Bed bugs are some of the most persistent pests that can ever enter your home, and once they are inside, they can be nearly impossible to remove. This is because missing even a single bed bug in the killing process can lead to a re-infestation in a surprisingly short amount of time. However, hiring professional services may not be necessary if you know how to get rid of bed bugs on your own. Following a few simple steps can actually make the elimination of bed bugs a do-it-yourself project, although the key to success is being extremely thorough in your efforts.

Step 1: Wash Everything, and Use Hot Water

Bring something to read, because you'll be doing a lot of washing and drying.

Clothing, bedding, curtains, and virtually anything else that can go into a washing machine should be washed immediately after the presence of bed bugs is noted. Bed bugs can hide in any and all of these things, and even a careful inspection can result in missing the adults and eggs that may be hidden in the folds and seams. Washing the items twice is not out of line if you want even more reassurance that the bed bugs are gone, and machine-drying should follow to ensure that all of the adults and eggs have been removed.

The key point to remember with washing and drying, however, is to use hot water and high heat, as neither bed bugs nor eggs can survive the consistent application of heat produced in the machines. The drying process may actually be the most effective part of this process, however, although you should be sure that items remain in the dryer for a sufficient amount of time. While adults generally die within 15 minutes, killing the eggs can take up to an hour.

Step 2: Vacuum Everything

Any items that cannot fit into the washing machine needs to be vacuumed, and vacuumed thoroughly. This means being sure to get into the seams of the mattress and bedsprings, as well as under, over and around every piece of furniture in the room. Bed bugs tend to like wood and plastic even more than the beds and other soft furnishings in the home, so headboards, dressers, and nightstands should not be ignored. Neither should the light switches, light fixtures, or electrical outlets, or the areas behind pictures or wall hangings. While vacuuming the rug should go without saying, be sure to get under any area or accent rugs that may be present in the room as well. Since bed bugs can hide virtually anywhere, vacuuming should be done literally everywhere.

Step 3: Use Steam

Steamers are perhaps the most effective method for killing bed bugs, as the steam produced by these machines is hot enough to kill bed bugs on contact. An added advantage is that steamers can reach the places vacuums cannot, such as inside mattresses and pillows and under wall-to-wall carpeting. Steam should not be used on wood or other pieces of hard furniture, however, as both the heat and the moisture can damage these pieces. While steamers are an excellent way to kill both adults and eggs, they should be limited to only soft home furnishings.

Step 4: Clean Up

The presence of bed bugs is not necessarily a sign of a dirty home, although excessive clutter can provide a world of places that bed bugs can hide. Piles of clothes, stacks of books, and virtually anything else that create tiny, hidden crevices form the perfect habitat for bed bugs to live and breed, so reducing the number of hiding places can in turn reduce the risk of infestation. Less clutter also means that the presence of bed bugs will be far more noticeable, making it more likely that any re-infestation that does occur will be caught before the annoyance becomes a serious problem.

Finding your home has been invaded by bed bugs can be a devastating discovery, but getting rid of them does not always mean hiring an expensive exterminator. Do-it-yourself steps that include washing, vacuuming, steaming, and cleaning can often eliminate the problem, although the key is to be thorough in the process. Bed bugs can hide virtually anywhere, and missing a single bed bug can lead to a re-infestation. However, knowing how to get rid of bed bugs means that you can get rid of them for good.

Understanding how to get rid of bed bugs means understanding exactly what you are dealing with. There are numerous misconceptions concerning these pests that can make the attempts to get rid of them ineffective, and they can even lead to the problem becoming worse simply because the right steps for removal were not taken. Understanding what does not work is as important as understanding what does, so here is a look at the top five most commonly believed myths in regard to getting bed bugs out of your home.

Myth #1:  Bed Bugs Are So Small You Cannot See Them

Bed bugs are actually about the size of an apple seed, and they generally resemble the seed as well. Therefore, bed bugs can be easily seen, as long as you know where to look for them. Bed bug excrement is more often noticed before the bugs themselves are seen, however, as this appears as small dark stains in the creases of bedding and furniture. Bed bugs themselves are usually seen easily only after the infestation has grown into a serious problem.

Myth #2:  Bed Bugs Only Happen In a Dirty House

A clean bedroom will help, but these little guys are resilient.

Associating bed bugs with a dirty house is by far the most prevalent misconception about the tiny pests. The truth is, bed bugs can be found anywhere, regardless of how clean or dirty the home, hotel, or guesthouse is. This is because bed bugs are exposure pests, meaning you have to be exposed to them in order to bring them home, and once they are in your home, they can find places to hide in even the cleanest living conditions. These include the seams of mattresses, the fibers of the rug, behind light switches and electrical outlets, and even behind wallpaper and paneling. Bed bugs only require a warm, dark place somewhere near their host, and clean houses have just as many crevices and hidey-holes as dirty ones.

