Daily Archives: January 3, 2014

updated 7/8/2013

This means you make sure bed bugs are not harboring in the bed frame, headboard, etc., and that you encase mattresses and box springs in high quality bed bug-proof encasements.

You have to work with the protocols of your pest management professional. Most pest professionals were aware of do recommend encasements. A carefully-encased mattress (with encasement sealed and kept free of tears) may help many people to eliminate bed bugs sooner, avoid bed bug bites, and save or protect an expensive mattress. Read our encasements FAQ for some of the pros and cons, and expert recommendations.

Bedbugs can crawl onto the bed and bite you, but you are taking steps to ensure they do not live there. If they cross poison on the way to you, any meal will hopefully be their last. You may use a Packtite Passive Monitor/BBAlert Passive Monitor, which encourages bed bugs to harbor inside so they can be detected easily. Alternatively, you may use pitfall/interceptor monitors like Climbup Interceptors or Blackout Bed Bug Detectors to catch any bed bugs climbing onto or off of the bed (read more about Climbup Interceptors and Blackout Bed Bug Detectors here). These two approaches (passives vs. interceptor/pitfall monitors) are quite different, and mixing them is not usually the best idea.

Here, you are trying to get bedbugs out of your bed, and keep them out, so they cannot bite at night.

Isolating the bed is controversial, and though it may help people who are being bitten very badly or who have serious allergic reactions or who are in great distress may to try and avoid getting bed bug bites while in bed, it also may actually mean you are fighting bedbugs longer. This is so because bed bugs may spread further around your home (and remember: they will still bite you outside of the bed).

The theory behind isolating is that bed bugs will still try to get to you, but they should be trapped on the way, and you should be able to avoid bed bug bites while sleeping.

In a few cases, however, bed bugs are said to have dropped down from the ceiling to bite people in isolated beds. It seems to be a rare occurrence, but a possibility. More often, beds not thoroughly isolated have allowed people to continue to be bitten by bed bugs. If youre going to isolate, you must be meticulous and thorough.

And remember, if bedbugs cannot bite at night, they will bite during the daytime, as you sit in chairs or go about your day. For this reason, many would recommend instead that you simply protect the bed, but do not isolate it.

Many people prefer to protect rather than isolate the bed because having bed bugs biting you in bed, or finding evidence they were there (cast skins, blood spots, etc.) is a sure sign you still have a bed bug problem and require further treatment. If you isolate and dont react to bed bug bites you get during the day, it may be harder to verify bedbugs continued presence. Isolating may also mean they spread further around your home, since they may have trouble reaching you in bed, where they used to feed. Protecting the bed instead, and using pitfall/interceptor monitors like Climbup Interceptors or Blackout Bed Bug Detectors as a tool for catching bed bugs as the wander onto or off of the beds legs, or using Packtite Passive Monitors (aka BBAlert Passive Monitors) (which offer an easily inspected harborage for trapping and monitoring bed bugs) would be my preference.

See more here:
How do I stop bed bug bites in bed? Protect my bed from bed ...