A bed bug is a type of bug that feeds off of blood, similar to a Tic. They hide in the folds of your mattress, in the box springs, and even in the headboard of your bed and bite exposed skin while you are sleeping.
Luckily these bugs are not known to transmit any diseases, but like any insect bite, they are not pleasant to deal with.
8 Ways to Prevent a Bed Bug Infestation
These little bugs are quick movers and will use wooden skirtings and carpets to travel throughout your house. The good news is that a bed bug infestation is preventable if you are able to catch it early.
Cover Your Mattress
There are a few products available for completely sealing and covering your mattress so that bed bugs are unable to set up a nest. These covers are unlike your fitted sheet and cover the entire mattress.
They usually have a zip or velcro to seal it up, preventing any bugs from being able to enter. This will not solve any existing infestations and is purely a preventative measure.
Inspect Your Furniture Often
The name ‘Bed Bug’ implies that they can only be found in and around the bed, this cannot be further from the truth. Due to their survival instincts and reproductive rates, bed bugs can spread anywhere in the house that gives a similar habitat to the bed.
Be sure to check your living room furniture, comfortable chairs, and all linen that is kept in cupboards that have come into contact with your furniture.
When it comes to prevention, you need to be one step ahead at all times. That’s achieved by stopping any infestations early on rather than later.
Inspect & Clean Pre-Owned Items
Repurposing old and used furniture or material is a growing craze with antique and thrift stores becoming a popular place for furniture shopping. In most cases, these stores will clean the items and prepare them for resale.
For your own peace of mind, always try to organize a thorough cleaning of pre-owned items before you have them delivered to your home or office space. Having bed bugs for just an hour can be enough time for them to spread onto other objects and find their way to your bed.
Check Your Pet's Bed
To beat the bed bugs, you will need to think like a bed bug and see every warm, comfortable spot as a possible nesting ground. Your pet’s bed is an easy target for bed bugs because it’s usually directly on the ground making it easily accessible, especially if you have carpets.
Include this as a “piece of furniture” when you do your inspections. The good thing about pet beds is that they usually have a cover that is removable and can be washed regularly. If this isn’t the case for your particular pet bed, try to get a cover for the bed that can be placed on top.
Reduce Clutter
Clutter or storage that is stacked against the wall is one of the most appealing hiding places for bed bugs as it usually creates a warm environment with easy access through the walls to spread when the time comes.
If you are already fighting a bed bug infestation and have wondered why the problem is persisting, you might not have considered this area of your home where they can move and spread faster than you can find them.
If you do need to store things inside your home, make use of vacuum-sealable bags and containers so that your items are protected from bed bugs and a variety of other household bugs as well as reducing the risk of creating a breeding ground.
Vacuum Your Floor and Furniture
It has been mentioned briefly, but bed bugs love to travel and a carpet is their favorite way to move around. Because these bugs are so small a carpet is a lush wonderland for them to move around freely without risk of being spotted.
When battling or preventing an infestation, your vacuum is an important weapon to have. Vacuum your entire house, even if your house has wood flooring or tiles, vacuum the carpets next to your bed or in the bathroom.
Once you are done, it’s extremely important to clean out the vacuum bag or chamber and discard the contents into a sealable plastic bag and then place the bag in an outside bin so that the bed bugs are not able to escape back into your home.
Cover Your Power Outlets
Before the professionals arrive, make sure that you cover all your wall power outlets. Your service provider will probably tell you the same thing or offer it as part of the package.
The reason for covering your power outlets is, bed bugs will try and escape extermination by fleeing into the openings of these outlets. They would either hide out there until it’s safe for them to immerse again or in some cases, they can travel from room to room through the electrical channels in your walls.
If you live in an apartment block and your neighbors are treating bed bugs, it would be beneficial for you to cover your outlets as well to avoid your home becoming the new nesting ground.
Call Our Pest Control Company
Sometimes, no matter how hard you have worked to prevent an infestation, the bed bugs win and start to take over your home. If this is the case, do not try and fight this battle alone, call in the experts for bed bug control in Las Vegas.
There is a reason why this profession exists and they sure know what they are doing. They will be able to assess the problem and know exactly what measures to take to get your home bug-free.
There are measures that professional service providers will be able to take that you could not, for example, high-pressure steam cleaning of mattresses, carpeting, and wooden skirtings. You may need to move out of your house for a day or two while it’s fumigated, but it will all be worth it in the end.