How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Bed Bug Pre-treatment Procedures

Reduce Clutter:

Remove all personal items (stuffed animals, soft toys, blankets, electronics, etc) and anything that does not stay in the room permanently. Caution: Be mindful that items from the infested area can transfer bed bugs to other areas. It is best to bag them in plastic with Nuvan Strips.

Launder Infested Garments and Linens:

Infested garments and bed linen cannot be treated with insecticide. They need to be laundered in hot water (120 degrees fahrenheit minimum). If washing is not available, heating the garments or bed linens for several minutes in a clothes dryer may work.

Dismantle Bed Frames:

Dismantling bed frames in infested areas typically exposes bed bug hiding sites. Having access to these areas during cleaning is important. Stand up the box spring and shine a flashlight through the gauze fabric and look for bed bugs. If the fabric is torn (possible hiding place), remove fabric to prepare for spraying. If the mattress and or box springs are infested, you may want to consider Encasements by Mattress Safe. Once covered with these encasements, bed bugs can not enter or exit. There is no need to treat the mattress or box spring when using these encasements. Keep them on for a year.

Remove Dresser Drawers:

Remove drawers from desks and dressers since bed bugs like to hide in these areas. Turn furniture over to inspect and clean all hiding spots. All furniture should be pulled away from the walls.

Clean the Area

Scrub infested surfaces with a stiff brush to dislodge eggs. Vacuum the room extensively. Use a vacuum hose attachment to thoroughly vacuum cracks and crevices on furniture and along baseboards on the walls. Vacuum along baseboards, furniture, bed stands, rails, headboards, foot boards, bed seams, tufts, buttons, edges of the bedding, as well as the edges of the carpets (particularly along the tack strips). A good vacuum cleaning job may remove particles from cracks and crevices to encourage greater insecticide penetration. Bed bugs cling tightly to surfaces, so it is best to vacuum by scraping the end of the vacuum attachment over the infested areas to pull out the bed bugs. Caution: It is not good to use a bristle attachment, because you may transfer bed bugs to other areas since they cling to the brush. Dispose of vacuum cleaner bags after you are finished in an outdoor trashcan.

Caulk and Seal

Caulk and seal all holes where pipes and wires penetrate walls and floor, and fill cracks around baseboards and molding to further reduce harboring areas.

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Bed Bug Inspection

Bed Bug Appearance

Tip: The common Bed Bug can be seen with the naked eye. Since bed bugs are difficult to see, use a magnifying glass.

Bedbug Pictures: What does a bed bug look like?

Adult bed bugs are brown to reddish-brown, oval-shaped, flattened, and about 1/4 to 5/8 inch long. Note: Their flat shape enables them to readily hide in most cracks and crevices.

Adult Male Bed Bug

Adult Female Bed Bug

Bed Bug Nymph

Adults, nymphs, eggs, shed skins, and fecal spots on a mattress.

Tip: Eggs are not placed on the host's body (the person sleeping in the bed), but the eggs are found on surfaces near where the host sleeps.

Bed Bug Inspection Tips:

Look in any place that offers darkness, isolation and protection to the bed bug.
Inspect adjoining rooms where an infestation is found. Even when the bed bugs themselves cannot be found, their hiding places can be located by looking for the spots of fecal material they often leave.
Use an Insecticide Aerosol such as CB-80 or PT 565 to flush the bed bugs out of suspected hiding places. These aerosols kill on contact, but the idea is to flush them out for inspection

dark spot of bed bug excrement on mattress

Bed Bug Inspection Check List

Inspect these Areas:

The Mattress and Box Spring

Check the mattress throughly, paying close attention to seams and tufts along the edges. Flip the mattress over and inspect the bottom carefully as well. Pay particular attention to any rips in the fabric. View the fabric on the bottom of the box spring and shine a flash light to verify that bed bugs have not penetrated the interior of the box spring.

Bed Frame and Head and Foot Boards

Remove the mattress and box frame from the bed frame and shine a flash light all along every potential hiding place on the bed frame. Remember bed bugs can slip into an crack a business card can fit into.

Other Furniture: Desks, Chairs, Dressers, etc

Take out all drawers and cushions from surrounding furniture. Check all seams and crevices carefully with a flashlight. Take your time and inspect thoroughly. Bed Bugs are commonly found in these areas in an infested room.

Walls and Carpet

Inspect the surrounding walls by removing electircal switch plates and any wall hangings. Check under tack strips and behind baseboards where ever possible. Shine light into cracks in plaster and seams along wall paper.

Electronics and Other Applicances

Unfortunately electronics and appliances provide a perfect hiding spot for bed bugs. Check them closely with a flashlight and magnifying glass as well. Remove them when possible. Placing smaller ones in a bag with Nuvan Strips is an effective way to save the device.

