How To Avoid Bed Bugs
If you have ever found them in your bed, or in your house, do not feel bad. Bed bugs have been around for thousands of years, and do not seem to be planning to leave anytime soon. As with mosquitoes, coordinated efforts have been made to wipe them out of countries, like in the United States in the 1940s. Initial results were encouraging but only a few years later they came back stronger than ever.
This article will focus on their nesting habits, so we know where to find them. We will also look a little into their biology so we know how to kill them.
Where do they live? The term bed bug is not random. These creatures do tend to live in beds, other sleeping arrangements and in other hiding places close to human sleeping quarters. As we will see, if you have them, the chances are they are in your bed or very close.
So where can you find them? Anywhere, is the quick answer. These bugs are very small and flat and can fit pretty much anywhere. They will crawl under your doors, into your ventilation and water systems and appear in the least expected places.
During the day they tend to remain quiet, hiding inside the seams of bed mattresses, carpets, inside walls, small holes in furniture and pretty much anywhere you can imagine. However, it is useful to know that according to research, bed bugs do not tend to move over thirty meters, or a hundred feet, from its nest to its victim. This means that if you are experiencing bug bites you probably will find the nest close, in the same room where you sleep.
A complete description of their hiding places is not practical because it would include nearly your whole house. They tend to create their home in the cracks of wood, dark areas and their favorite, bed mattresses.
Try looking first along the outer edges of your mattress, top and bottom. Extend your search to your bed frame, look under the mattress, especially around any cracks or small gaps. If you have a footboard or head, check there also. The chances are the lazy bugs are near where you sleep.
How do you exterminate them once you have found their nest? This is also a challenge. Previous methods, like using DDT, no longer work. They have become immune to it and it just make them more active. In the past sprays that were also harmful to them were used to kill cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes, but now other methods that are harmless to bed bugs are used. If you do find them in your home you have a few options to choose from. You can steam them out of their nest. Short spurts of steam will kill them and their eggs if the steam can enter in the pores of the mattress or the cracks of the wood. You can also isolate your bed, their feeding spot, making it impossible for them to bite you. This can be done by avoiding any higher furniture around the bed, because bugs cannot jump or fly. They can only crawl, but they struggle with metal and glass objects, so it is a good idea to have metal legs on your bed, or to stick them in cans with petroleum jelly, another substance they do not deal with very well.
Next, learn more about my personal journey to a bed bug free home and find extensive resources for getting rid of bed bugs.
