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Almost everyone is quite familiar with the word “Bed Bugs.” Those are ebarressing and create discomfort during sleep. So it is essential to know “How to get rid of bed bugs in a mattress?”
It is found in all countries but in most homes, hotels, halls, schools, restaurants, public transports, poultry farms, and so on. They are not responsible for transmitting any diseases, but liable for an itchy red wound on the skin.
Through homemade remedies cannot eradicate the insects, it helps to reduce some. The most effective is to call the professionals as they are experts. Now let us know every detail about bed bugs, why it comes, and how to get rid of it.
What are bed bugs?
Bed bugs are small, round, oval, blackish, or brownish insects that live on the blood of humans and animals at night. Adult bed bugs are flat and apple seed size. After sucking blood from living beings, their body bloats and becomes reddish in color.
Bed bugs can move very fast on floors, walls, and top but cannot fly. They can clearly be seen from close but can hardly be seen from far.
Female bed bugs can lay about hundreds of eggs at a time. The eggs seem like freckles of dust. They can grow very fast in a favorable environment and can survive without feeding for even a year.
Types of bed bugs
There are many types of bed bugs. Out of those, five of them live on the blood of living beings. They are Cimex hemipterus, Cimex adjunctus, Leptocimex boueti, Haematosiphon inodora, and Cimex lectularius. These are the scientific names of the bed bugs.
Among them, Cimex lectularius is the most common. This is the species found in all countries of many homes as they can survive in all seasons, temperature, and climate.
Cimex hemipterus also lives on the blood of living beings, but they are most commonly found in tropical regions like Florida.
Cimex adjunctus are also originated in tropical areas as well as high-temperature place, but they feed the blood of bats.
Haematosiphon inodora is found in the poultry farm of North America. They choose domestic birds as their host.
How to get rid of bed bugs in a mattress?
Bed bugs are a serious issue nowadays. They are found in almost all houses, but many cannot realize it as it comes out at night. You can always fight with your enemy if you can see them, but if you cannot identify them, it will be impossible to fight even with a weapon. So first, you will have to identify the insects.
There are two ways to get rid of bed bugs. One is a homemade remedy, and the other is the professional method.
Homemade remedy
- First, you will have to give your mattress adequate sunlight and wipe your bed so that no dust or insect can grow in them.
- Wash the bedsheets, pillowcases with warm water.
- A vacuum cleaner can also be used. With high power, it can be used to suck out the insects from carpet, mattress, and sofa.
- If yet, it does not work, then make a mixture of pesticide and water and pour it in a spray bottle. Spray the mixture in every corner.
- Keep some baking soda in every corner of your bed for about a week
- You can also use a heater to get rid of it. Set the heater at 45 degrees to 50 degrees overnight.
- Apply 20 drops of tea tree oil in water and spray the mixture in all furniture, mattress, and clothes.
- Black walnut tea can be used not only to get rid of bed bugs but also the eggs.
- EPA approved diatomaceous earth can be used very carefully with masks and hand gloves. It takes about 7 days to show the result.
- One teaspoon of cayenne pepper, grated ginger, oregano essential oil, and a cup of water can be used by boiling for 7 to 10 minutes. Spray the solution in the corners where bed bugs hide.
- Lavender and peppermint oil can be sprayed. It is also safe for domestic animals but helps to kill bed bugs.
- Rub 70 % alcohol on the corners of the bed. Less than that will not be effective.
- To avoid all these complications, you can also buy medicines that are found in the market.
Professional method
If the bed bugs are very much difficult to control, then it is time to take the help of professionals. They will remove the bed bugs from the root starting from the eggs. Bed bugs are usually found in a large number; that is why it is mandatory to call the professionals to get rid of it.
- They use an organic pest controller to control its growth.
- They also use cryonite treatment, heat treatment, and steam treatment as they are eco-friendly.
- There are more than 300 chemicals that are used for this treatment. These chemicals include desiccants, pyrethroids, pyrethrins, biochemicals, etc.
When is it essential to call a professional?
Suppose there are thousands and thousands of bed bugs in every corner in your house, and it is impossible for you to sleep at night, then it is high time you should take expert’s help.
Before starting the professional procedures, you should take all the information from your pest control operator (PCO). Your question may include
- Do they have approval by the state?
- How many days would it take?
- What type of chemicals will they use?
- Will the chemicals be harmful to human society?
- Will it be the permanent treatment?
- Will they need any other session?
- What will be the cost of the total treatment?
There might be some other questions in your mind. Ask them freely so that you do not feel hesitant in the future.
Why do bed bugs come in a mattress?
Bed bugs usually come in dark and warm places. This is their most favorable environment. And the reason bed bugs choose a mattress is the mattress always remains warm as it is made of foam.
Another reason is as the bed bugs live on blood, they can get fresh blood of humans at night, and their target will not even have any sensation if they are in a deep sleep.
Other than mattresses, they are also found in items of furniture, clothes, curtain, carpet, and so on. They can even travel from one place to another with the help of the host body.
From where do bed bugs come?
Bed bugs can grow in your home or even come from outside like public places, public transportations, and your friend’s or relative’s house or hotel room. So be very much careful while visiting someone’s home or using some other’s thing.
Check the bedsheet of the home and hotel before sleeping. You can use your phone’s flashlight to detect the eggs and the adult bed bugs. Immediately kill the insect after seeing with the help of anything or your leg’s thumb finger. Do not throw it outside because it might come back.
Always try to bask your mattress, curtain, clothes, and light furniture under sunlight. It will not only help to get rid of dust but also any insects hiding.
Where do bed bugs hide?
