Getting rid of bedbugs can be a real nuisance. Just when you think they're gone, you start seeing them again. Since bedbugs take about 5 weeks to make their way from the egg to the adult stage, if there are any eggs (or adults, for that matter) left behind after you finish treating an infestation, they can soon infest your home again. Thus, it's very important to pay close attention to detail when fighting a bedbug infestation so you don't leave any viable eggs behind. Here are three two steps that will make your routine more effective.
Putting diatomaceous earth in the walls through outlet holes.
A common hiding place for bedbugs is in the walls behind the outlets. They may scurry in here to avoid the pesticide application, hang out until the pesticides have gone away, and then re-emerge and find their way back into your bedding.
A good way to ensure all of the bedbugs are killed is to put a bit of diatomaceous earth into the outlets. This is a natural substance that is safe for humans, but that will dry out the bedbugs' exoskeletons and kill them. If there are any eggs in the outlets, when they hatch, they will be killed by the DE. Just fill a squeeze bottle, like the kind you get ketchup or mustard in, with some DE. Unscrew the outlet plate covers, and spray some DE into the empty wall area surrounding the outlets. (Don't put it straight in the plug-in holes.) You can leave the DE here indefinitely and it will keep fighting off bedbugs.
Zip your mattress into a protective sleeve.
Even if your entire room has been treated with insecticides, there may be some bedbug eggs hiding in the seams and stitching of your mattress that were not exposed to the insecticides and that will hatch later if left alone. If you zip your mattress into a plastic, protective sleeve, then when these eggs hatch, the adult bugs will eventually die because they cannot access a meal. You don't have to leave the mattress cover on forever -- 7 or 8 weeks should be sufficient since this gives the bedbugs 5 weeks to hatch and then some extra time to die.
Nobody wants to have their home treated with pesticides over and over again. If you follow the tips above in addition to having a professional exterminator treat your home, you'll lower your chances of needing subsequent bed bug treatments for re-infestations.
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