Bed Bug Control: Four Ways You Can Prevent Bedbugs From Infesting Your Home
Unlike other types of bugs, bedbugs don't just migrate from somewhere else and into your house. In most cases, bedbugs get attached to your clothes, and when you get back home, they seek out different places to hide, such as your bed and furniture.
Therefore, if you have ever encountered bedbugs in your home, chances are you are the one who brought them in. However, if you are careful, you can prevent a second occurrence of a bedbug infestation in your home.
With that in mind, here are four ways you can prevent bedbugs from getting into your home.
Inspect Secondhand Furniture
Everyone loves yard sales because they provide an opportunity to buy second-hand furniture cheaply.
However, suppose the previous owner of the furniture had bedbugs. Chances are, some of the bedbugs found their way into their furniture, which you later bought at a yard sale. Thus, when you take the second-hand piece of furniture home, it comes with bedbugs. After a while, the bedbugs multiply and spread to more parts of the house, such as your bedroom.
Thus, it is advisable to thoroughly inspect second-hand furniture to ensure it doesn't have bedbugs before buying. Alternatively, whenever you buy second-hand furniture, make sure to clean it thoroughly with soap and water, then allow it to dry in the sun before taking it into the house. This procedure will kill any bedbugs present, and thus, when you take the furniture into the house, you can rest assured you won't get bedbugs.
Avoid Cheap Motel Rooms
Don't get it wrong; not all cheap motel rooms have bedbugs. However, it doesn't hurt to be careful. When you book a cheap motel room, check the room for bedbugs in the cabinets, closets, and beds. If a motel room has bedbugs, they will hide in your clothing and luggage, and when you get back home, the bedbugs will spread all over your house.
Therefore, if you intend to stay in a cheap motel room, don't take your luggage into the room before you have thoroughly checked for bedbugs. Additionally, if you do find bedbugs in the cheap motel room, make sure to thoroughly check the clothing you were wearing while inspecting the room to ensure you don't take any bedbugs with you.
Use Repellants in the House
Though you can take extreme measures to prevent bringing bedbugs into your home, the same can't be said for your pets and visitors. Thus, there is a chance that your pets or visitors may bring bedbugs into your home. However, you can prevent the bedbugs brought in by your pets and visitors from settling in by applying bedbug repellant substances all over the home.
No one wants their house smelling like a pesticide. Therefore, the bedbug repellants to be utilized in this case are natural essential oils. According to pest control experts, bedbugs are repelled by peppermint, lavender, lemongrass, tea tree oil, and thyme.
It is essential to note that the above substances won't kill the bedbugs, but they will make the bedbugs uncomfortable. As a rule of thumb, any living organism, including bedbugs, will only reproduce when its environment is favorable. Thus, the above substances make your home unfavorable for the bedbugs to reproduce. Hence, they help in minimizing the chances of getting a bedbug infestation.
Make Use of an Exterminator
In most cases, when a homeowner finds a few bedbugs in their home, they often prefer to conduct DIY bedbug extermination. Remember, irrespective of the bedbug elimination chemical or techniques you use, you don't have the adequate experience to eradicate the bedbugs from your home fully.
In most cases, you will exterminate the adult bedbugs. However, the adult bedbugs may have laid eggs around your home. Thus, after a while, the bedbug eggs will hatch, and the lava will soon mature into a bedbug infestation all over again.
Hence, it is advisable to hire a bedbug control exterminator because they know how to look for and kill even the bedbug eggs. Thus, with the eggs exterminated, there is zero chance of a new bedbug generation infesting your home.