Bedbugs bothering you? Here's what you can do

 

You wake up with mysterious bite marks on your skin, there are suspicious smears of blood on the double bedsheet, and you feel itchy in the night. Your first thought is that you have a skin infection, but it’s most likely a bedbug infestation. Bedbugs enter the home when you travel, go to the movies, or sit on a bench or seat that has them – they then come inside the house with you and take up residence where they can find a human host to feed on. Most often, you will find them hiding in the bed and sitting furniture.

Bedbug infestations are horrible for the home, and they can cause serious skin infections. They are also difficult to control and take weeks of repeated treatment. But don’t buy online double bedsheets, new blankets and pillow covers just yet – you might be able to tackle the problem yourself if bedbugs have recently entered the home.

How to remove bedbugs from your bed

Immediate steps on spotting bedbugs or experiencing bites in your sleep can eliminate the problem altogether. You might not need a professional cleaning service if only a few bugs are seen. You can follow these steps:

• Strip the bed of the double bedsheets, mattress topper, pillow covers, quilt or comforter, etc. Put them all aside separately in large bags to await washing.
• Check the crevices of the mattress and the folds of pillows with a torch. Bedbugs live in them and also lay eggs in a row in these spots. Similarly, remove the mattress off the bed frame and check if any bedbugs are lurking there. If there are storage drawers under the bed, you must remove their contents and check for bugs there too.
• Heat is the only thing that kills bedbugs, so get a handheld steamer and slowly steam the folds of pillows, the mattress crevices, bedframe and joints, etc. If you suspect that the problem has spread throughout the house, you must steam the sofas and other furniture with upholstery.
• Spray a solution of vinegar and water in 1:1 proportion all over the mattress and pillows and allow them to dry in strong sunlight.
• Meanwhile, you must treat your bedding with heat. Use the heat setting on your washing machine to wash the bedsheets, pillow covers and blankets. Use a long cycle and a vinegar solution in the detergent so that any lurking bedbugs and their eggs are killed. You don’t need to wash the bedding if you have a dryer at home – simply pop the bedding in the dryer and give it a blast of heat to kill the critters.
• Re-treat the treated bedding with one more cycle of heat a day after the last such treatment, to completely eliminate the problem.

Get new bedding if…

• The numbers of bedbugs have already multiplied manifold. In this case, it is not safe to treat the bugs by yourself. Discard all the affected bedding and buy double bedsheets online and keep them in the packaging till your house is treated completely.
• Buy cotton double bedsheets online because they are easy to clean and can withstand high temperatures in the washing machine and dryer.
• Do strip the bed of the mattress and other bedding and spray it every day with a bug pesticide for a period of two weeks from the start of the bedbug treatment.
• Enlist the help of a professional pest control company to heat treat and spray the affected areas. Usually, two full sessions are required to break the life cycle of the bedbugs, from killing adult bugs to removing eggs and bug faeces.