Additional Bed Bug Inspection Notes

Bed Bug fecal and blood spots (look like rust) are left on sheets and pillowcases when the engorged bed bugs are crushed. These indicators serve as sure signs of infestation. Bed bugs prefer to hide in cracks and crevices during the daytime and come out to feed on the host's blood at night, usually while the host is sleeping.

Since bed bugs can flatten their bodies, they fit in very small crevices, specially around the bed area. They are found in habitual hiding places, preferably close to a blood meal. Even though their preference is to be close they can travel several feet for a blood meal.

Initial infestations tend to be around beds, but the bugs eventually become scattered throughout a room, occupying any crevice or protected location. They can also spread to adjacent rooms or apartments.

Bed Bug Treatment Procedures (Part A)

Do I Have to Throw Out the Mattress?

This question is answered by the condition of the mattress and the size of infestation. If there are holes or tears in the gauze fabric or fabric of the mattress, bed bugs and eggs may be inside, as well as outside. There are restrictions on how beds can be treated with insecticides. We carry both Mattress Safe Bed Bug Encasements and ActiveGuard Mattress Liners.

1. Mattress Safe Encasements: Mattress Safe Products are bed encasements to place over your mattress or boxspring so you don't have to throw them away. They are bedbug certified. If using a labeled insecticide on the mattress or boxspring first, apply on mattress or box springs then zip it up. It has a patented hook to keep the bed bugs inside the encasement so they cannot escape. Keep the encasement in place for one year (due to bed bug life cycles).

2. Active Guard Liners: Active Guard Mattress Liners may be placed on beds and are effective as both preventative and active bed bug treatments. They kill bed bugs and dust mites within 72 hours and will prevent bed bugs from infesting mattresses. ActiveGuard Liners act like a fitted sheet; it comes in single, full, queen, and king sizes that fit up to 17" in depth.

Mattress Safe Products

ActiveGuard Mattress Liners

If you decide against Mattress Safe Encasements or ActiveGuard Liners, use insecticides labeled for beds such as Steri-Fab, Cimexa Dust, Phantom Aerosol, Bedlam Aerosol, or Temprid FX (See below).

How to treat the mattress with insecticides:

Look carefully at the folds and seams of the mattress, the headboard, foot board (if present), box spring/support platform, frame, etc for bedbugs and treat these area after vacumming.

The following residual insecticides and dusts are labeled to spray and dust mattresses:

Dusts last longer than aerosols, but the crack and crevice tips on the Phantom and Bedlam areosols enable you to get into the smallest cracks. It is a good idea to use a combination of sprays and dusts. Temprid SC may be used on the tufts and seams of mattresses. It works well as a residual insecticide sprayed in other recommended treatment areas such as night stands, chests, dressers, couches and chairs.

Bed Bug Treatment Procedures (Part B)

Treat all baseboards and furniture (Night Stand, Chests, Dressers, Couches and Chairs)

Bed Bug Treatment: Sprays and Dusts

There are several products on the market that work well for bed bugs:

Apply residual liquid, aerosol or dust residual insecticides such as Spectre 2 SC, CrossFire Bed Bug Insecticide Concentrate, Temprid FX, D-Fense NXT, Cimexa Dust , Crossfire Aerosol, Bedlam Plus Aerosol, and Phantom Aerosol.

It is best to use a combination of these products for application purposes.

You can get these at discounted rates in be form of kits: Bed Bug Kits
The kits have the residual insecticide with the dust and aerosols.

Spray liquid insecticides or aerosols:

Spray around and under the bed and along the baseboards near the bed. After removing the drawers from the furniture, the inside of the cabinetry should be sprayed as well as the bottom and sides of the drawers. Do not treat the inside of the drawers. If needed the clothes in the drawers should be removed and laundered.
Spray around the inside of closets, door frames and doors.
Spray molding at the top and bottom of the room. Spray around windows.
Spray seams of drawers, both top and bottom. Spray dressers from below. Spray where dressers touch the floor.
Spray where the bed touches the floor, spray chairs and underneath chairs.
Spray all baseboards, loose plaster, behind bed frames and headboards, beneath beds and furniture, and bedsprings and bed frames. Do not apply to furniture surfaces or mattresses where people will be laying or sitting unless using a product labeled for that type of treatment. Infested bedding should not be treated, but should be removed, placed in sealed plastic bags, and taken for laundering and drying at high temperature.

Recommended Liquid Insecticides-Transport Mikron and Temprid FX

Spectre 2 SC has a low odor and is not dectectable by the bed bugs. Adjust the spray pattern to a mist by turning the nozzle. A low fine mist is best for most spraying, but you may need to use a stream to get into some cracks and crevices. If you can't get into the cracks and crevices use one of the aerosols described below with it's crack and crevice tips to reach into these areas.

