Learn how to kill bed bugs fast. What Kills Bed Bugs instantly? How can I kill beg bugs fast using Pesticides? Read this article to learn of the effective methods for the swift killing of bed bugs found in homes.
Apart from addressing the use of pesticides in bed bug control, I will also explain how you can use a bed bug monitor to kill bed bugs instantly. Finally, I examine the cost of professional bed bug elimination.
Page Contents
What is a Bed Bug?
Bed bugs, commonly known as Cimex lectularius, are tiny, flattened, brownish pests that solely consume animal or human blood. They usually bite people and any other warm-blooded animal including rodents, birds, cats, and dogs.
The history of bed bugs dates back to the times of Aristotle as noted in classical Greek writings and medieval European manuscripts.
What Is Bed Bug Infestation
Bedbug infestation is a menace that many people face today. The pest infestation problem does not only occur in domestic households but also in dormitories, hotels, and other residential places.
An adult bed bug measures approximately 3/16” long. The pest is oval-shaped and reddish-brown with a compressed body. The nature of their body and color enhances their propensity to hide in furniture and mattresses.
Due to their small size, it becomes hard to control the infestation.
The existence of one female fertile bed bug is enough to cause bed bug infestation. The bugs just require a friendly atmosphere like multiple or a single-family dwelling for the pest infestation to happen.
As a blood-fed, healthy female bed bug may yield between 200 and 500 strong and healthy eggs in her generation. On a typical day, she may also lay from 2 to 5 eggs.
Thus, the possibility of bed bug infestation is very high except if a good pest management professional is contacted to offer bed bug control programs to eradicate the infestation.
What Causes Bed Bugs to Come
As highlighted in the article in our previous articles, the major cause of bed bugs to get attracted to our homes is human, and animal habitats are their blood.
Neither filth nor poverty causes bed bugs as many people believe. These pests care less if you are dirty or clean, or wealthy or poor.
They only require a good atmosphere where they can hide and reach their hosts for a bite. They are good hitchhikers and can, therefore, ride on any household item accidentally to reach your home.
Bed bugs like to live where the action is.
Given that they travel by hitchhiking, the common places for their infestation are areas with high human population turnover.
When people come in and out of these places, they increase the risk of spreading bed bugs.
What Kills Bed Bugs Instantly?
Like I said in the article Bed Bug Exterminators near Me: Cost & Reviews, one can kill bed bugs instantly by vacuuming and use of hot steam.
Freezing bed bug habitats may also lead to the instant death of these pests.
However, seeking the help of a professional on how to eliminate bed bugs is the best approach. However, there are other ways one can kill bed bugs instantly. They include:
- Dust the infested area with diatomaceous earth.
- Clean or discard all household items with bed bug infestation signs.
- Run the surface of the infested area with a commercial steamer.
Diatomaceous earth: The use of diatomaceous earth to instantly kill bed bugs works effectively. It’s a power manufactured from tiny aquatic organisms’ fossil remains. The powder kills bed bugs fast by dehydrating them
Clean or Discard Infested Objects: Cleaning the bedding off the bed bug-infested bed is the first significant step towards eliminating these pests very fast. It encompasses killing as many bed bugs from the bedding and bed before cleaning them in hot water. Use the highest dryer setting to dry them. Vacuum the room afterward
Use a Commercial Steamer: Use can use a commercial steamer to kill bed bugs fast, especially on carpet flooring. The steamer provides very high temperatures that kill the roaming pests on the fabric floor surface instantly. It also helps to kill bed bugs hiding in cracks and crevices.
Bed Bugs Pictures
When inspecting the presence of bed bugs at your residence or business, understand that they go through a lifecycle. The pests start with an egg to nymph or infancy before reaching adulthood.
The lifecycle of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs depend on a blood meal to place eggs and develop. It takes ten days for the eggs to hatch. They become adult bed bugs after two to four months as depicted in the diagram below.
Pictures of Adult Bed Bugs
The pictures below show bed bugs in their adulthood. They measure in lengths about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inches. Their color turns dull dark after feeding on blood. When hatched, the color of the bugs look like straw or has no color.
Bed bug Flat view
Bed Bug Magnified View
Bed Bug Side View
Bed Bug Pictures on Skin
Bed bugs take a maximum of 10 minutes to feed on the skin. One bug can bite the skin multiple times. Every bed bug feeds on blood after a couple of days before going back to its place of hiding.
