We all are familiar with the rhyme “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite,” turns out it is the truth!

Bed bugs are nasty critters that creep up to you in the night and suck your blood, and you don’t even notice them till they are gone. Only to find yourself waking up in the morning having welts all over your arm and legs. It is a horrifying and itchy feeling.

I happened to sit down with an expert to learn about the issues and how to get rid and kill these bed bugs for good. According to research done in 2018, it is no shame to accept the bed bugs have reached an epidemic level in states all over the world. These bloodsucking creatures are highly resilient and hide in small places hard to reach.

It is the best course of action when you face-off with these creepy crawlers:

Identify It Is Bed Bug

Most of the time, it is not even bed bugs. Sometimes fleas are the ones to blame. It can be challenging to differentiate the bed bug apart from fleas. First of all, the bite marks are different. The bite of a flea has a center to the rash or welt. Whereas the bed bug bite has no center to it. Their size is different, the bed bug is bigger, and the flea is smaller.

Bed bugs don’t spread any disease, but fleas can. They act as vectors to diseases. So if it is a flea infestation, you need to be more concerned!

Preparation

Now once you make sure you are dealing with bed bug infestation, you need to be very careful as they can spread and infect other areas of the house. To find the areas that are infected, you need to be on the lookout for these things:

• Bedbugs are reddish and small to about 1/4th of an inch.
• Bedbug droppings. These are like dark black spots.

• Red stains on mattress depicting crushed bed bugs.
• Bed bug shedding. These are small yellowish.
• Bed bug eggs. These are similar to shedding but are eggs, yuck!

If you spot any such things, it indicates that the area is infested with bed bugs and needs sealing from the rest of the house.

Containment

Once you know the infested areas, you should use a vacuum cleaner to catch and trap the bedbugs. Seal all the infested articles in the room. The potential things are your mattress, bed sheets, box spring, carpets, dressers, clothes, pillows, soft toys, electronic equipment.

Gather all these things and seal them in a black garbage disposal bag. You should keep them in hot or cold places. For example, you can use your refrigerator or use hot steam cleaners. Experts say bed bugs are resistant, but they will die under extreme temperatures.

Whichever method you use, make sure that they are contained and not spread.

Kill Them

Now the best way to kill them is with heat. You can wash your beddings with hot water, use steamer on mattress, couches. You should buy a bed case to make sure no bed bugs enter it again, and the ones inside remain in and die eventually of hunger.

The next step includes the use of insecticides and chemicals. The chemical treatment will kill all the bugs in the vicinity. You can use a wide range of pesticides like.

• Pyrroles.
• Foggers.
• Neonicotinoids.
• Plant oil-based products.
• Pyrethrins.
• Dessicants.

These tips will help you contain the infestation before it spreads to the whole house, and exterminate them efficiently. I recommend taking professional assistance when dealing with chemicals, as inexperience and slight mistakes can result in re-infestations.