Mix 3 oz per gallon or 0.75 oz per quart and spray with a low pressure sprayer into the areas where the bed bugs are hiding. Typical areas include bed frames, headboards, under beds, baseboards, moldings, behind pictures,etc. Remember to apply in the joints and crevices of furniture. If the crack and crevice is too small, use an aerosol with a crack and crevice tip (recommendations are below.)
You may spray mattress seams, zippers and tufts. Wait until it dries before remaking the bed.
Remember- 95% of the bed bug infestation will be within five feet of your bed.

CrossFire Bed Bug Insecticide
CrossFire Bed Bug Concentrate has two different active ingredients for dual modes of action (both a quick kill and residual activity). Mix 3 oz of CrossFire Insecticide with one gallon of water or 0.75 oz per quart (Remember to use what you mix-within 24 hours.) Adjust the spray pattern to a mist by turning the nozzle. A low fine mist is best for most spraying, but you may need to use a stream to get into some cracks and crevices. If you can't get into the cracks and crevices use one of the aerosols described below with it's crack and crevice tips to reach into these areas.

Apply as a coarse, low-pressure spray to harborage areas including crevices, baseboards, loose plaster, behind bed frames and headboards, beneath beds and furniture, and to bedsprings and bed frames. After removal of bed linens, apply Transport Mikron to mattress and boxsprings. Apply to tufts, edges, seams and folds (do not spray clothes or bed linens). Your may apply it to furniture, but not to areas where there is direct access to seating or arm placements. Infested bed linens should not be treated, but should be removed, placed in sealed plastic bags, and taken for laundering and drying at high temperatures.
Apply as a crack and crevice treatment to all baseboards, loose plaster, behind pictures and mirrors, moldings, beneath floor coverings and carpets, closets, shelves, curtains, furniture and picture frames that may provide harborage to bed bugs.
Remember- 95% of the bed bug infestation will be within five feet of your bed.

Temprid FX Insecticide
Mix 8 ml (about 1/3 oz)(measurements on the bottle) or one 8 ml vial of Temprid FX with one gallon of water. Remember to use what you mix-within 24 hours. Adjust the spray pattern to a mist by turning the nozzle. A low fine mist is best for most spraying, but you may need to use a stream to get into some cracks and crevices. If you can't get into the cracks and crevices use one of the aerosols described below with it's crack and crevice tips to reach into these areas.

Temprid FX controls bed bug populations that are resistant to pyrethroid insecticides.
For infested mattresses, remove linens and wash before reuse. Apply Temprid to tufts, seams, folds, and edges until moist. Allow to dry before remaking bed. Do not spray bed linens
Apply Temprid FX to bedsprings, box springs, and the interior of bed frames or headboards, including all cracks and joints.
When bed bugs are found in upholstered furniture, apply only to the infested tufts, seams, folds and edges, but do not apply to flat surfaces where prolonged human contact will occur. If bugs heavily infest furniture (inside cushions and/or batting) apply a labeled insecticide dust or consider fumigation.
Apply as a crack and crevice treatment to all baseboards, moldings, beneath floor coverings and carpets, closets, shelves, curtains, furniture and picture frames that may provide harborage to bed bugs.
Remember- 95% of the bed bug infestation will be within five feet of your bed.

Recommended Aerosols-Aerosols are perfect for application where you can not spray liquid mixtures.

Aerosols (D-Fense NXT, Crossfire Aerosol, or Bedlam Plus) Usage: Simply attach the plastic tip to the aerosol can. Apply as a crack and crevice or spot treatment where evidence of bed bugs occurs. This includes bed frames, box springs, inside empty dressers, clothes closets, curtain rods, hollow spaces, carpet edges, high and low wall moldings and wallpaper edges.

D-Fense NXT

Crossfire Aerosol

Bedlam Plus Aerosol

Recommended Insecticide Dust: CimeXa Dust

CimeXa Dust: Cimexa Insecticide Dust kills bed bug adults and nymphs, killing bed bug nymphs hatched from dusted eggs. As a lox toxic insecticide dust, CimeXa Dust is composed of 100% Amorphous Silica Gel. It is odorless and does not stain surfaces.

Dust Usage: (Do not dust on top of moist insecticides)
Use a Hand Bellow Duster to apply dusts into the cracks and crevices with the Cimexa Dust. Put dust into duster. Remove switch plates and electrical outlet covers and dust into the openings. Another tool used for dusting would be a small paint brush or small makeup brush. Apply a small amount of dust on the tip of the brush, brushing into cracks and crevices. Dust any items hanging on the wall such as pictures with a small paint brush. Use a small paint brush to paint dust in seams and around buttons of mattress. Use dust or aerosol in all joints of the bed frame.
If possible disassemble bed frame and treat from all angles with dust and aerosol. After the mattress and box spring have been treated, enclose both of these with Mattress Safe Bed Bug Encasements. With these covers you can keep your bed and do not have to treat it again.

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