Bed bugs hide in places no wider than a credit card's edge.
Professional spraying for bed bugs, or Cimex lectularius, is not 100 percent guaranteed to work. Many buildings with bed bugs need two or more professional sprayings, according to Cornell University. But there are many things homeowners can do before the exterminators arrive in order to give the insecticide sprays the best chance of working. Does this Spark an idea?
Function
Fresh or dried pesticides such as pyrethroids need to come into contact with the body of a bed bug in order to kill it. But bed bugs can hide in very narrow places due to their nearly flat bodies. Adult bed bugs wait in these hiding places up to one year before they need to eat. They also crawl to unfumigated parts of a building in order to wait out fumigation or spraying to infect other parts of a building. By spraying an entire building on the same day and by tidying rooms, the homeowner creates fewer hiding spaces for bed bugs.
Preparation
Professional exterminators need access to all areas where bed bugs can hide. Good exterminators leave detailed instructions on prepare a house or apartment for spraying. Clutter must be removed. Beds must be stripped of linens. Move all furniture away from walls, since exterminators need to spray baseboards and any cracks in walls or floors. They also need to walk around furniture like tables and bed frames in order to spray the item thoroughly. Launder all clothing, bed linens and small soft toys in hot water. Vacuum all floors and furniture. Empty all cabinets so the exterminator can spray inside of them.
Survivors
Insecticides do not kill bed bug eggs. This is why another treatment two weeks after the first is often necessary, in order to kill the bed bugs when they are vulnerable to pesticides. However, if bed bugs happen to survive a spraying, they develop resistance to that particular pesticide. This resistance passes on to all of the bed bug's offspring.
Warning
Never use over-the-counter insecticide products, even if they are listed as killing bed bugs. These will not work and may expose people and pets to dangerous levels of insecticides, according to Dini M. Miller, PhD, entomologist for Virginia Tech. Foggers or "bug bombs," for example, do not penetrate into the narrow places where bed bugs hide. These products are also extremely flammable. Canisters of bug bombs can explode.
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