They turn out when they feel like feeding again as depicted in the picture below:
Puffed-Up and Non-Puffed-Up Pictures
The photo on the left shows the unfed bed bug on the host. One on the right demonstrated a puffed-up bed bug with blood.
Pictures of Bed Bugs on Mattress
Usually, bed bugs climb up the headboard or bed legs. The reason for that is the attraction to humans’ exhaled carbon dioxide. Mattresses are their convenient hiding areas since it provides them easy access to the source of the blood meal.
Picture of Actual Bed Bug Size on Mattress
Photos of Bed Bug Blood Stains and Fecal Smears
Pictures of Bed Bug Eggs
The picture illustrates Bed Bug eggs on household furniture comprising nymph or just born bedbug and adult bed bugs.
Bed bug egg is curved and about 1/25 inch. The laid eggs stick in a cluster. The egg takes between 4 days and 12 days to hatch. The bug feeds for one day after being hatched.
Bed Bugs Rash
The picture depicts a bed bug skin rash taken approximately 30 minutes after the bite. The reaction to the bite may take between one and two days to disappear. The rash lasts for a maximum of 24 hours.
Although bed bugs can bite anybody, those allergic to the bites get red irritated skin. The reason why the symptoms of bed bug bite may vary from one person to the other is explained in the article, How Do You Get Bed Bugs In The First Place?
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Yourself
Can you eliminate or treat bed bugs by yourself? Sure, but note that getting rid of bed bugs on your own is somehow challenging because they are excellent at hiding and reproducing rapidly.
Moreover, they resist any kind of treatment approach employed in the egg stage. Therefore, one elimination attempt may not be enough to eradicate them.
Getting rid of bed bugs can be a complex affair. Several factors may determine to chances of success including:
- The nature of the infestation
- Situation-related challenges like
- The level of engagement of all residents,
- The amount of infested neighbors, and
- Clutter
It can take weeks, if not months, to completely control bed bug infestation by yourself. That level of achievement largely depends on the level of cooperation from all the affected people and the extent and nature of the infestation.
However, the most effective way of getting rid of bed bugs by yourself is to contain the spread of the infestation through:
- Responsible discard of furniture if it cannot be saved.
- Seal and treat whatever is detached from the room plastic bag.
- If bed bugs cannot be eradicated from discarded furniture, keep the houseware.
- After every use, empty the vacuum.
Before doing that, you need to formulate all the necessary treatment steps on a calendar. Below are steps that may help you do that:
- Ascertain the issue.
- Create a plan.
- Contain the infestation from spreading.
- Get ready for treatment.
- Eliminate the bed bugs.
- Assess and inhibit.
Bed Bugs in Hair
Many people see bed bugs hiding in their hair or crawling around it, and get worried. But, it’s unlikely to experience such an encounter. Unlike ticks or lice which have claws designed to assist traverse human hair, bed bugs don’t.
Bed bugs have to set their front claws in a particular way before they can feed, a function that cannot be done with hair in place. Any moment bed bugs come out to feed; they would prefer doing it on bare skin.
If you experience the presence of bed bugs around your hair, take a hot shower combined with the liberal use of shampoos and soaps to get rid of the pests.
Rinse your towels, linens, and clothes in hot water before drying them in extreme heat temperatures. Contact a bed bug professional immediately for help.
Bed Bugs and Dogs
Can a dog be infested with bed bugs? The answer is no, but it can happen. That is the suggestion by Water Penny, a bed bug professional from Colorado Bed Bug K9, LLC.
According to the technician, unlike ticks and fleas, bed bugs are more attracted and feed on a human blood meal. They seldom get bioengineered to traverse through hair and fur.
Bed Bugs and Cats
Many people wonder if cats can be infested with bed bugs. Well, this is rare because of the fact that the bed bugs like sourcing their food from human beings. That is because they find it easier to bite humans than any other animal.
The most attractive signature to bed bugs is carbon dioxide exhaled by humans. Hair or fur has little to do with their center of attraction. The pests can only feed on birds, dogs, cats, other animals if they cannot access a human host.
Where Do Bed Bugs Live
Do you know where bed bugs live? Well, bed bugs are known to be good hitchhikers as well as travelers. They can hide near sources of blood supply in shoes, boxes, and suitcases.
Besides being mysterious creatures, bed bugs are also nocturnal.
They like to hide in any dark and unreachable areas in the house, including crevices, cracks, behind baseboards, and folded bedroom areas among other items and surrounding places.
