Preventing and Controlling Bed Bugs in Your Home

Ultimately one of the most annoying types of pests to infest your home, bedbugs are always out for blood and can make it extremely difficult to enjoy a good night’s worth of sleep. Although bed bugs were almost completely eliminated from North America a couple of years back, they have found ample opportunity to multiply in number. Today, bedbugs are found in schools, hospitals, homes and even hotels.

Why should you be concerned?

Bedbugs use human blood to feed, grow and reproduce. They are not attracted to dirt, just a hospitable environment; therefore everyone is at risk of a home infestation. They can also leech on your dogs, cats and other household pests. The prefer living close to areas where people rest for long periods of time and they will come out of hiding to attack any exposed skin they will find. Bed bugs feed for about 2-5 minutes before they are full and then go back into hiding.

People react to bed bug bites in different ways. Some bites may go unnoticed while other people develop rash breakouts. They can make sleeping quite uncomfortable, as these bites are very painful if they catch you still awake or half-asleep.

Life cycle

Bed bugs are often active at night when it’s dark and they can move around unnoticed. They reproduce quite fast since one bug can lay up to 250 eggs! Adult bed bugs can go up to an entire years without feed making them extremely difficult to eliminate since they go through long periods of inactivity.

Controlling an infestation

Bed bugs are such tricky pests to deal with. You should always contact a professional pest control company if you notice any bed bugs in your home. This is because bedbug control involved detailed work of disassembling furniture and special equipment to smoke them out of their hiding places.

• You can kill bed bugs in your clothes by laundering them in hot water and drying them in very hot temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes using your drier. This temporary is known to kill bed bugs in all stages of life.
• You can also kill bedbugs using cold temperatures. Placing infested objects into the freezer for seven to ten days can kill all the stages of the bed bug. Placing furniture outdoor during winter is a good idea but there is no guarantee that you will have eliminated all the bed bugs.
• You can also protect your new mattresses from infestation using encasements. This fabric covering creates a barrier to prevent the bed bugs from infesting your mattresses and box springs. Ensure that the encasement is specifically design for bed bug protection.
• Bed bug interceptors are small plastic trays that should be placed under the bed legs. Any bed bugs that attempt to climb up from the floor get trapped in the inner and outer wells of the tray. This device not only prevents bed bugs from climbing up your bed but is also a monitoring tool to see if there are any bugs present in your home. 

Posted By: PestLoco   http://pestloco.com