While bed bugs may not be as common as they used to be, it’s still not impossible for your home to become infested with these little critters. This article gives you all the information you will need to know about how to get rid of bed bugs, including how to prevent these from entering your home in the first place.

Bed Bugs Signs

Before looking at how to exterminate them, you will first need to make sure that your home has actually been infested by these bed bugs, and not something else like stink bugs. Some signs that your home has been invaded include:

• Bites of bed bugs. As sad as it may sound, the easiest way for you to identify if your home has been invaded by bed bugs is if you’ve actually been bitten. If you wake up and find that you have rows of welts on your skin, chances are, your mattress has become the home of these insects.
• Molten skin, blood stains, and dark spots. While bed bugs may be good at playing hide-and-seek, these insects actually leave traces that allow you to detect these. If you find molten skin on your bed that’s light brown in color, these may have been left by the nymphs that have molted. Small blood stains can be caused by you rolling over and crushing adult bed bugs that have bitten you. The dark spots can be fecal matter produced by these bloodsucking insects.
• Sweet smells. If your room smells sweet or rotten, beware, because these smells can actually indicate bed bugs making their home in your mattress and other furniture.

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

The best way for you to get rid of your problem is by replacing the furniture. The downside is that you will end up spending a lot of money if you choose this option. Thankfully, there are other options that you can choose in order to exterminate the bed bugs in your home.

Vacuum cleaning is always a great way for you to exterminate these insects. While this may not get rid of all of the bed bugs, it can get rid of most of these. Once you’ve vacuumed your things, it’s now time to kill the surviving bed bugs. Using insecticides may seem to be the easiest and most attractive option, but it’s actually not advisable for you to use these, especially in rooms where people sleep in. Instead, opt for alternative methods to kill these bed bugs. For example, sticky traps and rubbing alcohol can be used to kill these insects. Steam is also a good alternative, as the heat will instantly kill the bed bugs, even the eggs.

The important thing to do when exterminating bed bugs is to be thorough. Don’t just run the vacuum cleaner on the surface of the mattress. Instead, make sure to include the seams, tufts, and edges of the mattress as well. Similarly, clean the other pieces of furniture, carpets, and beddings as well, as the bed bugs may also dwell in these areas. Failing to be thorough can actually lead to your efforts being wasted, as the hatched eggs or surviving insects can simply populate and infest your home once again.

How to Prevent Bed Bugs In the First Place

As people say, prevention is better than cure, which is why your best option to get rid of bed bugs is to ensure that these don’t make their way into your home in the first place. Listed below are some steps that you can take to prevent having these unwanted visitors in your house.

• Avoid buying used furniture. Buying used furniture is actually one of the most common reasons why people end up having a bug infestation in their home. If you’re trying to save up on money, only resort to used furniture if you’ve thoroughly inspected these for any signs of these bugs. Also, make sure that you clean the furniture thoroughly before you bring it inside the house to avoid bug problems.
• Cover your mattress and the cushions and upholstery of your furniture in plastic. Not only will this keep the bugs from entering and dwelling these, these will also trap the bugs inside there, killing these. There are specialty mattresses that can be purchased so you don’t have to make the plastic cover yourself.
• Check your home for cracks or holes. These cracks can be used as entryways by these insects as well as other pests in order to invade your home. Make sure to inspect your home for any cracks and seal these accordingly.
• Regular cleaning. By keeping your home clean and clutter-free, you will be reducing the chances of these bugs from invading your home.

Bed bugs are a common problem in a household. If you’ve already taken these steps and still are not able to get rid of the insects, it may be a good idea to call an exterminator to deal with the problem for you – that is the final frontier when it comes to how to get rid of bed bugs.