Bed Bugs Control: How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

This page is a bed bug control guide. Using the products and methods suggested you will control bed bugs. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and we guarantee 100% control of bed bugs.

The bed bug has long been a common household pest – feeding on blood, causing itchy bites and being an extreme nuisance to humans. Bed Bugs are considered a public health pest, but unlike most pests, Bed Bugs are not known to carry diseases. Nevertheless, getting rid of bed bugs remains a high priority for any household which encounters them.

In recent years, there has been an increase in bed bug outbreaks mainly due to international travel. Bed bugs are known to hitchhike into luggage and even onto people themselves by hiding in clothing. Bed bugs commonly infest mattresses, box springs, bed frames, headboards, and luggage racks. Other places include nightstands, chairs, baseboards, wall décor, and curtains.

If you have discovered Bed Bugs in your home, you will need to take action quickly as they will become a severe nuisance and the cause of numerous sleepless nights that will take a toll on everyone.

Follow our DIY Bed Bug control guide below and we guarantee 100% that you can eliminate bed bugs yourself with the help of our expert advice and professional bed bug control product recommendations.

Identification

The first step to controlling bed bugs is correct identification. Misidentification of bed bugs can lead to using the wrong treatment methods, which can be a waste of your time and money. Bed Bugs can be mistaken for carpet beetles, young German cockroaches, ticks, and fleas, but bed bugs have some characteristics that set them apart.

• Bed Bugs have the size about 5 to 7 mm in length, have flat brown oval bodies, have two antennae, six legs, and no wings. You can identify bed bugs if you find them in the following locations.
• Indoors you will find bed bugs in and around beds, in mattresses, box springs, bedding, and pillows. There are only two species of Bed Bugs and both these species are found in the same locations. After feeding they become elongated and reddish and will be visible. In large infestations, you might catch these insects close to your bed, in nightstands, cabinets, electronics, and small cracks.
• A symptom of a bed bug infestation is waking up suddenly with red welts all over your body. This is a clear sign of a bed bug infestation.
• Bed bug eggs look like grains of rice, but smaller. The color will vary from transparent to pearl white, and are often found in clusters. Within 6 to 10 days, bed bug eggs will hatch.
• To view bed bug larvae, you will need to use a microscope. At a glance they appear as small grains of pepper with a worm-like shape.

Use the image and the description above to help you with properly identifying bed bugs. If you are still unsure, contact us and one of our pros will assist you with proper identification.

Inspection

Once you have properly identified Bed Bugs, you will need to conduct an inspection to see how big of an infestation you have and where they are the most active.

Where To Inspect

Bed Bugs like to hide in dark, tightly-packed spaces, and in cracks and crevices. Despite their name, they will live and hide in more than just your bed; they will be in box springs, bed frames, carpeting, furniture, ceiling fans, picture frames, and electronics. They can even be found hiding in living room couches or dining chairs.

Although bed bugs will be hiding throughout the bedroom, it is best to begin your search where they will most likely be found: on the bed and bedding (pillows and pillowcases, bed sheets, comforters etc.)

Check carefully along the edges, tufts, and seams of the mattress. Use a flashlight to inspect more carefully. Flip the mattress to inspect it thoroughly. Check every nook and cranny of the box spring and bed frame and headboard.

In other rooms, look in furniture, shelves, cabinets, electronics, and every object with cracks and crevices where bed bugs could hide. Examine the baseboards of the carpeting where the carpet meets the walls.

What To Look For

During your search, you will be looking for bed bug activity or signs of infestation. Luckily, there are some common, easy to spot signs that you may have bed bugs. Here are 5 signs that you might have bed bugs on your mattress:

1. Fecal Traces

Bed bugs leave traces of their feces wherever they go. Because bed bugs feed on blood, their feces will resemble dried blood. It will typically be dark reddish brown or black in color. Bed bug droppings also will look like dark smears on your bedding or mattress. It will look as though someone has taken a marker and drawn several spots with it.

