Daily Archives: September 28, 2022

Leg Protectors

Due to the difficulty in eliminating the bugs from the room or dwelling, the (suspected) bed is isolated, thus removing the insects' food source'”humans. Bedbugs cannot crosspetroleum jellyand have difficulty climbingmetalorglass, hence each of the bed legs is put in atincan(the bottom of which is thickly coated with petroleum jelly) to avoid movement from the bed to the hiding places. Although bedbugs cannot fly, they have been observed climbing a higher surface in order to then fall to a lower one, such as climbing a wall in order to fall onto a bed. They can also jump a few centimeters, and so could jump from the wall onto the nearby bed. Hence alternatively, a double-sided stickytape(such as carpet tape) is applied around each bed leg, or to keep each leg on a plastic furniture block in a tray of water. However, this does not prevent bugs from biting you on your couch or in other areas of your dwelling.

Each bed leg will be placed in these containers. Around the middle of each container, I'll tape a ring of super sticky fly tape or specialized insect tape. Thus, when they come out of hiding around 4am to 6am, bed bugs will try to climb up the leg of the bed to reach me. What they wont know is that they are climbing up a yogurt container and are going to be stuck in sticky tape. This bedbug will have a one way trip to his destiny. His little friends can come looking for him by all means!

I got some carpet tape and some empty yogurt containers. I put some masking tape over the containers incase the bed bugs can't climb up the bare plastic. I also sprayed a bit of hair spray on the masking tape to ensure some traction for the bed bugs. Then if you look at the far container, you will notice a white solid ring of carpet tape near the top. This is where I am hoping they will get stuck. Each bed leg on my bed (4 of them) will be inside one of these container trap thingies (see image).

A disinfected bed can be isolated and protected by applying a layer of duct tape around each leg of the bed'”using regular duct tape that has been curled lengthwise over on itself with the sticky side out. This creates a simple yet sticky barrier that will prevent most bedbugs from being able to crawl up the legs and onto the bed. This barrier technique may also be used in multiple strips or rows placed side by side to create an even stronger barrier (in areas where an infestation is heavy or where there exists a higher chance that bedbugs will attempt to crawl over the sticky tape). However, in using duct tape as a barrier, it is usually necessary to first place down a protective layer of some sort to prevent the duct tape from damaging the surfaces adhered to as well as to the prevent the duct tape barrier from leaving behind a sticky residue once it is finally removed. This protective layer, if used, can be created by placing a layer of painter's tape (also called masking tape) around the legs of the bed first'”before placing the duct tape. The painter's tape will help protect the surfaces wherever the 'curled duct tape' barrier is placed as the duct tape is adhered only directly over top the protective layer of painter's tape. Also, as a substitute to masking tape, plastic wrap can be wrapped tightly around the legs of a bed and used as the initial protective layer instead (where the curled duct tape is then placed over the plastic wrap).

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