How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs: A Low-Cost DIY Extermination …

Don't Panic!

I know the panic, the dread, the embarrassment. This was a horrible experience for me! After trying others' advice and spending months battling these horrible little critters, I FINALLY got my house back! I want to share with you how I did it so that you can do it too! This article describes how to get rid of bed bugs yourself, without using toxic pesticides or paying thousands of dollars on exterminators! Do not give into the exterminator hype. If I can do it alone, you can too!

Learn to identify. I don't mean just knowing what they look like. I mean, learn male from female and the life cycle stages. Learn this first hand as you are doing the extermination. Later on, if you find a single bug, you will know if it is a recent hatch (could be a loner) or a female adult (that would require extermination of new eggs). Your battle against the bed bug will be much shorter if you can identify them well so that you know how to react. This can also relieve some of the anxiety and stress that comes from seeing a single bug after extermination. Knowing if a new bug is a male or female can let you know if you need to repeat processes or wait to see if he is just a loner that was missed or hatched after extermination. Also important to know is that females do not reproduce until they are adults.

You are going to kill the bed bugs with heat using your dryer and a hand held steamer. Using steam to kill these bugs is almost instant! They cannot tolerate heat. Your dryer can kill the bugs and eggs if on the highest setting for about 30-45 minutes.

Freezing temps will also kill them. If you have a deep freezer, you can put items in the freezer for 3 days to ensure everything has been killed.

I say above to not throw away any furniture you want to keep. "Want" is the key word. You must decide if it is worth it. Only you can decide. During my extermination I did toss out an old recliner because it was just too much of a risk. It had a decent infestation inside the chair. With all of the inside parts, nooks, and crannies, I decided that I would probably not be able to get every single one. So I tossed the chair.

Another example of when to toss is a torn mattress. If your mattress has a tear in it, then your protection of bed bugs being inside the mattress has been jeopardized. It most cases it can be salvaged. But, is it worth it? If you choose to keep the torn mattress you can steam the mattress inside and out. If you are not confident after steaming, you can add a mattress cover. (I do not recommend the cover unless your infestation was severe and you have a tear in the mattress cover.)

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How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs: A Low-Cost DIY Extermination ...