Box springs and mattresses are the common hiding places for bed bugs.
Bed bugs shun areas with high temperatures. Thus, they seldom stick on the skin or in hair. They prefer to stay in closed areas like our clothes due to the comfort of our body heat.
Bed Bug Size
Juvenile bed bugs or nymphs range from a bed bug egg size of between 0.09 inches, 2.5mm to a matured bug measuring 0.18 inches, 4.5mm.
Adult bed bugs have a wide variety of colors ranging from white to brown. Nonetheless, after feeding, they turn rusty red.
Bed Bug Larvae
Bed bug larvae are one of the stages of the bed bug life cycle. According to the Terminix® report, there are five stages through which bed bugs develop from egg to adulthood.
There are many nymphs or immature development phases involved here to reach the adult stage. According to entomologists, bed bug larvae are not really nymphs.
More simply, a bed bug that is yet to develop into adulthood fully is a nymph. Knowing how immature bed bugs appear is important.
That is because they can help to provide the much-needed evidence about bed bug infestations. Bed bug nymphs or larvae grow after having a blood meal, leaving behind a cluster of skin sheds.
Do Bed Bugs Fly?
Many people don’t know if bed bugs fly or not. The truth is that bed bugs cannot fly because they lack wings.
Different from other wingless pests like fleas, bed bugs as well as lack the essential body organs to help them jump long distances. What most people know is that bed bugs can travel from one host to the other.
Pest Control for Bed Bugs
Pest control for bed bugs is an important subject to discuss because many people are struggling to get rid of these pests.
Can you eliminate or treat bed bugs by yourself? It’s quite challenging to control bed bugs since they reproduce so fast and hide so well.
Moreover, many forms of bed bug treatment do not kill the egg stage. So, the job may not be completed in one attempt.
Accomplishing full bed bug control may take weeks, if not months, depending on the extent and nature of the infestation. Therefore, the treatment process requires the involvement of all key stakeholders.
If possible, you can apply pesticides carefully. Hiring a professional bug management technician may help in this case. That is because insecticides may have adverse effects if not used as per the label directions.
Inspect bed bug presence, at least after every one week. Continue to apply pest preventive measures to control the bugs for good.
Professional Bed Bug Treatment Options
Many people battling the problem of pest infestations have little or no idea about professional bed bug treatment options they can access. I would say, there are numerous technical bed bug treatment choices today.
However, there are two most applied measures including:
Entire Area Heat Treatments:
Most professional bed bug experts recommend the use of whole room heat treatment methods to get rid of infestations by these pests.
This bug elimination approach requires engaging a Pest Management Professional (PMP) to help control the further spread of bed bug plagues at your home or house.
It involves the use of specially designed equipment to increase the room temperature to get rid of bed bugs. It takes about 90 minutes for the bugs and their eggs to be eradicated using this method. Setting room temperatures in the range of 48°C (118°F) to 50°C (122°F) is enough to kill both the pests and their eggs.
Insecticide Treatments
The use of pesticides to treat bed bug infestations is another commonly applied treatment approach professionals embrace. A licensed PMP is in a good position to conduct this process correctly and thoroughly. This may be the alternative best effective method of bed bug control at your home.
Home Treatment for Bed Bugs
Home treatment of bed bugs may be very challenging as well. However, prior to initiating the bed bug treatment process, you should first formulate all essential phases on a calendar.
Below are some critical steps one can follow in this exercise.
You should first detect the issue, then make a scheme, and manage the expansion of the infestation. After that, organize for treatment and get rid of the bed bugs.
Finally, appraise the achievements and put measures in place to thwart more infestations.
Jumping straight into bed bug treatment cannot work. It’s essential to first prepare for treatment to attain successful control.
Also, monitoring further infestations by surviving bed bugs may be helpful. Whether you have hired a pest control professional or not, you must conduct the preparation.
To get rid of the bed bugs, one may consider adopting non-chemical approaches of eradicating pests. There are many bed bug treatment methods, including the use of heat treatment and cold treatment among others.
Can Vinegar Kill Bed Bugs?
Can vinegar kill bed bugs? Many financially strapped homeowners have probably wondered this at some point. Considering that vinegar is a cheap and easily accessible natural cleaning product, it may be tempting to try it out as a quick and cheap remedy for a bed bug infestation. Unfortunately, despite our best hopes to the contrary, vinegar is not effective against bed bugs.
