Bed bugs are difficult to control with chemical applications alone. They require a combination of infestation prevention tactics such as removing and cleaning infested furniture, laundering fabrics regularly, and sealing cracks and crevices where they hide.

Over-the-counter total-release foggers are ineffective for controlling bed bugs and may be hazardous to your health. Professionals use insecticides that are targeted to specific hiding sites. Contact Bed Bug Control Boise for professional help.

Bed bugs are nocturnal and can hide in dark crevices. When a bug sees light, it will move toward it. A light will also trigger its pheromones, which smell like sweat. A specialized machine, which is like a breathalyzer, can detect the odor and help locate hidden infestations.

Educate yourself about what bed bugs look like, how to recognize bites, and when to call pest control professionals. Bed bugs are hard to kill without professional assistance and a good plan of action.

It is important to inspect all possible hiding places in a room before beginning treatment. A well-informed, prepared homeowner will save a great deal of money and stress.

Use a flashlight to shine light under bed covers and mattresses, paying special attention to the seams. Look at the box springs, and if there is a dust ruffle, pull it back to reveal any bugs hidden underneath. Also examine the mattress tags, under and around the head of the bed, and behind and in the corners of furniture (such as dressers).

If you suspect a problem, take a picture with your phone or camera to show the pest control specialist. Save any live bugs in a pill bottle or other container so they don’t get crushed and can be identified.

Dedicated bed bug detectors, such as the Templar, can be very helpful in identifying infestations. These machines are more accurate than a person’s eyes and may find bugs that can’t be seen by the naked eye. They are expensive, however, and require regular maintenance.

Bed bug interceptors, which work by trapping the bugs as they try to crawl past them, are another option. These are much cheaper than dedicated detectors but don’t pinpoint the location of the bugs.

Many other technologies are being developed to aid in the detection of bed bugs, such as vapor barriers and pheromone traps. These are not yet widely available but may be useful in certain settings. In addition, some chemists have been working on new products that utilize technology from other fields of study, such as thermal imaging or x-rays.

Prevention

Bed bugs are difficult to eradicate once they’re established in a home. However, with vigilance and preventative measures, you can help stop bed bug infestations from getting out of control.

Start by making your home more difficult for the pests to hide in. Get rid of any clutter that might give bed bugs a place to hide, including piles of clothes, toys, books and papers. Vacuuming often might also help, especially along baseboards and floorboards.

When you clean, be sure to use a vacuum with a hose attachment that can reach deep into cracks and crevices. This is particularly important for removing dirt and debris from the corners of rooms, where many bed bug infestations originate.

Inspect all furniture and boxes before bringing them into your home. Look inside drawers and containers, even the spaces between joints in wooden furniture. Check under area rugs and carpet tack strips, as well as behind picture frames, light fixtures, smoke detectors and other wall-mounted items. Be sure to check the seams of mattresses and box springs.

Keep in mind that these insects are good hitchhikers and may be brought into your home from hotels, restaurants or other public places where people sleep. They can also travel by attaching to your clothes, shoes and bags.

Once you’re done with the initial inspection, you can begin to prepare for a bed bug treatment. Move your bed away from the walls to make it easier to treat, and move other furniture away from the walls as well. If possible, seal up cracks and crevices where the pests might find hiding places during a treatment.

Before you do a chemical treatment, wash any infested bedding and curtains in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. You should also vacuum and wipe down all surfaces in the affected room, and encase your mattress and box springs in protective covers.

You should also purchase and install bed bug interceptors under the legs of your beds, plush couches and chairs. These will trap the insects as they try to climb up onto your furniture, and they can be wiped clean with a cotton ball dabbed in talcum powder.

Treatment

If you suspect bed bugs, your first step should be to call a pest control company and have them do a thorough inspection. This will allow them to identify the problem, locate hiding spots and determine the severity of the infestation. The inspection also helps them decide the best course of action for treatment.

The most common treatments for bed bug problems involve heat and/or chemicals. Before these treatments can begin, you’ll need to prepare the room. This should include removing items from drawers, closets and dressers and vacuuming the floor. This will make it easier to reach the hidden areas where bed bugs like to hide. You’ll also need to move furniture away from walls to prevent them from climbing onto it during treatment.

Next, systematically treat the entire room with a contact spray insecticide. This will kill adult bed bugs and some nymphs, but it won’t eliminate all of them. Infestations of this magnitude often require multiple applications of insecticide. Be sure to get all cracks, crevices, wood joints and other void areas, as well as behind baseboards, headboards, pictures, clocks, light fixtures and carpet tack strips.

A vacuum cleaner can be useful for removing dead insects and eggs, but it won’t remove all of the bed bugs from deeply infested cracks and crevices. If you vacuum, it’s important to empty the canister immediately into a plastic bag and seal it before you throw it away.

Washing all infested clothing, linens and other fabrics in hot water or putting them in the dryer for 30 minutes at the highest heat setting will kill most bed bugs. Items that cannot be washed or dried can be isolated in bags and put into the freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit or in special heat chambers designed for bed bug control. Interceptor traps placed under bed and sofa legs can also help, but you must check them frequently.

If all of these methods fail, you’ll need to consider a more comprehensive professional treatment. This could include a fumigation treatment, which is very similar to heat treatment. During the treatment, you and your family will need to stay out of the room while pesticides are applied throughout the home.

Follow-Up

If a bed bug infestation is detected, the area manager and property manager (leased space) or facility/facility managers should work together with pest control experts to examine the problem and decide on treatment options. In general, the preferred method of eradication is heat treatment. This involves heating infested areas to a temperature that is above the thermal death point of the pests. Heat treatments are typically conducted in large, insulated pieces of equipment called portable heat chambers that completely enclose the affected piece or room and pump in heated air around it.

This intense heat is lethal to the pests and penetrates all possible hiding spots where they might hide during treatment. Once a room has been treated, it should be thoroughly inspected to identify any remaining bed bugs and their harborages. Often, the presence of cast skins and eggs is identified during this inspection.

Following treatment, it is recommended that staff follow monitoring and prevention procedures outlined in this guide and report any further sightings of the pests to their managers. Residual chemical treatments, such as interior sprays and dusts, are also effective at controlling bed bugs but require precise placement of the product and thorough application to all surfaces infested by the pests and to cracks and crevices where they might nest and rest. Careful selection of a suitable active ingredient and formulation is important because many pest management professionals have reported that some bed bug populations are resistant to the pyrethroid insecticides most commonly used in recent years.

It is also helpful to use mattress and box spring encasements, which are designed to prevent bed bugs from biting through them. These can be purchased at most major retailers that carry bedding and mattresses. Additionally, removing clutter from a room can help to remove potential bed bug hiding places. Vacuuming the entire area, preferably using a HEPA filtered vacuum, can also significantly reduce the number of pests in an infested area and should be done immediately after a heat or chemical treatment to destroy any surviving bugs and their fecal droppings.