Bed bugs are so tiny that they can play hide and seek with us, and we can hardly find them. They hide in every possible corner of the home and hotels, starting from the mattress, pillow, bedsheet, curtain, carpet, electric switch, wallpaper, clothes, and furniture like sofa, closet, bed, table, chair, and so on.
They hide there all day long and come out at night when nobody can find them easily except nocturnals. Their flat body made them possible to hide in tiny spaces and holes. They live in a group rather than being individual. Maybe they understand the proverb very nicely that “Unity is strength.”
When and where do bed bugs bite?
Bed bugs are generally dynamic at night and bite sleeping human beings. They suck blood for about 3 to 10 minutes and then leave unnoticed.
They suck blood from the neck, ears, and hands. In summary, they bite the body parts that get exposed while sleeping. But if you are also fully cover, they get inside your cloth can suck your blood.
Some may think that mosquitos are biting them, but when they wake up in the morning and finds red inflammatory skin, they understand a kind of insects might have bitten them. The ground part itches and leaves a spot because of a long time sucking by insects.
How do bed bugs spread?
It is very much easy for bed bugs to increase their members through reproduction. Their reproduction is very high then other insects. From only one house, it is possible to transmit bed bugs throughout a whole city.
They travel through travelers’ luggage, clothes, and bags. If a house full of bed bugs remain empty, then they go to other’s house like a guest walking through the walls, floors, open ceilings, pipes, cables, and so on.
Bed bugs like to live in dirt place, so bringing others used furniture is also a method of spreading. Usually, it takes a month to transmit from one place to another.
How to identify if you have bed bugs in your mattress?
There are a bunch of ways to identify if you have bed bugs in your mattress or not. Those are as follows:
- In the morning, if you have red puffy marks and itchy feeling, then be sure that there are bed bugs in your home.
- At midnight if you wake up because of the feeling that something is biting, then it is bed bugs.
- Blood tint in your pillow and bedsheet.
- There will be dark and freckles like spots on your corner of the mattress and bedsheet.
- A musty smell will come from the mattress, bedsheet, and pillow cover.
- Eggshells or dead bed bugs will be found in the corners of the mattress.
Problems due to the biting of bed bugs
You might think that it is normal to get bite by bed bugs, but no. Though the bite may feel painless when your blood is their food, most people have an allergic reaction due to their spit that is spread during the bite. As a result, the bitten body part becomes red bumps, itchy, and puffy.
Internal health-related problems can also be seen as anemia, loss of blood, headache due to difficulties sleeping at night. You also might need to visit the doctor or buy medicines which are available over the counter.
They do not transmit other harmful diseases like AIDS, but according to the medical report, more than 20 types of infections have been detected due to their biting.
Treatments due to the bite of bed bugs
You can find some medicines in the dispensary or departmental store if you experience bed bugs bite. Some of the drugs are as follows:
- Apply an anti-itch cream that contains hydrocortisone or cortisone.
- Apply calamine lotion overnight to dry out the rash or spot.
- Take allergy tablets after the meal to control the itching.
- Use topical antiseptic cream containing pramoxine for ache release and diphenhydramine for allergy control.
- Ibuprofen or naproxen medicine can be taken to get relief from pain.
How can you prevent bed bugs from entering your home?
Every home does not have bed bugs. But if your home has, then no need to panic. It will help if you are very much careful about it from before. You can also prevent bed bugs from coming to your home, following a few steps. Read it carefully to avoid the mistakes that you might make.
- Do not buy used furniture. If you have already purchased, then inspect it before letting them into your house.
- Never bring rejected mattresses, box springs, and bed frames to save a little money.
- After coming from a tour, immediately wash your clothes. Do not keep it just like that because from 2 to 3-bed bugs, there can be hundreds of them.
The life cycle of bed bugs
The life cycle of bed bugs is egg, nymph, and adult. Female bed bugs lay around 100 to 200 eggs for about 3 to 4 times a day. After having blood, they become ready to lay eggs.
They lay eggs at the edges of the mattresses, box springs, and bed frames. The eggs look like freckles, and they attach like glue on a rough surface. The eggs then hatch into nymph within 1 to 2 weeks.
They remain in the nymph stage for about 2 to 3 weeks. At this time, they search for their food, which is human blood. Now it is time to become an adult.
They change their skin or shell for about five times before going to the adult stage. So it takes about 1 to 2 months to become an adult bed bugs from an egg under a favorable environment.
Now the mature bed bugs are ready to mate. Like this, the above life cycle goes on. Moreover, a bed bug lives for about six months to a year. During this time, they feed every ten days, but they can also live for several months without a blood meal.
Bed bugs versus mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are also a kind of insects like bed bugs. Most people do not want to convince themselves that there are bed bugs in their home.
The reason is mosquitoes bite and bed bugs bite are almost the same. There are no significant differences. Both of them live a puffy red sign and itchy feeling.
But mosquitoes are more dangerous than bed bugs. Mosquitoes help to transmit diseases that bed bugs do not. Bed bugs are responsible for more than 20 diseases that are not injuries to health.
You can quickly kill mosquitoes by applying the aerosol spray, but it is not possible in the case of bed bugs as they hide in every possible corner. You cannot even sleep properly at night because of bed bugs. They can climb up in your body and suck your blood anytime at night.
Conclusion
So the article mentioned above covers all the necessary information about bed bugs. Moreover, you have also learned about “How to get rid of bed bugs in a mattress?”
Bed bugs are hard to see, but they are not invisible. So, no need to be hyper after seeing a bed bug. Instead, stay calm and think about what you should do now.
But in case you are completely blank or cannot even identify what these tiny little creatures are, then read the whole article to know every piece of information about them. Then you can fight with them effortlessly and can have a peaceful sleep every night.