Having bed bugs in your mattress is a relatively common problem, and it can be a real nuisance as well. Bed bugs often bite, and their bites can cause rashes and other skin complaints. As they are quite small, it can often be challenging to know when you have bed bugs. They are brown and are circular or oval-shaped. Bed bugs feed on the blood of humans and animals, which is why they bite. A bed bug bite is often very itchy. Once they have fed, however, they tend to become reddish-brown and swell somewhat, making them larger.
Bed bugs often hide in tiny spaces and places between bed frames and headboards. The insects live for around seven months, and they have a life cycle with different stages. While it is possible to kill bed bugs or eradicate them, it is better to prevent bed bugs from infesting your home altogether.
How to Check for Bedbugs?
It can be challenging to know when you have a bed bug infestation, as the bugs are very difficult to see with the naked eye alone. However, there are some signs that you may have one or several infested areas in your house. One indication is a distinctive musty odor, which comes from the bugs’ scent glands. Other signs that you may have bed bugs living in your bed are bites on your body or blood left on your sheets, mattress protector, or mattress cover. This is because the bugs biting you may draw blood, but you might not notice the bites themselves until they start itching.
Bed bugs can also leave eggshells in the spots where they tend to hide. These areas can be quite varied and can include parts of the bed or the surrounding furniture. Bed bugs can even live in your electrical outlets. They are primarily known for infesting mattresses, which is why you must check your mattress thoroughly if you believe that you might have a bed bug infestation. This includes the proof cover, as bed bugs can live in here as well.
How to Clean the Area and Kill Bed Bugs?
If you find bed bugs in your bedroom or your mattress, then you must kill the bed bugs and clean the area thoroughly to prevent any re-infestation. It would be best if you assumed that all parts of the bedroom are infested and treat the areas accordingly. This includes cleaning all the linen and bedding that you have been using, as well as the furniture that you use.
You may need to wash stuffed toys and clothes, and you also need to vacuum the area frequently. This includes all parts of the bed, including at the feet of the bed, and in your clothes drawers as well. You may even want to take apart the bed frame if possible, to ensure a thorough clean. Once you have vacuumed, you should inspect the inside of the vacuum at the hose attachment to make sure that you have not accumulated any bed bug.
Bed bugs are very resilient, which is why you must be very careful about moving anything from the infested area to another part of the house. They can quickly infest that area, too. When you take bedding or toys to wash them, you should cover all of the linen or the items so that you minimize the chance of any bed bugs falling from the linen and being able to infest another part of the house. You might like to try doing so by using a plastic bag to transport the linen and bedding.
It’s also imperative that you wash everything at high heat, as this is the only way you can ensure that you kill the bed bugs. If you have a lot of cleaning to do, you might find that it’s more comfortable or more convenient to take the items to a laundromat instead of washing them at home. If you do so, make sure you use hot water at the laundry to do the washing. It would be best if you also scrubbed all areas in the infested part of your house with a stiff brush to disperse any eggs or bugs that you can’t see.
If you do not want to replace your mattress, then you should purchase a mattress cover that can cover both the mattress and box springs and keep the cover on the mattress for at least a year. This stops bed bugs from entering or leaving the mattress and is quite a reliable method for preventing further spread of bed bug infestation, or bed bugs re-infesting the mattress once you have thoroughly cleaned the infected area.
Preventing Re-infestation
Once you have cleaned every part of the infested area, you should use a pesticide product to help eradicate the bugs. Make sure you closely follow any instructions on the packaging, as pesticides can be quite toxic and, therefore, dangerous. Something else that can help is employing the services of pest control companies if you feel you need assistance in eliminating bed bugs from the area altogether.
You can also use bed bug traps to prevent re-infestation. In many cases, these actions combined are enough to eliminate bed bugs in your bedroom or home and to ensure that they do not re-infest the area in the future. However, if you want to be entirely certain that they do not return, you may instead choose to replace your mattress altogether.
Finding a New Mattress
It can be difficult to find a new mattress or to choose one from the huge range of mattresses available today. Many people find the sheer number of options overwhelming. On our website, you can find a myriad of honest reviews from our team of experts on the different mattresses available on the market. A mattress can be quite an investment, so it’s important to ensure that you choose the right one for you, especially if you have just had to replace your old mattress due to bed bug infestation. However, this is the most foolproof way to ensure that bed bugs do not return to your bedroom.
On our site, we also have comparisons of different mattresses, as well as lists of which types of mattresses are best suited to different types of sleeping habits – like best mattress for side sleepers, back sleepers or stomach sleepers. You can find a wealth of knowledge and information on our site to help you choose the best new mattress for yourself or your family. With this in mind, we can make the process of finding a new mattress much easier and more straightforward than it might otherwise be. Why do all that research into a new mattress, when we’ve already done it for you?
