Detecting And Dealing With Bedbugs
Bed bugs are a nuisance even if they do not pose a threat of disease. Bed bugs hide in out-of-the-way places until night falls and then they come out to feed. If you wake up with red welts on your body, you might think that you have mosquitoes in your home, but your problem might instead be bedbugs. While bedbugs do not carry diseases, they can disturb sleep and leave behind unsightly, itchy welts. Rather than co-exist, you should take steps to remove bedbugs.
Signs of Bed Bugs
If you suspect that you have a bedbug infestation, you should look for signs of bedbugs in and around your bed. Carefully remove your bedcovers and look for bedbugs, which are about the size and shape of an appleseed. You should also check in cracks in your bed frame and surrounding furniture, in books, in seams in your mattress, and so on. If you find signs of bedbugs, it is time to exterminate.
Extermination of Bedbug Infestations
You can buy chemical compounds that are designed to kill bedbugs, but in addition to spraying your bed and surrounding furniture with such compounds, you should seal up cracks in your bed frame, furniture, and wall trim. You should remove and wash your bedcovers including the mattress cover. Before replacing the mattress, you should also take steps to deal with any bedbugs that might be living in the mattress. For the best results, you should buy a zippered cover with a tight weave that fits over your mattress. Such as cover for trap bedbugs living in the mattress so that they can't get in or out. In order to make sure your bedbugs are good and fully dead, you will need to leave the cover in place for at least a year because bedbugs can survive that long without feeding.
If you suspect that you have bedbugs, but you are having a hard time locating them, you should consider calling in an exterminator for help. In that exterminators are trained to find pests, they will know where to look and what to look for. Similarly, a pest control expert will have experience and skill in removing pest populations. Furthermore, you can ask your exterminator to look for other insects and pests that are living in or around your home and take steps to deal with them. While you may be able to deal with a bedbug problem on your own, calling in a trained professional can only help.