By Melanie Thompson. 

            Oh, no.  You’ve noticed that you have very itchy, raised red bumps on your skin when you wake up in the morning.  When you changed your sheets, you thought you saw a flat, golden bug crawling along the seam of the bed.  You might have bed bugs, and now the war against those devious insects begins!  This is Part 2 in the Bed Bugs blog saga; Part 1 started last week with how to search out bed bugs while traveling and where to look for them in your home.  But what happens if you already have a bed bug infestation?  We’ll discuss your options in this blog post.

            Bed bugs are very difficult to eliminate once they are in your home, but there are some things that you can do if you find yourself as food for these critters.  By far, the best method for eliminating bed bugs is heat treatment.  There are various exterminators in the area and across the world who can do this treatment for you.  A warning though:  it will be expensive.  It will be effective, though!  You can use an internet search engine to find exterminators who can help you fight bed bugs in this manner.  They will heat your entire house to 140°, so be warned that you will need to remove all pets and people, probably your plants, anything that would melt at that temperature, etc.  You will also need to clean and eliminate clutter prior to this treatment, so this isn’t a hands-free effort on your part, either!  Treatments of heat to thoroughly rid an area of bed bugs is the ‘gold standard’ in eliminating them.

            If you can’t afford heat treatment by a pest control company, their chemical treatment may be cheaper.  They will be able to use commercial chemicals that might be more effective that over-the-counter options.  Professional pesticide applicators have access to pesticides that the general public do not have access to, and those pesticides appear to have better results at killing bed bugs.   Again, you will have to clean and declutter before the exterminator comes in, so you don’t get to relax, even if you involve an outside exterminator.

            But what if an exterminator just isn’t in your budget?  What are your options?  If you are wanting to treat the bed bugs yourself, you can research cheap methods of treating bed bugs online at www.youtube.com or other websites, as well.  Some pesticides work on bed bugs, but most of those that we can buy online or at local stores do not work well on these insects. 

Vacuuming all areas of your house with carpet every single day AND EMPTYING THE BAG/CANISTER AWAY FROM THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY AFTER VACUUMING THE AFFECTED ROOM(S) is going to be a necessity; this includes along your baseboards.  So this is what you need to do:

               Step 1.  Wash ALL the bedding in HOT water and dry it all in a HOT dryer—even in the rooms where you haven’t seen bed bugs.

               Step 2. While the bedding is being washed and dried, you need to encase the mattress and the box spring of the bed in a bed bug mattress protector.  You zip it up and then NEVER remove it again. (No kidding…bedbugs lay dormant for a really long time!) If mattress protectors are too expensive, then there are other options that may work.  Please search for alternatives online at www.youtube.com or other websites; many of these methods involve using duct tape and heavy plastic and enclosing your mattress and foundation with those products.

               Step 3. Before putting on the mattress protectors (and even if you can’t afford the mattress protectors), you need to vacuum every square inch of the bedroom and bed and baseboards and box spring. If there are clothes on the floor, then those MUST be washed in hot water and dried in a dryer, as well; the same is true for anything with material on it that is touching the floor (toys, stuffed animals, etc.) If you find the bugs in the dresser drawers, then all those clothes will have to be washed and dried, as well, and the dresser needs to be vacuumed whether you find bugs in it or not.  Truthfully, while you’re in the midst of this war on these bugs, I would just vacuum every square inch of the bedroom and furniture in the bedroom—inside and out.  But first you need to concentrate on the beds and the stuff on the floors.

               Step 4. Throw out any vacuum bags or dump out the non-disposable tanks AWAY FROM THE HOUSE immediately after vacuuming. An outdoor trash bin is fine.

               Step 5. As you are taking clean linens out of the dryer, you need to have a clean place to put them if the bedroom isn’t ready for your clean stuff.  I would suggest a dry bathtub—bedbugs don’t care for bathrooms (as long as that’s not where the dirty pile of clothes gets put.)

               Step 6. Once the bedroom has been completely vacuumed, and the mattress and foundation encased in bed bug protection, you can put the linens and clothing and other items back in there. Do a super good job of vacuuming—in hotels, bed bugs will even live behind headboards, so this is a seriously complex job that you will have to do.

               Step 7. You can buy bed bug monitors fairly cheaply at https://www.bedbugsupply.com/Bed-Bug-Alert-Pheromone-Monitor-And-Trap-By-Bird-X-_p_169.html which will allow you to monitor if there are still bed bugs present after your efforts.  There are other websites that have these types of traps available; these particular ones were recommended by a staff member at Uniquely Yours, an organization that helps homeless people in Fremont, Nebraska.  Because they routinely give away used clothing and furniture, Uniquely Yours has an extensive method of ensuring that they do not have bed bugs in these items, and this particular trap was recommended by their staff member.  You can make homemade versions of these, though their effectiveness may not be reliable.  These can be found on websites like Youtube, as well.

The worst step of all—you HAVE to keep things picked up, and you are going to HAVE to be vacuuming ALL OF THE TIME to keep this under control. Remember that bed bugs can crawl under walls and re-infect the space that has already been cleaned.  That is why you will need to vacuum every day if you can!

Mattresses on the floor are WORSE than having beds that are lifted.  You want four, skinny legs of the bed touching the floor because you can control the bugs better that way.  I would definitely put the bed bug traps under the furniture in the living room or anywhere there is carpet, as well. 

As you gain control of your living and sleeping spaces, keep on top of vacuuming.  Monitor your bed and around the floor for evidence of the bugs having invaded your space.  If you live in an apartment, even if you are working very hard at getting rid of the bugs in your home, the neighbors in the next apartment might not be working as hard to get rid of them in their home.  Remember that bed bugs can crawl under walls; in an apartment building, EVERYONE has to cooperate in the war on bed bugs!  The bed bug war isn’t easy to win, but you can do it!  For more information, give me a call at the health department [402-529-2233] or send me an email [melanie@elvphd.org].  Good luck!