Infested Bed Bug Mattress

If you’re reading this, chances are you have an infestation of bed bugs in your mattress. If you’re thinking of renting a truck and moving to a new house that’s really not an option. You’ve tried using over the counter or perhaps professional sprays but that isn’t working either. The good news is there are some things you can do yourself to get rid of bed bugs from your mattress successfully, so long as you’re willing to adhere to certain rules and regulations.

Infested Bed Bug Mattress

Feeling suspicious about having bed bugs? You might be right. Here are a few things to look out for to be sure:

• Itchy areas of your body that weren’t there before you went to bed
• Bloodstains on your sheets or pillowcases
• Dark spots on your mattress or pillowcases — which may be bed bug excrement
• Eggshells or shredded skin in areas they may be hiding
• A musty odor around your bed
• Living or dead bed bugs

If you’ve had a potential spotting and Googled “what do bed bugs look like on a mattress” but squirmed and closed the browser upon seeing the pictures, you’re not alone. In case you didn’t get a good look, bed bugs are so small they often just look like a dark speck on a mattress. Grab a magnifying device (your phone camera might work) and take a closer look.

Do I Have to Throw My Mattress Away If I Have Bed Bugs?

You don’t have to throw your mattress away if you have bed bugs. While it may seem like the easiest option, it isn’t always the cheapest  — unless you’ve been planning to get a comfy new mattress anyway.

Otherwise, there are a few DIY things you can do if you want to know how to get bed bugs out of a mattress yourself, or consider bringing in the bug exterminators for quicker and more thorough results as bed bugs can be especially hard to get rid of on your own.

6 Steps to Getting Rid of Bed Bugs in Your Mattress

If you’re opting to DIY your bed bug extermination, keep in mind that you may need to go through the process several times. While bed bugs don’t carry any diseases, you’ll want to be thorough as they reproduce quickly. This can be long and tedious, while also lacking effectiveness for large infestations — in which case it would be necessary to call in professional exterminators.

1: Launder Your Linens

Your first step is to wash everything you possibly can, which includes cleaning your mattress. Wash your pillows, pillowcases, sheets, and anything else you think your little friends may be hiding in. Use rubber gloves to put these items in a trash bag for transporting to your laundry room or the laundromat.

Avoid using your laundry basket to move your bedding from room to room. Using your regular basket gives the bed bugs a chance to make it back to your bedroom, or worse — other places in your house. Instead, use a garbage bag and throw it in an outside trash can when you’re finished.

Since you shouldn’t use insecticide on your bedding or clothes, using hot water in the wash is the next best thing. While hot water on certain items may not be the best, use it on whatever you can.

2. Vacuum and Repeat

Once your bedding is in the wash and out of the way, vacuum your bedroom. Avoid using the brush attachment as the bugs can hide away in the bristles. Instead, use the hose. Be sure to vacuum the small crevices in your mattress and other places around the room, particularly by the bed.

Be thorough and repeat several times. Dump the vacuum’s contents in an outside garbage and clean the container so the bugs within won’t have a free ride back inside.

3. Take Your Bed Frame Apart

To dive in deeper, take your bed frame apart, if it can be done, and clean every inch of it. Bed bugs can hide in the smallest of places, so it’s worth the effort to get rid of them. Use a magnifying glass and flashlight to see inside crevices and get a better look. If you have a wood bed frame and find any cracks, consider sealing them to prevent bed bugs from using them as a hiding spot.

4. Use Insecticides That are Safe for Your Mattress

Before using an aerosol spray, ensure you have good ventilation in the room and have read and understood the directions on the container. Also, be sure you have insecticide specific for mattresses, rather than a general-purpose aerosol. You can then spray the insecticide on the infestation site and any other furniture around the room.

The best way to get rid of live bed bugs instantly is to spray them with an insecticide. Most of these sprays kill bed bugs on the spot. However, once the solution has dried, there’s no guarantee it will still kill the remaining bugs that come across it. Likewise, some ingredients in certain insecticides allow bed bug eggs to hatch, but the chemicals kill them shortly after. Other ingredients are almost completely ineffective for preventing the egg from hatching and killing the bug once it has. Do your research beforehand to know what will be most effective for killing both bed bugs and their unhatched eggs.

You’ll also want to be wary of spraying the insecticide too much around your sleeping area, as it does contain harmful chemicals. Many insecticides will recommend leaving the room and closing the door and windows for about 15 minutes before re-entering and opening the windows for ventilation.

5. Steam Your Mattress

For steaming to effectively get rid of bed bugs, it needs to reach a temperature of 120 degrees or higher. Because most people don’t have steamers at home with this kind of strength, it isn’t the best method for getting bed bugs out of a mattress — but it can work if you happen to have such a steamer.

6. Encase Your Mattress and Box Spring in a Cover

If you’ve decided that getting a new mattress is too expensive and DIYing your extermination is too dangerous, consider purchasing a special mattress cover and box spring cover. These highly specialized covers make it virtually impossible for bed bugs to escape. For this method to be most effective, leave the cover on for a year to ensure the bed bugs inside are all dead and are no longer reproducing.

This method is best if the bed bugs are only in your mattress, but it won’t do anything if bed bugs are in your bed frame, nightstand, or anywhere else in the room.

Infested Bed Bug Mattress

The fact is that bed bugs can infest mattresses.

And the reality is that if you want to know how to prevent this from happening, you need to know what to look for in a mattress.

So here are some guidelines for you:

First, check for signs of wear and tear. If there are rips or tears in the fabric, or if the seams are coming undone, it’s probably not worth your time. It’s a sign that the mattress hasn’t been cared for properly and may have been infested with bed bugs at some point.

Second, check for discoloration. Mattresses that have been exposed to moisture (as from flooding) or mold should be avoided because they can harbor bed bugs and other pests. Any discoloration on the surface of the mattress could mean an infestation has occurred at some point in its history; it might not even be visible until after purchase!

Finally, check for cleanliness and freshness. If your mattress smells like it came straight out of a warehouse instead of being freshly laundered, it could be hiding unseen stains or odors (both of which could lead to infestation). If you’re buying online, make sure you’re ordering from a reputable company with good reviews—that way

List Of Infested Bed Bug Mattress