The best way to avoid having to deal with a bed bug infestation is to make sure you don’t get them in the first place. Most of the time, we get bed bugs when we stay in hotels, dorm rooms, or even a friend’s house where they already live.
HOW TO STOP A BED BUG INFESTATION IN 8 STEPS
There are things you can do to keep bed bugs from moving into your home. We’ve put together a list of the eight best ways to stop a full-scale infestation.
- Not Under the Bed: Don’t keep things under your bed on a regular basis. If you do this, bed bugs will have a great place to hide and still be close to your mattress. There is also a good chance that you will store something with them on it without knowing it.
- Plastic Containers: Bed bugs find it hard to move through or around things made of plastic or glass. Use glass containers or plastic storage bags to store things that might attract bugs, like bed bugs. This will go a long way toward stopping the bugs from spreading.
- Keep It Free of Clutter: Keep clothes and other things off the floor as much as possible. If a bed bug has found a way to attach to a piece of your clothing, it might decide to move into your closet or dresser.
- Cases for specific needs: Buy a dust-mite-proof cover for your bed’s mattress or box spring. Using this kind of cover will help make a barrier between you and any possible bed bugs.
- Regularly vacuum: If you make it a point to vacuum regularly, you will stop and get rid of any stray bed bugs that might be around. When you’re done vacuuming, make sure to put the bag or canister outside in a trash can so the bed bugs don’t get back in the house.
- When you travel, you should: When you’re traveling and staying in a motel, hotel, or even a dorm room, check the whole room before you unpack your clothes and other things. Pay attention to the carpet, the curtains, the walls, and the area around them. The most important thing is to carefully look over the bed for signs of bed bugs.
- Wash Everything When You Get Home: As soon as you get home, you should wash everything you brought with you to make sure that any bed bugs that may have hitched a ride home with you don’t stay there. It is highly recommended that the first thing you do when you get home is wash all your clothes, purses, backpacks, and luggage.
- Wash sheets once a week: One of the best ways to avoid getting bed bugs is to wash all of your bedsheets at least once a week. They should be washed at the highest and hottest temperature possible since the heat will help kill any live bed bugs and their eggs.
Before you unpack your bags, check out your hotel, motel, or rental unit.
All of the above suggested to prevent a bed bug infestation. If you think you already have bed bugs, you should call a bed bug exterminator as soon as possible. If you act quickly, you won’t have to worry about more expensive treatment in the future.