Bed bugs are small, flat, invasive insects that rely on the blood of sleeping humans and animals as their sole source of food. These unattractive pests are reddish brown in color and about 1mm to 7mm long. While they depend on blood to stay alive, they can go several months between meals. Because a healthy female bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime, a serious infestation can occur within a few weeks.
Because bed bugs reproduce quickly, it’s important to find them before they breed.
Once you’ve identified an active bed bug infestation, you need to contain it so it doesn’t spread.
A quick and easy way to contain live bed bugs is to vacuum them up with your vacuum.
To get rid of these pests, Smith’s Pest Management’s Zach Smith shared “three natural home remedies” households can use to get rid of bed bugs.
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Steam forms from water at 100 degrees, so it’s already well above the kill point required to kill bed bugs instantly. Steam will kill pretty much any insect at this temperature.
In most cases, steam applied slowly and evenly to just about any surface (that it is safe to apply steam to) will be effective in killing bed bugs.
If you have clothing to use a steamer wand on, slowly swipe it over it as you normally would.
If you have specific pieces of furniture that can handle humidity and temperature, slowly walk across the flat levels and focus on crevices and areas where there are bolts and screws, because that’s where bed bugs would hide.
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As for the pesticides, the expert said they have relatively “low toxicity” to pets and humans and are “quick-acting”. You also need a low dose to kill bugs.
The downside, however, is that some bed bugs are resistant to these chemicals. In this case you may need to use an alternative insecticide, e.g. B. Pyrroles such as chlorfenapyr or neonicotinoids, which are synthetic versions of nicotine.
2. Use a desiccant
Desiccants are substances that kill insects by destroying their protective coating. Without this coating, the bugs will dry out and die, according to Zach.
He noted, “Two popular desiccants are silica airgel and diatomaceous earth. Bed bugs cannot become resistant to desiccants, and these substances have a high kill rate.”
