3 Things To Do When You Discover You Have Bed Bugs

Have you and your family started getting itchy red welts and bites on your body? Did you try treating your home for fleas but you're still being bitten? Depending on where you live, fleas can be an extremely common pest to have to deal with so that is what comes to mind first for many people. Unfortunately, bed bugs can be just as common and this might actually be what you're dealing with. Even more unfortunately, the treatments that you've been using to get rid of fleas may have little to no effect on bed bugs. Some things that will work, however, include:

Hire a professional: Bed bugs are tenacious insects. An effective bed bug treatment often utilizes tools that the average homeowner will not be able to obtain easily but that the professional will already have on-hand. If chemical treatment becomes necessary, the professional will know which products are going to be most likely to eliminate the problem rather than simply being a waste of time and money for everyone. Without the help of a professional, it might feel like you'll be dealing with the infestation forever. With the help of a professional, you should be able to get rid of the bed bugs in just one or two visits.

Redecorate: Bed bugs like to hide in and behind various pieces of furniture, not just beds. This means that there could be a bunch of them just hanging out behind your big antique wardrobe or in your sofa. If you're able to dismantle some of your furniture before the professional arrives for the first bed bug treatment, this can allow the professional to treat otherwise unreachable cracks or crevices. If the furniture cannot be dismantled, at least pull everything away from the wall by a few inches. This will make the area behind the furniture less desirable places to hide while also allowing the professional to treat the entire piece and the baseboards behind the furniture.

Laundry: Bed bugs do not specifically prefer clean clothes or dirty clothes, they just like clothes. Clothes are full of all sorts of nooks and crannies that make great hiding places for bed bugs. If you suspect that your clothes are infested with bed bugs, you do not have to throw them out. Instead, put them through a wash and tumble dry while the rest of your home is getting the full bed bug treatment. While bed bugs can resist a lot of things and live through treatments that would kill other insects, they can be killed by both soapy water and the heat of a dryer.