Hence, let’s clear the air before you go pouring vinegar on your bed. Vinegar is useful in the home as a natural cleaner and for removing some types of pests, but it is ineffective against bed bugs. These pests have a sturdy exoskeleton that protects them against vinegar and other common household cleaning products.
If you have a bed insect problem, you shouldn’t try to solve it with a bottle of vinegar since it won’t work. Instead, it is recommended that you employ tried-and-true pest control techniques to get rid of these unwanted visitors. Have some sleep and some peace of mind, trust us, it’s worth it.
Bed Bug Pesticides
There are many bed bug pesticides sold in the market. However, it’s vital to note that some of these treatments work well while others don’t. It depends on each bed bug infestation situation to choose which insecticide works best.
Moreover, it requires diligence and patience to eliminate bed bugs in your room completely. That is very important when you are doing it on your own.
Bed bug pesticide treatments can sometimes fail to work effectively because of different reasons. Thus, it is vital to handle bed bug control comprehensively and methodically, applying IPM methods such as sustained monitoring.
Doing so can approve that the bug population is effectively eradicated. It also ensures that you keep watchful about the re-establishment of fresh bed bug infestations.
Bed Bug Poison for fast kill
The use of bed bug poison to eliminate bugs for good is not magical. Best commercial bed bug poison will get rid of bed bugs if used directly and carefully to the pests and their hiding areas.
The only exemption is aerosol foggers and “Bug bombs.” Foggers are typically unsuccessful in the control of bed bugs.
Bed bug poison can be found in many forms, including the most popular and some of the modern treatment options. There are usually five diverse forms of bed bug poisons, including silica gel, dust, sprays, fumigation, or liquid products.
Spray for Bed Bugs
Sprays for bed bugs are effective for general, mattress application and in crevices and cracks. They are good for killing these pests or baby bed bugs that might have escaped earlier treatment.
There are natural or organic bed bug sprays as well. These are bed bug poison extracted from plants such as enzymes (Kleen Free) or Bed Bug Patrol used to eliminate bed bugs.
They don’t have any residual effect and very effective on contact.
Other bed bug poison products one is likely to find in the market include dust used to get rid of bugs and silica gels, insect growth regulator (IGR), and microencapsulated products of bed bug poison.
Best Insecticide to kill Bed Bugs fast
Remember that there are about 300 registered pesticide products proven to control the bed bug menace. These brands are categorized under seven main chemical groups.
They include biochemicals, insect growth regulators, pyrroles, neonicotinoids, desiccants, pyrethrins, and pyrethroids.
Bed Bug Steamer
Bed bug steamer is an effective method you can use to treat nearly everything infested by these pests. It is great for treating cabinets, mattresses, furniture, chairs, and sofas among others.
The steamer produces more than 200-degree steam. The steam is essential for eradicating targeted bed bugs on contact plus their eggs.
When using a bed bug steamer, move at a speed of one inch every second to get rid of the bugs on contact. In crevices and cracks, steam can eliminate hidden bugs up to 2-3/8” deep into a hole.
To monitor the room temperature of the treated area, employ an infrared thermometer.
The surface temperature must be between 160 and180°F instantly after passing the steam brush to eradicate the pests effectively.
Bed Bug Monitor
A bed bug monitor is a special type of trap used to kill pests. The monitor does not attract or lure bed bugs to use bed bug enticements such as heat and CO2 into the device.
The bed bug monitor has the capability to spot bed bug infestations at an early stage. But, it was until recently that the limitations of bed bug monitors to detect the pests were deduced.
The early detection approaches, box spring, and mattress encasement were used.
Today, there are many bed bug detection methods and tools used to kill the bugs, including passive interception, CO2 monitor, and canine scent detection devices.
With the new methods and tools, the reality of detecting bed bug infestations in their early stages is evident.
Bed Bug Extermination Cost
Bed bug extermination costs vary from one-bed bug infestation condition to the other. However, to have a total bed bug control, you should project to part with about $500 to $1,500.
The exact cost is based on the chosen method and the exterminator’s experience.
A majority of bed bug exterminators would charge you a consultation fee. The fee comprises carrying out a full inspection and visiting your home.
Professional pest control firms can offer you different bed bug treatment methods to suit your needs. However, the most common approach used by many exterminators is the use of spray pesticides.
READ: I bought a mattress infested with bed bugs.
Featured image credit: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, bugwood.org | slight edits were applied | licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
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