Preparing for Professional Bedbug Control

Because of their hardiness, small size, and secretive habits, bedbugs are among the most difficult pests to control. Effective treatment often requires several hours of painstaking work per room to make sure that all potential harborage areas are identified and effectively treated.

Do-It-Yourself Bedbug Control

We're sometimes asked why we don't prepare a detailed set of instructions about do-it-yourself bedbug control. The answer is basically that bedbugs are so difficult to control that we doubt most non-professionals will be successful, no matter how hard they try. Bedbug control definitely is not a do-it-yourself job.

Once in a while, though, we receive email from people who simply can't afford to have the job done professionally, and who practically beg us for detailed instructions.

What we've decided to do is this: We added a bedbug control section to our store and will try to select products that have the best chance of being effective. We're also providing the following links to manuals that are far more detailed than what we can provide on this site. If you carefully follow the instructions, you have a better chance than most; and we wish you the best of success.

We will publish additional resources as they are reviewed.

Professional Bedbug Control

We strongly suggest you contact a professional exterminator to get the job done right the first time. We also strongly suggest that you read the United Exterminating Bedbug Page, which goes into more detail about the actual treatment for bedbugs, as well as what preparations you should make prior to the treatment. You'll also want to check out the Bedbugger Blog.

In a nutshell, though, your exterminator will likely be doing the following:

Treating the bedding and other upholstered furniture in the affected rooms with an insecticide approved for this use, or by the use of steam under pressure.
Treating all structural cracks and crevices in the room and its furnishings with a residual insecticide labeled for bedbug control. This includes even things like picture frames, night tables, and dressers.
Vacuuming and steam cleaning may be used to quickly reduce bedbug populations.
Some exterminators use sticky traps to monitor the effectiveness of the treatment.

Preparing for a Bedbug Treatment

To make the exterminator's job easier and to improve the effectiveness of the treatment, you should make sure that the affected room(s) are ready for treatment. This means stripping the bed and washing the bedding (and all other textiles that can be removed and washed, such as draperies) in detergent and the hottest water the fabric can stand.

In addition, you should vacuum the carpeting using a new bag, and then throw the bag away outside the home, preferably sealed tightly inside a plastic garbage bag. Shampooing the carpets and furniture is also a good idea, but allow enough time for them to thoroughly dry before the treatment.

Steam-cleaning of mattresses is a good, non-chemical method of killing bedbugs already in the mattress, assuming that it's done by someone with the right equipment and know-how. Water vapor will not kill bedbugs. It has to be real, genuine, honest-to-goodness steam under pressure.

If you decide to have your mattress or other belongings steam-cleaned, the mattress should not be put back into the room until the rest of the room has been treated. Otherwise, "new" bedbugs may simply reinfest the clean mattress.

Mattress encasements are also very helpful in preventing mattresses from being re-infested after treatment. You can find a selection of bedbug-proof mattress and boxspring covers, along with other bedbug treatment supplies, at the Scarafaggio Online Pest Control Supply Store.

You should also remove all clothing from the room, including any that is stored in closets, trunks, and night tables. Clothing should be washed or dry-cleaned as appropriate to the fabric, and then sealed in large zip-lock bags. In addition, any luggage you have used recently should be available for inspection and possible treatment by the pest control operator. (Bedbugs often hitch-hike in baggage.)

Other Bedbug Treatment Issues

Bedbugs can literally get into almost anything, and bedbug treatment can include issues that most people don't even think about. For example:

Electronic Equipment

Bedbugs often get into electronic equipment like computers, televisions, radios, telephones, video games, and so forth. These items can be difficult to treat because, obviously, they cannot be sprayed with liquid insecticides. The two most commonly used treatments for bedbug-infested electronic equipment are heat and fumigation.

Heat treatment involves placing the items in a thermal chamber, which is basically a low-temperature oven that heats the items to about 120 degrees F for a while. Most electronic equipment can handle these temperatures, but not much more; so temperature regulation is critical.
Fumigation using chemicals like sulfuryl fluoride is another effective treatment for bedbug-infested electronic equipment. Homeowners, however, cannot buy fumigants nor safely use them (they are highly toxic gases); so fumigation has to be performed by professional fumigation companies with the proper licenses and facilities.

Books and Papers

Books and papers are often infested by bedbugs, and are most often treated using heat or cold. Sustained temperatures of over 120 degrees F are needed if heat is used. For cold treatment, sustained temperatures colder than -5 degree F for at least a week are needed, and the exposure to cold must be sudden, not gradual. Commercial freezers are capable of sustaining these temperatures, but few home refrigerators are.

Toys

Toys that become infested with bedbugs can be treated with heat, cold, or sometimes thorough washing. If a toy can be completely submerged and soaked in hot water (at least 140 degrees F) with detergent for a few hours, the chances are that any bedbugs in it will die. Plush toys are best discarded, but if your children simply cannot part with them, you can try immersing them in very hot water for a few hours. The water has to be very hot because it will cool somewhat before it penetrates deep into the toy.