2. Bites

A very good (but not conclusive) sign that you have bed bugs is bite marks on your skin. The bed bug bite mark may appear different from person to person, depending on their sensitivity. But the most common sign are red, itchy welts, usually found on the back, neck, or legs.

3. Blood Smears

Bed bugs pierce the skin of their host to feed on blood. When they feed on us, small drops of blood will fall onto our sheets, pillowcases, and mattress. So if you are seeing small blotches of blood on your bedding, this can be a clear sign.

4. Bed Bug Skin Shells

With every bloodmeal, a bed bug will grow and mature. As they do so, they will need to molt. This is when they cast off their current skin shell and emerge larger in their new skin shell. If you see empty bed bug skin shells, then you will know there are feeding bed bugs nearby.

5. Bed Bug Odor

A little known fact is that bed bugs do have an odor. They leave behind a unique, musty smell which emanates from the bed bug's scent gland. This is a good sign that you have bed bugs, but not the best sign because it can be hard to detect the smell. If the bed bug infestation is large enough, however, you may smell them as lay in bed.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed bed bug activity it is time to begin treatment. Remember that you must read all product labels in the products and follow application instructions and stay safe wearing the proper personal protective equipment (PPE).

A successful Bed Bug control program starts with preliminary preparation by vacuuming areas and washing bed sheets and fabrics. Once that is done you can then move to using chemical products. It is important to use more than one product or method of treatment for the best possible results.

We recommend applying Flex 10-10 Insecticide and Gentrol IGR on your mattress, box spring, furniture and carpeting. For cracks and crevices, treat with Pyrid Aerosol. And finally, apply D-Fense Dust in wall voids, along baseboards and other areas Bed Bugs commonly hide and travel.

Step 1 - Preliminary Preparation

Before breaking out the chemical bed bug treatments for getting rid of Bed Bugs, you should first prep the room for treatment. This involves vacuuming up the majority of the Bed Bugs you can visibly see. You will want to use either a bagged vacuum or a canister vacuum (clean and sanitize immediately after).

Use a crevice attachment to vacuum up Bed Bugs in the folds of your mattress, and bed frame. Vacuum the box spring and remove the netting to vacuum inside.

Disassembling furniture is also recommended along with washing and drying all clothing and quarantining clothing from the area by placing them in bags. You should also collect all the infested items such as bedding, pillowcases, covers, linens, clothing and all cloth materials found in infested beds or rooms.

Place the items in plastic bags then wash and dry them on high heat (above 120 degrees Fahrenheit) to eliminate Bed Bugs. If there are some items you can not wash, leave them in the plastic bags and put them in storage for at least a year.

Vacuum the whole room, including carpeting, furniture, and curtains. Use the tools to disassemble the furniture and bed frames and vacuum the now exposed joints.

Step 2 - Apply Flex 10-10 and Gentrol IGR To Beds, Furniture and Carpeting

Flex 10-10 is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide that will provide a quick knockdown of Bed Bugs and is safe to apply to bedding and furniture. Gentrol IGR is an Insect Growth Regulator that will control the undeveloped stages of Bed Bugs, like eggs and nymphs, which will come in contact with the product and grow deformed and die before becoming adults.

While both products can be mixed together to apply, you should start with just Flex 10-10 to spray your mattress because Gentrol IGR cannot be applied on mattresses.

Flex 10-10

Flex 10-10 is a permethrin and PBO-based product that is excellent for bed bug and all around pest control. A common question when it comes to bed bug control is, "does permethrin work against bed bugs?" Permethrin works very well against bed bugs and when used as a product like Flex 10-10, it helps give users broader coverage because Flex 10-10 is labelled for more than just cracks and crevices.

To use Flex 10-10 you will first need to mix it with water inside a pump sprayer. Determine how much product you will need by calculating the square footage of the room you will be treating. To do this, measure and multiply the area length times the width (length x width = square footage).

Under normal conditions, 3.2 fl. oz. in a gallon of water can treat 1,000 sq. ft. If you have a severe Beg Bug Infestation, use 6.4 fl. oz. per gallon. Fill the sprayer halfway with the required amount of water, add the Flex 10-10, then fill the rest of the way with water. Shake the sprayer to mix the Solution well and you'll be ready to spray.

