How To Control Bed Bugs With These Green Methods
Bed bugs are tiny, brownish insects measuring about a 1/5 of an inch; full grown adults are about the same size as a ladybird and can be seen by the naked eye. They are oval, flattened and wingless insects that are more of a nuisance than a danger and move by crawling. A recent survey by Pest Control magazine indicated a rise of about 20% in people complaining about bed bugs in the past 2 years. Bed bugs thrive by sucking human blood when people are sleeping and they leave red itchy dots that may become infected when scratched.
Once an individual realizes that their home is infested by bed bugs, they should react immediately as a bed bug infestation can spread very fast. If it is an apartment this might require a coordinated effort since bed bugs can easily move from one apartment to the other. Of course the best way to deal with an infestation is to hire a pest control company, but you can try to control bed bugs with these “green” methods;
Sunlight
Bed bugs like to hide in cracks and the dark corners of beds, to eradicate the problem, remove all the infested materials and air them out on the sun. The heat from the sun will kill all the crawling insects as they can’t withstand the sun. However this method doesn’t destroy eggs that would later hatch.
Heat Treatment
Isolate all the bedding materials suspected of having bed bugs and subject them to extreme heat such as immersing sheets in hot water. Unlike the sunlight approach, this kills both the eggs and adults thus being one of the most effective simple ways to handle an infestation. There is no need to throw away beddings as getting new ones will incur an additional cost.
Insecticides
Selecting an insecticide can be a daunting task since different brands work differently i.e. some sprays only work by contact thus not effective for bugs that are in cracks while others dry out rendering them useless. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is an abrasive dust that kills when insects come in contact; it is inexpensive and can be bought online or at garden centres.
In order to ascertain that the above methods have indeed been successful, place interceptor cups under the bed posts. If they are still bed bugs, some will be trapped in the cups. This allows an individual track the success of the methods they are using.
