Bed Bug – Prevention

If you live in an apartment or condominium a good way to prevent bed bugs from travelling through the walls into your unit is to use caulking or expanding foam, seal all the cracks around baseboards and wall outlets.

Install bed bug covers on both the Box Spring and Mattress and on all the beds in your house to prevent them from making a home in the seams of your mattress.

Never pick up furniture from the side of the road. As tempting as that great vintage piece may look, it could end up costing you your sanity. If you do bring in something secondhand, be sure to check for any sign of bed bugs. Don’t get confused between cookie crumbs and bed bug remains. Check for tell-tale black streaks of feces or blood.

When staying in a hotel, check in and around the bed for signs of them, like their skins and their eggs. Look in the mattress seams, around and behind the headboard, in the staples of the box spring and in all other dark places and crevices.

Keep your bags packed and up off the floor. Even go so far as to keep your suitcase in the bathtub to prevent the bed bugs from crawling in. Check your bags thoroughly for any signs that you have transported bugs in your luggage once you return home. Wash and clean your belongings immediately.

You might want to part with some stuff so that the bed bugs have less hiding places.

Your first line of defense is heating in the dryer for half an hour. You do not need to wash the clothes first.

Bed Bugs love wood. You may want to remove and store headboard and wood bed frame. Replace wood frames with metal.

Place the traps under the legs of your bed frame. Bed bugs only need to feed once a week. It can take a few weeks before you catch some, however, you should see a few within 4 or 5 days.

Place glue boards under the bed’s legs.

Place in metal caps under bed legs.

Rub the bed and dresser legs with any of these items to stop them climbing up.

Some people believe that sleeping with the lights will stop the bugs from biting. On the contrary, they become used to the light and will feed any time of the day or night.

Over-the-counter sprays don’t work. Spraying the bed or your body with insecticides does not typically work because these sprays do not repel them.

Sounds crazy, but move your bed 1 m away from the wall.

A warm temperature in which to breed, and human or animal blood to feed on.