We talked about the fact that bed bugs are not in homes because people are dirty.
Poor hygiene of a home is not likely to be a reason for bed bugs to arrive.
They will not, in fact, come into your home because it is messy.
But, sanitation can be effective at preventing them as well.
Your home does not need to be messy to have bed bugs, but if you use proper sanitation, it is harder for them to penetrate into the home.
If you have had a chemical treatment in your home recently to treat bed bugs, make sure that you follow the specific directions provided here as well as from your professional exterminator as to what you can and can not do.
Keeping them gone is a very important job for you to do.
Here is another checklist of things that you can do to help you to keep the bed bugs any place but in your bed.
Keep your bedding and clothing clean.
When you launder them, make sure that they are washed in the hottest water permissible.
Allow them to remain in the dryer for at least 20 minutes on a medium to high heat.
This will kill any lurking bed bugs.
Vacuum your mattress monthly.
This means removing coverings, vacuuming the area around the mattress, the bed frame, the crevices and the carpeting underneath your bed frame effectively.
Dispose of the container of product that you remove into the trash outside of your home.
Do not try to steam clean your mattress.
It is very hard to dry a mattress completely.
If you do not accomplish it, there will be problems with things like mold and mildew.
Then, the mattress will be a loss completely.
If you properly clean the mattress, you will need to wrap it tightly.
You can do this in several ways.
First, you can use plastic to encase the mattress completely.
This works well on the box springs.
Second, you can wrap it in a high quality dust mite controlling cotton covering.
These are designed to keep anything from getting in or getting out.
If there are bed bugs in your mattress, they will perish as long as you do not remove this covering for at least one full year.
If there are bed bugs other places, they will not be able to get into the mattress.
Use a vacuum to keep the carpeting clean.
You should vacuum the home as often as needed, but at least weekly to help you to pull out any bed bugs that may be lurking.
Make sure to use the attachment to get into all crevices and cracks that may be an ideal location for the bed bug to present itself.
Bed bugs may be lurking in your car, in your furniture or other places that you spend a great deal of time.
In order to properly remove them, you need to use chemical treatments as necessary.
Keep them clean, then, by vacuuming and monitoring them for signs of re-infestation of the bed bugs.
If you feel that the treatments for bed bugs have not fully worked, talk to your exterminator about what you should do.
Again, cleanliness can help, but in your cleaning, you may also find additional infestations.
Monitor them carefully.
Always have a look out for bed bugs that may be coming for a visit.
Finally, make sure that you monitor your children as well.
Children often visit friends, family or other people.
They can even come in contact with a friend at school that has bed bugs in their clothing.
If you notice the tell tale signs of skin irritations or bite marks, it may be that bed bugs are lurking in her bed.
Make sure that you remove and treat anything including stuffed animals.
It bears warning that bed bugs are going to make a come back and are likely to infest more homes in North America quickly.
While this happens, there are likely to be many products on the market that may claim to help.
There are likely to be many that do not as well.
Take the time necessary to really check them out, first.
It pays to be vigilant when it comes to bed bugs.
Always look for signs of them.
While it may not seem like anything to worry about, one of the most harmful effects that bed bugs can have on humans is the emotional and psychological stresses that it causes.
If you are feeling as if you can not get the bed bugs off of you, or that they are everywhere, realize first that this is a common problem that people face when they are dealing with bed bugs.
If you are in this situation, it can be wise to talk to your doctor about this anxiety, fear or problem as it can escalate into something much more.
There are treatments that can help you to overcome these types of problems with bed bugs.
If you go back to our treatment section in this article, you will notice that we took the professional cleaning way to go.
We did this because it is by far the most successful of treatments, especially when you work with a skilled professional exterminator that has worked with bed bugs before.
But, if you feel more comfortable with handling bed bugs on your own, by all means you can give it a try.
The most important things to do are included in the pretreatments listed in that article.
You should also use pesticides and other products that are both safe to you and to your pet when treating bed bugs.
There are insecticides on the market that can help you to do you own self treatment of bed bugs.
How well they work is really undetermined as of yet.
Some are sprays others are powders.
Choose products that you know will provide you with the highest level of effectiveness.