When there’s a crawling sensation while you’re sleeping, you might be feeling bed bugs. These are small bugs that are difficult to see unless you have some kind of magnifying device. They hide in the crevices of the mattress and box springs, coming out at night to feed on dead skin cells. They can bite you, so it’s important to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to make your home safe once again.
Use Protective Covers
Before you sleep on a mattress, put a protective cover on it to prevent bed bugs from getting to the skin. The cover can also smother the bugs as it keeps them trapped, preventing them from being able to breathe as well as they would if they were on the bed. Use a cover that is light in color as this will make the bugs easier to see so that you know where to spray or focus more efforts on cleaning.
However, a cover is a preventative measure. If you already have an issue, then you will definitely need to have your home cleaned out entirely. Don’t just think that you can put a cover on and your issue will be solved. If you don’t have a bed bug issue as of yet, then you should put a cover on to prevent issues from occurring. Nevertheless, you should make it a habit of wiping down and vacuuming your mattress on a regular basis—perhaps every other time that you change your sheets and wash them.
Get Rid Of Clutter
Bugs of any kind like dark places and cluttered areas are ideal for dark places that will provide the perfect home for bugs. Get rid of boxes and other items that you no longer need in the home. When these places are gone, the bugs have nowhere to go but out in the open space of the home, allowing you to see them so that you can kill them in action.
Make it a habit to clean your room daily. Keep the clothes off the floor and let it be an open space. The same goes for the living room as bed bugs may be found on the couch as well. If you have kids, explain to them the importance of keeping their room clean. To help them understand, tell them that bug like to make their homes in messes and so they should keep messes out of their room. If it’s hard for them to keep their toys organized, you may want to minimize how many toys they have. Otherwise, you can put up some shelves and start a cubby system. Use picture labels so that they can know where everything goes.
Turn Up the Heat
Bed bugs don’t do well in higher temperatures. Wash and dry the sheets, blankets and other items on the bed in hot water and the highest dryer temperatures that you can use. Consider turning on the heat when you see bed bugs as this will help to get rid of them. Let sunlight shine through the window to heat the room during the day. Hopefully, though, you’ll use enough preventative methods so that you don’t have to see any of them. By utilizing heat in your laundry (with both clothes and bedding materials), you’ll be continuously keeping the bed bugs at bay.
Hire a Professional
If you have been unsuccessful at keeping the bed bugs away and have been being bitten, then it’s time to involve a professional. A pest control service, such as E & R Exterminating Comopany, Inc, can come to your home and detect where bed bugs are located. Once they determine specific areas where they are hiding, they can use products that will kill the bugs. The company can come back to the home to spray for bed bugs on a schedule to prevent them from multiplying in the future.
If you notice anything crawling on the bed, then it’s likely that it’s a bed bug. Because these bugs tend to bite, you need to find a resource that can help to get rid of them quickly. If your solutions don’t work, then contact a professional who can eliminate the problem and prevent future outbreaks.
