How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Mattress
Bed bugs are pesky little critters. They’re extremely tiny, and they have the ability to burrow into all kinds of little cracks and spaces. If they’ve made their way into your mattress and you’ve just found them, do you know what to do to remove them? Read on to find out more about how to get rid of bed bugs in mattress material.
How to Identify Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are very small insects that will feed off of a human’s blood. They are about 5mm long and 3mm wide. They have an oval-shaped body and are a brown / red color. Six legs and an antenna describes their features.
They’re very commonly found in bedding, mattresses, suitcases, closets and within your clothing. If you’re trying to spot bed bug eggs, they look like very small spots of dust. It takes approximately 10 days for the eggs to hatch.
If you’ve been bitten by a bed bug, you’ll usually see clusters of small marks on your skin. They will suck your blood while you’re sleeping, but this is typically done gently enough that you won’t be woken up by the process.
Getting Rid of Bed Bugs in Your Mattress
It’s ideal to spot a bed bug problem when it first begins. This gives you time to clean them up before their eggs start to hatch. If you find them in your mattress, remove all of the bedding and put it directly into the washing machine.
You’ll want to wash everything very thoroughly with hot water and soap. If there are items that can’t be washed but are able to go in the drier, heating the bedding up to at least 118 degrees Fahrenheit will do the job. Just be sure to run the drier for at least 20 minutes.
Clean your mattress with a vacuum cleaner.
Use a hose attachment rather than a brush. The bed bugs can actually become trapped in the bristles of a brush attachment. You’ll just end up transporting them to another location in your home.
Don’t forget to vacuum underneath your mattress, under the bed and in the cracks by the baseboards. The vacuum cleaner should be immediately emptied, but some people go so far as to completely throw away the vacuum after it’s been used for bed bugs. The eggs can end up hatching within the unit.
Moving Forward
Once you trust that everything has been cleaned up the right way, purchase an encasement for your mattress that is designed to keep bed bugs out. This will prevent future bed bug problems from occurring.
If you’ve woken up with irritated skin or bites and you’re not sure where they’ve come from, it’s a good idea to look into a bed bug problem. A mattress is the most common space in a home where they may be hiding out. Now that you know where to find them and how to get rid of them, your bed bug problem should be an issue that you never experience again.
