How To Avoid Picking Up Bed Bugs

Bed bug cluster on a mattress fold.

Bed bugs are everywhere. You not only have to worry about picking up bed bugs in hotels these days. Authorities say the biggest cause of bed bug movement currently is from the used furniture trade. Children from bed bug infested homes are hopping out of bed and coming to school with them. It's fairly common, these days. So how do you protect your family? How do you prevent these parasites from making you their host?

In my opinion, the entire reason bed bugs are spreading is from lack of education. What happened when HIV hit mainstream? The schools created health class. What happened when the government started supporting way too many people on welfare? They formed Planned Parenthood. One can argue how effective Planned Parenthood is. Especially if it's the first thing that is always on the government budget cut list. And hey, maybe there was health class before HIV. I think that cable tv and air conditioning was invented in the 80's. That's when I my parents first invested in them. 

My point being: If so many bed bugs are being found in schools, how come people are clueless when it comes to bed bug prevention? Next time you hear a cohort start complaining about people bringing bed bugs into schools, ask them if they themselves have mattress encasements on their beds? I would be willing to bet that the people who tend to feed the bed bug hysteria are pretty uneducated in the field of bed bugs. And please, do not listen to these peoples' advice. Do you know how many Lakewood residents drown their bedrooms in rubbing alcohol once they find out they have bed bugs? That is a horrible idea. Especially if you plan on performing some form of DIY heat treatment with the propane heater in your garage! 

When you find yourself in a conversation about bed bugs in schools keep in mind a few things: It takes your skin a good amount of time to develop a skin reaction to bed bug bites. One-third of the population does not have skin reactions to poison ivy or bed bug bites. That being said, it's understandable for people to unknowingly bring bed bugs into public places.

Do not assume that people are unnecessarily exposing you and your family to bed bugs. Do not think that the only reason bed bugs are found in schools are that families are too cheap to pay for bed bug control. This is a narrow way of thinking. Anyone can get bed bugs. We live in an eclectic city. We have families with a wide range of backgrounds. The one thing I noticed about Lakewood right off the bat is that people in Lakewood like to support Lakewood things. With the right direction, a program could be implemented in Lakewood and drastically reduce the spread of bed bugs in our town. Lakewood residents have a great deal of pride in supporting each other. That could go a long way in the fight against bed bugs. 

Just keep in mind that anyone can get bed bugs. And if you like to discriminate against the lower income families that have bed bugs, just don't do it. Yes there are a great deal of families that care for someone with a mental or physical health condition. Somehow, someway these families pick up bed bugs and struggle to get control. A lot of these households spend most of their waking lives in hospitals, where they probably picked up the bed bugs. The emotional stress these people carry around are as big of a burden as the cost of healthcare. 

If you go into a retail store looking for bed bug control products, you see a wide variety of sprays and foggers. Do you know that nearly all of these products will not control a bed bug infestation? Bed bugs are resistant to pyrethroid insecticides. Look down the shelves and read the active ingredients of every product. Do they all end in 'thrin, or 'oid?  Yep, and they all are just about worthless controlling a bed bug infestation. But how is the general public supposed to know this? They trust what is supplied to them in stores. It's the same thing as trusting over-the-counter cold medicine to cure your cold. Professional bed bug treatments are detailed, time consuming and expensive. Do you think the family that spends half their life in the hospital can pay $500 - $1600 for a bed bug exterminator? I think a lot of people opt for the $20 bug bomb, or a case of rubbing alcohol! That holds true for people with a line of credit or money in the bank. 

So how do you prevent bed bugs from infesting your home? There are basically two kinds of pests. Perimeter pests, and pests that are imported from somewhere off your property. Brown recluse spiders, German cockroaches, and bed bugs fall into the latter category. With perimeter pests, the best way to prevent them from entering into your home is to exclude them. What happens when a rat comes into a home? We trap it and exclude any further rats from entering by sealing the entry point. (Usually an uncovered basement floor drain.) Ta da. No more rats. But exclusion does not work with imported pests.

To stop bed bugs from entering your home, you have to stop bringing them in. Do not go to the furniture outlet store and buy the couch with a slight tear up the back. And whatever you do, pick nothing up that is laying on the tree lawn (or "devil's strip" if you are from Akron). Okay you would never do that... But they are still everywhere, whether you they are at work or school.

This is what I can recommend. If you know you were exposed, change clothes outside before entering your home. Keep shoes and bags outside in the garage. If you cannot do this, keep them in a tightly sealed tote just inside the door. If you have a mudroom or porch, that is also a good place to store the tote.

Encase your boxsprings. Yes, if you were to choose one thing to encase, make sure you do the boxsprings. Compared to the mattress with around ten bed bug hiding places, box springs have about one-hundred! Encase both the mattress and box springs if possible. Change your sheets regularly and inspect each time. Keep your clothes and bedding in the dryer for one half hour after they are dry. You can also buy ActiveGuard mattress liners. This is one a very good way to prevent an infestation. It is like a fitted sheet lined with a pesticide. You attach it to the underside of the boxsprings.

You can also purchase bed bug traps like the Sensci Volcano and the Blackout trap. These are sold from the Bed Bug Central Website. Also pull out the bed from the wall and keep nightstands and everything else directly off the bed. The blackout traps go on the bed frame posts. Make the bed bugs crawl up those and nothing else... Although they have been known to drop down from the ceiling onto their host. 

I hope this article was informative and entertaining. Please contact me through my business website at https://www.lakewoodplantandpest.com/ with any questions.