Bed Bugs – The Best (And Worst) Ways To Remove Them

This probably goes without saying, but the last thing you’d ever want to do in a zombie outbreak is to pretend like you know what you’re doing. Because the chances are, you’re not going to make things any better, regardless of what your intentions may be.

Bed bugs are a little bit like zombies. Not only can they also survive for lengthy periods of time without feeding (18 months!), but they also feast on humans and can multiply rapidly.

There are many courses of action that may seem logical to you in the heat of the moment. You might even come to believe that you’re capable of single-handedly winning against the overwhelming horde of bed bugs living in your home. You might dream of valiantly driving them away from your abode, graciously winning your family’s praises for your cunning wit and valour. But we assure you, you’ll most likely be doing the very opposite.

Bed bugs are known to be extremely resilient and devilishly crafty. Here’s our list of the best ways to treat bed bugs, as well as some of the worst!

Bed Bugs Warning Signs  

The best time to deal with any infestation is before it actually happens. Don’t let bed bugs catch you off guard! A single female bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime. But if you find and eliminate the source early on (aka, her), you can stop her from breeding and increasing her followers.

Here are some signs that you should look out for:

1. Bed Bugs Leave Spots

If you have bed bugs, you’d normally see small, dark spots on furniture, walls and flooring near their hiding spots. They’re composed of your undigested blood that the bed bugs had to excrete. Gross!

2. Bed Bugs Dispose Of Exoskeletons

These annoying pests molt five times in their lifetime.  They molt and grow in size with every life stage from instar nymph, to full adult.  You might find their empty shells in the crevices and corners of your home.

3. Bed Bugs Leave A Musty Scent

Individually, they probably won’t smell of anything. But when huge groups of them are clustered together, you’ll most likely detect a distinctly musty-sweet odour wafting in the air. What, you can’t recognize a bed bug infestation when it hits you right in the nose?

Don’t Use A Bed Bug Fogger

Where do we even begin with this one?

A bed bug fogger, also known as the bug bomb, sounds like a quick and easy solution to exterminate those nasty suckers from your home in one clean sweep, right? WRONG!

Foggers use an aerosol propellant to disperse its contents through the air, which settles onto open surfaces. However, bed bugs tend to hide when they aren’t feeding. And guess what? They tend to hide in spots the foggers don’t reach.

Not only are the foggers ineffective, they’ll cause the bed bugs to scatter and dig deeper into the nooks and crannies of your home to get away from the source of the chemicals. Ultimately, this means a more settled in, hard-to-reach pest infestation.

Foggers also contain a very low concentration of pesticide, which means that they’ll likely fail at killing the bed bugs they DO reach. And the bad news doesn’t stop there. The low-level exposure to pesticides actually helps the little buggers to develop immunity – and they’ll only continue to get stronger as time passes. You’ll actually be making them harder to kill!

Do Protect Your Bed From Bed Bugs With A Mattress Encasement

If you encase your mattress and box springs, you can trap the bed bugs inside and keep them from gorging on your blood. They’ll be unable to feed and eventually starve to death.

Furthermore, bed bugs will be very easy to spot and remove, since they can only scuttle around the white surface of the encasement. Mattress encasements are easily one of the best ways to prevent these bloodsuckers from making your home theirs! Just make sure you install them properly and get a handle on how they should be maintained. Remember that the encasements should stay on for at least a year.

Don’t Dispose Of Your Bed

We can’t stress this enough. It’s very common for people to assume that they have to get rid of their beds and textiles once their homes are infested with bed bugs.

No, no, and no. Doing so will do more harm than good:

  1. Hauling that infested mattress could spread the infestation even further throughout your home.
  1. You’ll be giving the remaining bed bugs a chance to throw another housewarming party on the new mattress that you’ll be bringing in.
  1. Your hard-earned money will be spent for no reason.

Do Eliminate Any Clutter In Your Home

Bed bugs are great at hide-n-seek. Giving them a playing field will only make it worse! Try to reduce clutter and organize your personal possessions as much as you can.

In particular, don’t store anything under your bed, and keep the floors neat and tidy. If you’ve got any piles of laundry, newspapers, magazines, shoes and toys lying around, you better clear them out. They give bed bugs millions of hiding spots, and bed bug treatment will become close to impossible!

And if you need to dispose of any items, make sure you seal them tightly in plastic bags before tossing them in the outdoor trash.

Don’t Escape To A Friend Or Relative’s Home

You don’t want to be doing this since these pests are notorious hitchhikers. They’d definitely be more than happy to tag along and settle into your friend’s humble residence too. Furthermore, bed bugs can live up to 18 months without feeding, so escape just isn’t an option.

Have Bed Bugs? Call A Licensed Exterminator For The Best Results

This is THE way to go for a complete extermination. There’s only so much you can do alone! Remember, the safest and best bed bug treatments can only be performed by an experienced team of professionals. Foggers and other pesticides come with a list of health risks and other dangers that you don’t want to be dealing with! Licensed exterminators can provide effective heat treatment options, which require specialized equipment and expertise.

Save yourself the trouble and let us take care of your bed bug problems right now! Terminix Canada has provided superior bed bug extermination services all over Canada for over 90 years. Our chemical and steam bed bug treatments will get rid of your unwanted visitors once and for all.

For more information regarding our pest control services, call us at 1-888-801-6348!