Getting a good night sleep can be very difficult when you’ve got bed bugs in your mattress. Those tiny creatures can not only ruin your sleep, they bite real hard too.
Here are some important things you need to know about bed bugs and how you can be prevent or kill them.
What are bed bugs
Bed bugs (often misspelled as bedbugs) are small, nocturnal, wingless insects that belong to the family of Cimicidae. They feed on human blood and other warm-blooded hosts. They are oval in shape and grow up to 4 to 5 mm long when fully grown. Their skin color is rust brown to a deeper red-brown. Bed bugs are also known as “mahogany flats,” “red coats” and “chinches.”
Theadult bed bug does not have wings and has a flattened body. Bed bugs are both dorsoventrally flattened and thin, which creates a great advantage for them. They can hide in unusual places such as behind baseboards, floor cracks, and under carpets or behind loose wallpaper, which can make them difficult to detect. Not only can they be hard to detect, but bed bugs also tend to stay close together and have a distinctively sweet, yet unpleasant smell. Fecal smears on mattresses and nearby furnishings are also signs of a bed bug infestation.
What do they do
They suck blood. Their bites can leave itchy welts on the skin and can cause allergic reactions, such as severe itching, though not everyone reacts to their bite. Bed bugs have existed since the ancient times and are found throughout the world.
There are different species of bed bugs, but the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) is particularly adaptable to human environments. Other species are known to prefer birds and bats but also will feed on humans if necessary. Since they can survive in birds’ nests, they can be seen in houses and buildings that have several bird nests, particularly on rooftops. Bed bugs have a great worldwide distribution, due to human travelers who transport them in luggage, clothing, bedding and furniture. Though they may reside in unusual places, they are also likely to be found in small cracks near a bed or in comforters and bed sheets.
How to get rid of them
It would be best to get a professional exterminator to remove the bed bug infestation but these tips seem to work.
- Apply chemical insecticides. Use rubbing alcohol or water and detergent applied from a good, big spray bottle. The spray bottles from home improvement and department stores are adequate. A better buy would be to use used and higher quality spray bottles for laundry pre-treatment, glass cleaners, car interior cleaners etc. Alcohol – buy several large bottles of 70% rubbing alcohol and mix them with water at no less than 50% strength. Drench the ribbings of the mattresses and box springs, cracks where the walls and floors meet, and all cracks and crevices in chairs, furniture and other places.Alternatively, use 90% rubbing alcohol and do not dilute; saturate the seams of the mattress. This kills them instantly but do open your windows for a while.Detergent and water. Use this like rubbing alcohol and for cleaning of the bed before you encapsulate it. Detergent is a better cleaner than rubbing alcohol and kills bedbugs quickly.
- Suffocate bedbugs. After cleaning your bed especially at the corners, cover them with cheap, clear plastic bags for mattresses. Cover the box spring with the mattress cover too. Do not use the mattress cover with zippers because they cost more and especially if they have fibers in them that bedbugs can get a foothold on to climb and lay eggs. Seal the plastic bags with paper or masking tape.
If this doesn’t work then you can try these preventive methods.
- Remove all clutter from your room, which makes finding bed bugs easier.
- Wash and dry your bed linens on the hottest temperature permitted.
- Closely inspect any second-hand furniture before bringing it to your room.
- Inspect your room after at the beginning of every semester.
Let us know if any of these tips worked for you or if you have any of your own.