Bed bugs are not only quick-witted pests with the ability to hide among everyday items, but they possess an innate ability to hitchhike. They can latch right onto your shoes or clothing and ride for miles and miles, right back to your residence. You combine all this with their slim credit card profiles, and it just makes the situation all that more troubling. It doesn’t take a genius to see why these bugs are so hard to spot. That being said, most people don’t understand how cryptic these pests can be.
They’ll settle into areas that are rarely touched or even visited, like behind baseboards, in the cracks and crevices of bed frames, and even in your closet. Along with this, these creatures will rearrange their lifestyles to match that of yours if needed. For instance, if you work during the night and sleep during the day, these pests will take up a similar routine so they can feed when you are sleeping. It’s pretty crazy when you think about it.
While all of these facts are no doubt interesting, it makes elimination all that much more difficult. And, that’s the last thing anyone wants. They are already hard enough to detect in the home, let alone eliminate, and these qualities only contribute to the difficulty of the situation. Either way, this is why it is best to hit the problem early and fast. Of course, this is a task much easier said than done. To even confirm that you are dealing with bed bugs, you almost have to know how to force the bugs out of hiding. Also, knowing how to force them out of hiding will only help with your elimination efforts. Here’s what you’ll need to know to get started:
I Don’t Know Where Bed Bugs Are In My Home. Help!!!
Bed bugs are no doubt cryptic pests and will go well out of their way to avoid detection. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t trick them into capturing themselves. With the following information, you can do just that.- The first thing you will have to know is when to start. While you can set traps and let them work 24/7, it does help to know when to place the traps. These pests are pretty smart and if you are setting traps and lures when they are active, you only risk spreading the infestation to other parts of the property. Not something you want to do! You’ll want to start when the bugs are inactive or asleep. This will be when you are awake and active. You might have to end up taking a day or two from work to get this done.
- The next step of the process is to move the furniture away from the walls. If you have couches, sofas, or chairs in the bedroom, you’ll want to move them off the walls along with the beg. The thing is to force the bed bugs to travel up the legs if they going to travel up these pieces. This allows you to place lures or traps under the feet of the furniture, essentially forcing the bugs to walk through the lures and traps, instead of utilizing the walls.
- When the bed and furniture are relocated away from the walls, you will be able to place lures or traps. You have a variety available to you, but if you are looking for the most cost-friendly solution, you’ll want to opt for the dish device. This is a bowl-like device that simply installs under the legs of your furniture. It doesn’t do anything special other than traps bugs inside. When the bugs try to pass through the device, they’ll find themselves unable to escape.
- Some other useful tools available to you are the heat and CO2 lures or traps. These work similarly but expel CO2 or heat to lure the bugs out of hiding. There are even some traps that utilize a combination of CO2 and heat for a more effective reaction. These devices can also be designed with a dish-like design or they can utilize glue paper to trap the bugs. Either way, the results will be the same. The bugs will get trapped, be unable to escape, and starve to death. This is a process that will take about two weeks. You also have the option of disposing of the bugs yourself.