chlorfenapyr is the only chemical under this category and kills the bed bugs by interrupting important functions.
- Neonicotinoids, which kill bed bugs by causing the nervous system to fail.
- Insect growth regulator kills the bed bugs by inhibiting the growth of some important aspects of the bed bugs.
It should be noted that when using any of the pesticides listed above make sure you follow the instruction properly. If you do not want to deal with the chemicals yourself, make sure you call an exterminator.