Once mixed apply the Flex 10-10 in a light spray to your mattress, making sure to focus in on the tufts, edges, seams and folds.

Gentrol (IGR)

After spraying the mattress with Flex 10-10, you can then add 1 oz. of Gentrol per gallon to the Flex 10-10 solution to treat 1,500 sq. ft. Apply the combination of Flex 10-10 and Gentrol on the bed frame, box spring, furniture, closets, flooring and all along the baseboards of the room.

Remove the netting of the box spring and apply the mixture inside. You will then spray the rooms that are adjacent to the infestation. Apply in the flooring and baseboards of these rooms.

Step 3 - Crack and Crevice Treatment with Pyrid Aerosol

The next step is to apply insecticide to the bed frame, box spring, and furniture using Pyrid Aerosol. Pyrid Aerosol comes ready to use and will provide a quick knockdown of any Bed Bugs hiding in these places. To use this product you will use injection spray straw (that comes included with the product) to inject the aerosol deep into the cracks and crevices found in the bed frame, headboard, box spring, baseboards, and furniture in the room.

Step 4 - Treat Voids with D-Fense Dust

D-Fense Dust is a great product and will reach Bed Bugs in wall voids and behind wall outlets which they commonly use to travel between rooms. D-Fense Dust can remain effective for up to 8 months after application.

To use D-Fense Dust you will need a handheld duster. Open your handheld duster and fill it halfway with D-Fense Dust, making sure there is room for air to circulate inside. Apply by squeezing the duster. Use this product in all the cracks and crevices that were previously sprayed with Pyrid, making sure to apply in the small inaccessible slots in the bed frame joints that can't be disassembled.

Also, apply D-Fense Dust under baseboards, electrical outlets (To apply in electrical outlets, turn off the breakers and take the covers off, and apply to the sides), light switches, under frame legs, under furniture, and anywhere where small inaccessible openings are found.

Step 5 - Mattress and Box Spring Protection

After applying Flex 10-10 and Gentrol you can now move on to protecting your mattress and box spring from future infestations. You will use two products for this. Clean Brand Bed Bug Cover and Box Spring Encasement. Both these products will protect you from future Bed Bug infestations.

To use simply cover the mattress with the bed bug cover and insert the box spring over the encasement. That's it. A fast way to provide additional control. You'll want to keep the bed bug cover and box spring encasement on the mattress and box spring for at least a year.

Prevention

After the bed bug infestation has been eliminated, you want to make sure they don't make a return. The best way to keep Bed Bugs away is by diligently preventing them. Remember that bed bugs almost 100% of the time invade a home when they are brought in from the outside, usually after traveling out of town or internationally. Keep the following preventative measures in mind to make sure you don't bring Bed Bugs home as a souvenir.

• When coming back from travel remember to immediately wash your clothes, and dry them on high heat.
• Vacuum your suitcase or luggage bag thoroughly, along with the seams and edges.
• If buying used furniture, examine the furniture carefully before bringing them into the house (it could be hiding bed bugs).
• When guests are visiting or staying at your home, upon their leaving, inspect the areas where they slept and kept their belongings to monitor any bed bug activity. They may have unknowingly carried or brought bed bugs into your home, so you want to check and make sure.

Key Takeaways

What Are Bed Bugs?

• Bed Bugs are a common household pest that invades beds, furniture and carpeting and notoriously feeds on blood while people are asleep and leaves itchy, irritating welts from their bites. Do a thorough inspection of your bedding, furniture, clothing and carpeting before proceeding with treatment.

How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs In Your Home

• To eliminate Bed Bugs, use a combination of Flex 10-10 and Gentrol IGR on mattresses, box springs and carpeting, spray cracks and crevices with Pyrid Aerosol and use D-Fense Dust behind electrical outlets and wall voids.

Preventing Bed Bug Reinfestation

• Prevent future infestations by using a Bed Bug encasement for your mattress and box spring. You should also be extra cautious while traveling and when returning from travel by washing clothes and belongings immediately.