Bed bugs are most often found in homes and places where people stay. They prefer to feed at night. They usually nest in furniture, upholstery and beds, as well as under wallpapers and paneling. We often learn about their presence from traces of their droppings and crushed individuals on the bed or by seeing bite marks that usually occur during our sleep. If your home is already seriously infected with these parasites, you can smell the characteristic smell of rotting raspberries in the air – the smell of the gland secreted by bed bugs during stress.
How to kill bed bugs? First steps
The first task should be a thorough inspection of the room for bed bug gatherings. Bedbugs are often found in large clusters. In the case of beds, bedbugs occur in the folds and seams of mattresses, bed frame joints, upholstery joints, under buttons, along zippers, etc.
It is worth first spraying these obvious places. The bed bug spray will help. It should be remembered to avoid the use of preparations for bedbugs surfaces that have direct contact with the human body.
If we looked into the favorite recesses of insects and found at least one intruder, there are certainly more of them and this means that you need to start a serious fight as soon as possible and begin to exterminate unwanted guests.
How to get rid of bed bugs? Further steps
– We can start by vacuuming with a narrow tip of the vacuum cleaner all the corners in the bed frame and other furniture. Let’s not forget about the place for bedding, the bottom of the furniture and the space under the floor moldings (it is best to remove them for cleaning). After vacuuming, it is best to immediately wrap the bag with foil and take it to a chute or an external waste container.
– It is also worth washing and ironing bedding and fabrics that may contain insects – remembering to wash or dry them at a high temperature (at least 60 ° C). It is also worth regularly, prophylactically, to ventilate bedding and wash it at high temperatures. You can also put it outside the window during the full sun or in the cold.
– Items that cannot be washed or scalded are best stored in a plastic bag and kept tightly closed for at least 14 days or put in a freezer.
– One of the most effective methods of combating bedbugs is the use of hot steam – it is best to use a high temperature steam cleaner. It can be used to clean furniture, textiles, rugs and mattresses. However, if you noticed that the insects nested in the mattress, it is safest to replace it with a new one.
– You can also places where we usually stay and those where bugs can nest (it is said that these insects most often live next to the pantry) can be protected with lavender oil, eucalyptus oil or kerosene, possibly with the addition of mercury ointment, or using denatured spirit.
If the above methods fail, you should call specialists who will use stronger means and carry out disinsection.