Myth #3: Sleeping On a Metal Bed Will Prevent Bed Bugs

A metal bed is not in any way a preventative measure against bed bugs. Bed bugs move by crawling, and they can crawl on virtually any surface, whether it be wood, plastic, glass, or metal. This means that they can crawl into your metal bed as easily as they crawl into your wooden one. Bed bugs may prefer wood or plastic when it comes to living environment, but as far as access to food, metal works as good as any other material

Myth #4: Getting Rid Of the Bed Will Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

How to get rid of bed bugs actually has very little to do with the bed itself, simply because the bed is only one of many, many places that bed bugs will live. In fact, the pests are called bed bugs only because most bites happen when their hosts are sleeping in bed, as this is generally the only time their hosts are still enough, long enough, for the bed bugs to feed. Getting rid of the bed will serve only to get rid of the bed bugs that live in the bed, but it will do nothing to get rid the bed bugs inhabiting the rest the home.

Myth #5: It Is Too Cold (Or Hot) For Bed Bugs

If the inside of your house is this cold, then you might have killed the bed bugs.

It is true that bed bugs cannot survive extreme cold or hot temperatures, but even the coldest and hottest homes are not cold or hot enough to keep them from thriving. Freezing, for example, may be a legitimate tactic for how to get rid of bed bugs, but the freezing temperatures will need to be maintained for several days. Likewise, temperatures above 210-degrees Fahrenheit are also effective, although raising a home to this temperature is not feasible. This essentially means that if the temperature is suitable for human living, it can also be survived by bed bugs.

Bed bugs are more common than most people are comfortable with, and they can happen to anyone, regardless of location and living conditions. Once you have them, however, how to get rid of bed bugs can be a tricky question to answer, particularly if all of the misconceptions are to be believed. Understanding the myths surrounding bed bugs can ensure that you are not wasting your efforts in your attempts to remove them, as knowing what does not work is every bit as important as knowing what does.

Bed bugs are tiny, blood-feeding parasites that have been around thousands of years, and will most likely remain so for thousands more. Despite the fact that they can indeed be seen by the human eye, most people are still unaware that their home has been infested by them until they wake up with the bites that indicate that bed bugs have been feeding. That is when the task of how to get rid of bed bugs begins, and it can be an arduous one. Size is only one of the things that can make them difficult to remove, however, as there are a range of other factors that seem to work in their favor. Here are some other important facts about bed bugs that you may not know, but can nevertheless offer some insight into exactly what kind of pest you are dealing with.

Not very easy on the eyes in my opinion.

1. Bed bugs are very small, with flat, oval bodies that resemble the size and appearance of apple seeds.  However, they usually feed at night, meaning you may never see them in the light of day. What you will see is the excrement they leave behind, which looks exactly like what it is. Skins will also be left behind, as bed bugs molt as they grow. Both of these types of remains will most likely be found in the seams and crevices of bedding and furniture, so if red, itchy bites appear while you are sleeping, check these areas immediately for the signs that bed bugs have been present.

2. Bed bugs tend to feed once every 5 days or so, but can in fact go an entire year without eating. That means that a period of days between bites does not mean the bites were your imagination, nor does it mean that once you are bitten, you will not be bitten again for at least 5 days. Bed bugs are not all on the same feeding cycle, so the ones that bite you tonight may not be same ones that bite you tomorrow.

3. Bed bugs also feed in as little as 5 minutes. Add to this the fact that an anesthetic (numbing agent) is injected at the time of feeding, and it is no surprise that sleepers seldom wake up when bed bugs are eating. Sleepers that do experience enough irritation to roll over also seldom dislodge bed bugs for long, as they will typically return to feeding once their host has stopped moving. This is the reason that many bite marks appear in clusters.

4. Females can lay between 1 and 5 eggs per day, with up to 500 eggs being laid in a lifetime. As the life span of a bed bug is usually around 4-6 months, that can mean a single female can significantly increase the bed bug population in an extremely short period of time. Given that there is hundreds of females in any given bed bug population, it will not take long for small infestation to become a nearly unmanageable one.

5. The eggs themselves usually have an incubation period of around 10 days, and can reach adulthood in as little as 5 feedings from a suitable host. Since bed bugs tend to feed in increments of five days, the length of time needed from hatching to adulthood can be as little 25 days. Bed bugs can also reproduce as soon as they have had their first good feeding.

6. The peak time for bed bugs to feed is in the hour before dawn, with the peak season being June to October. These peak times are when bed bugs are most active, meaning they will want to feed and reproduce more often. However, they do not die out in winter, so once bed bugs have entered your home, they are a year-around problem.

Bed bugs have been plaguing humans and animals for thousands of years, as their small size and high reproduction rate have, and still do, make them very difficult to eradicate. However, knowing a few facts about these pests can provide some insight on exactly how to get rid of bed bugs. They can also show you just how quickly a small population can grow into an all-out infestation, and paint a clear picture of why action should be taken at the first sign of bed bugs you find in your home.

Photo Courtesy of Gilles San Martin on Flickr.