If you had recently treated your home for bed bugs, you are wondering if you were successful. Several factors may determine the effectiveness of your chosen bed bug control technique. These factors make it challenging to determine the success of bed bug treatment since they vary depending on the nature of the infestation. Even worse, it takes time actually to decide whether you were successful. So today, this post enlightens on all you need to know to determine your success at bed bug extermination.
Table of Contents
Factors affecting the success of a bed bug treatment
Several factors determine the success of a bed bug treatment. You must understand these factors before you question the success of treatment. Some of these factors include the following:
Size of the original infestation
The size of the infestation determines the relative success of controlling bed bugs. Bed bugs procreate, and within a short time, they would have multiplied and invaded all possible hitchhiking locations. As their numbers surge, they tend to crawl away from their original hiding spots. Extermination is challenging since all bed bug hiding spots must be identified and treated.
Larger infestations may need various and multiple treatment options to exterminate bed bugs.
Type of treatment
There are many bed bug treatment options existing today. You have to choose the most suitable and practical treatment depending on the nature of the bed bug infestation you are facing. Failure to select the best option will lead to poor results and loss of time and money.
Realize that specific infestations may need a particular type of treatment. For instance, clothing and bedding need heat treatment at 115°F (46.11°C) for about 30 minutes while vacuum cleaning suits floors and furniture.
You must exercise caution while selecting the most appropriate treatment option to avoid money-wasting control methods. Always choose amongst the ultimate bed bug control methods proven to work.
The thoroughness of the treatment
There are no shortcuts while addressing an infestation. You must manage all hideouts to ensure a successful extermination process. You will miss your extermination goals if you apply the required procedures without weightiness.
You might want to retreat to your home multiple times, depending on the nature of the infestation. However, retreating will increase the time your home will be considered bed bug-free from extermination.
Type of home
Living in Multi-Family housing makes you more vulnerable to bed bugs than in other accommodations. It is challenging to control an infestation since you must check the neighboring units. In such as case, you’ll need the permission of the property manager to inspect adjacent housing.
You will only consider yourself successful after checking adjacent units and ensuring it’s free from bed bugs. Otherwise, the bugs will crawl back to your house. You can also up the game by installing a door sweep and caulk all areas to limit bed bugs’ movement between housing units.
Signs of bed bugs to look for post-treatment
After treatment, seeing exoskeletons or any common bed bug signs does not mean you still have bed bugs. You can still find exoskeleton, dark spots, and bed bug excrement, among other signs pointing to the presence of bed bugs. However, these signs do not indicate the presence of bed bugs since the exterminated bugs left them behind.
The only signs that provide 100% proof that you still have bed bugs are finding them and having their bites. If you have bed bug bites on your skin is undisputable proof that you still have them. Bed bugs are good at hitchhiking, and finding them would be challenging. However, you can still spot some after extermination.
Determining the success of a bed bug treatment
Getting rid of bed bugs is a challenging task requiring more than one treatment attempt. You must continuously monitor your home to ascertain that all the bed bugs are gone. Here are some bedbug-monitoring techniques that you can use:
Interceptor traps
You will need to install interceptor traps on the legs of your bed, sofas, and other furniture to monitor bed bug infestations.
Installing mattress encasements
It would be best for you to install plastic mattress encasements to protect your mattress and box springs from future infestation. The encasement will also make inspecting and monitoring bed bug infestation easy.
Installing Bed Bug Monitors
The best option to determine your success in exterminating bed bugs would be to install bed bug monitoring tools. These monitors trap bed bugs as they enter or leave your bed or other furniture. You should find no bed bugs trapped under these monitors if you were successful.
Monitoring Vacant Rooms in your house
Many people may ignore setting traps and monitors in vacant rooms within their households. However, you can leverage this by installing monitoring tools that have an attractant to entice bed bugs with an alluring scent. You should check if any bed bug has been lured into the trap over time. Finding none is an indication of success.
Reduced bed bugs signs
You will witness fewer bed bug indicators if you successfully exterminate the bed bugs. These include no more bed bug bites, reduction of fecal spots, and lessened blood stains on mattresses and linens. The absence of these bed bug indicators implies that you no longer have them in your house.
When to celebrate success post-bedbug- treatment
You might want to hold your bedbug- treatment celebration for some weeks. It is impossible to determine overnight if you were successful, and it is imprudent to celebrate before ascertaining results. A Michigan University report suggests it takes six to eight weeks to ascertain the success of a treatment process. During this time, you inspect the set traps and monitors to see if any bed bug was lured into it. You can celebrate your success if you fail to find any bed bug six weeks after extermination.
Preventing bed bug re-infestation post-treatment
Confirming the success of a bed bug treatment is not the end of your fight against them. It would be best if you took proactive measures to prevent re-infestation lest you end up with the same problem within a short time. The following are some tips to help you prevent a re-infestation:
Regularly inspecting for bed bugs
It would be best if you regularly scanned for bed bugs’ telltale signs, such as fecal and blood spots in linen, clothing, and bed bugs. If you find any signs, don’t hesitate to start DIY approaches to control the infestation and stop further spread.
Vacuuming regularly and maintaining tidiness
Vacuuming regularly and general cleanliness will help reduce the chances of re-infestation. Reducing clutter in your house will make inspecting and monitoring bed bugs easy since it lessens potential hiding spots.
Sealing cracks, gaps, and other bed bug entry points.
Cracks and gaps on the wall provide a suitable hitchhiking spot for the bed bugs. Sealing all cracks and crevices with caulk or weather stripping would block bed bug activities.
Intermittently heat treat beddings and clothing
You should wash bedding, clothing, and other fabrics and place them in drier for 30 minutes to remove any lingering traces of bed bugs.
Final thoughts
Ascertaining if your bed bug treatment was successful is imperative for your peace of mind. Bed bugs are superbly good at hitching, and determining if you successfully treat them takes time. However, with the right tools and knowledge, you can be sure that your home is a bed bug-free. By adhering to the steps and procedures outlined in this post, you will be able to identify bed bugs and successfully treat an infestation. Pay attention to signs of a successful treatment to determine if the bed bugs are gone permanently. Always remember that prevention is the key and take suitable measures to avoid re-infestation.
FAQs
Can you get rid of bed bugs permanently?
You can get rid of bed bugs permanently with appropriate treatment options. However, you must protect and prevent bed bug re-infestation by adhering to post-treatment controls.
How can you monitor bed bugs in a vacant room post-treatment?
You will have to install monitoring tools with an attractant to entice bed bugs with an alluring scent. Your treatment is successful if the monitor fails to trap some bed bugs.
Why is it challenging to treat bed bugs successfully in apartments?
Treating bed bugs in apartments is difficult since the housing units are close. Bed bugs will crawl from untreated apartments to treated ones.