Bed bugs were once considered a great nuisance until the mid 20th century. However; they have now started making a comeback. More and more tenants and landlords of rental apartment units are facing bedbugs in their housing complexes. It is especially difficult to get rid of bed bugs from mattresses apart from the rest of the home. Homeowners often need to get rid of their mattresses on account of severe bed bug infestations. In majority of the cases, bed bugs come inside the apartments through infested discarded mattresses picked up from the roadside.
Naturally; it is important to find and eliminate bed bugs from mattress and around the home in order to completely get rid of such infestations.
How to kill bed bugs from mattresses?
Bed bugs love to hide in cracks and crevices, and mattresses are no exceptions. If you perform a detailed inspection of the mattress and its corners, seams or even the bed’s box springs you will find several tell tale signs of bed bugs.
You might either see the adult or nymph bed bugs in these sleeping areas or you would see their excrement, dried blood or discarded shells or exoskeletons. The mattress seams and corners especially make for terrific hiding places for the bugs. This way; the bugs do not have to expend much energy in finding a host for their blood meal. Bed bugs hiding in mattresses and covers tend to use stimuli such as carbon dioxide and heat given off by the sleeping hosts.
To kill bed bugs hiding in mattresses, one can use sprays and insecticide powders. For very large infestations it is best to contact a reliable pest control company. In case you are living in a rented apartment having bed bugs, contact your landlord immediately. You might have to read the lease contract carefully in order to find out who is responsible for paying for the pest extermination services.
Can chemical mattress covers and encasements stop and kill bed bugs?
Many people wonder whether mattress covers and encasements are effective in killing bed bugs. More and more tenants are even using chemically impregnated mattress covers or encasements to protect their mattresses from bed bugs in rented apartments. The fact is: such covers are not 100% reliable and might not protect the sleeping hosts from being bitten. Secondly, even if the bugs do come in contact with the chemically infused covers, the concentration of the chemical might not be sufficient to kill all of the bugs. At the most, the smell of the encasements might repel bed bugs, but this is not a foolproof method of keeping your apartment safe. Also note that you would be unnecessarily introducing a chemical in your sleeping environment which can be harmful to humans, especially to kids and elderly people.
The only good use you can put your mattress encasements and cover to is by using them before the bed bug infestations occur. Also, encasements and chemical covers can trap most bed bugs in smaller infestations, thereby preventing them from coming out. This makes it easier for detecting bed bugs in mattress so you can stop them from laying eggs inside the box springs. The next step, naturally, is to take all kinds of precautions to stop the bed bugs from growing in numbers. This can be done by vacuuming thoroughly and also spraying or dusting the sleeping area with bed bug products.
How much do bed bug mattress covers cost?
Typically bed bug mattress covers cost around $20 to $50 and can be bought from home improvement stores, both online and offline. Remember: you might need to purchase two separate bed bug covers for mattresses and box springs as well as an equal number based on the number of beds you have at home. Also note that bed bugs can stay alive without blood meals for several months. So leave the chemical mattress covers and encasements on for sufficient period of time.
These are some ways of protecting your mattresses from bed bugs.
