Integrated Bed Bugs Management Strategy

by | Dec 4, 2015 | Bed Bugs

This guide aims to be an integrated bed bugs management strategy for the prevention and control of small bed bug infestations. For larger infestations, it is recommended to contact a professional pest exterminator as they provide much more effective extermination methods, such as heat treatment.

Monitoring

  • Know about the evidence of a bed bug infestation. This includes bloody faecal stains, shed exoskeletons, eggs and live bed bugs of all life stages (fed and unfed)
  • Thoroughly inspect your home, pay close attention to the area within a 2-3 meter radius around your bed because this is the area where most bed bugs in an infestation are found. In an undisturbed location, the harborage will likely be out of sight.
  • Use a forensic torch. It makes visual inspection easier as blood spattering will show up clearly on dark surfaces, like wood.
  • Contact a pest control firm in your local area which offers Free Bed Bugs Inspection.
  • Canine inspection is also a reliable option to detect the presence of bed bugs.
Monitoring Bed Bugs

Monitoring Bed Bugs

Isolation of Your Bed

  • Mattress encasements will trap harborages within the mattress, and prevent bed bugs hiding inside them.
  • Move your bed (bedding) away from the wall.
  • Replace your bed sheets with white or other light colored bedding. This will make bed bug signs far more visible to the naked eye.
  • Continue sleeping on your bed! Do not sleep elsewhere. Your presence on bed acts as a lure for bed bugs, if you’ll move elsewhere, it’ll spread the infestation to other.

Desiccant Dusts

  • Desiccants like food-grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) provide a safe, reliable tool for reducing infestations when used in conjunction with other bed bug treatments. Such substance act as a physical insecticide, so resistance is not a problem as with different chemical pesticides.
  • Some researches have shown that 100% ASG to outperform food-grade Diatomaceous Earth in killing speed, it has a less restrictive label, and it could well last longer before needing reapplication.
  • 100% ASG is not available in every country, so Diatomaceous Earth is a good alternative.
  • Apply DE to cracks, crevices, voids, underside of the rugs, edge of carpets, seams and folds of mattresses, under furniture, behind picture frames and basically anywhere it won’t get kicked up.
  • When applying, use a hand held bellows or shaving brush to apply a barely visible film to the surface you are applying to. Wear goggles and a dust-mask to avoid getting too much airborne as it is an irritant to skin, eyes and lungs. Wash with water if you come into contact with it.
Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth

Treating Clothes & Bedding

  • The threshold to kill bed bugs of all life stages is 120 °F (49 °C), so maintaining items of clothing at this temperature will kill bed bugs over time.
  • Drier is a viable tool in the elimination of bed bugs.
  • After washing and heat drying, quarantine clean items in vacuum sealable bags (to prevent them re-infested).
  • If some items cannot be heated freeze them. The lower threshold temperature for killing bed bugs is below -17°C. Hours to days will be required at this temperature for the cold to penetrate throughout the items sufficiently.

Other Info

  • Decluttering your home will reduce the potential hiding spots for bed bugs, it’ll also make inspections easier and less time consuming.
  • Vacuuming will clear the debris that could make the bed bugs harder to spot. While vacuuming up a harborage, make sure vacuum bag is sealed, to prevent live bed bugs escaping.
  • Chemical pesticides are contact killer if applied by an experienced person or professional who follows the label. Unfortunately, bed bugs have become highly resistant to many classes of insecticide, which renders over the counter products virtually useless. Learning to apply pesticides requires experience, and many homeowners are in an emotionally vulnerable state and use excessive quantities (over the label limit) which has which has severe consequences.

If you are facing a severe infestation and could not get rid by yourself, then find a heat treatment firm  to completely exterminate bed bugs from your property.