Desiccants can be very effective; however, they can take up to several months to work.
Bed Bugs Integrated Pest Management in and Around the Home– University of CaliforniaExit
Rip covers and remove stuffing from furniture items.
Can you treat and eliminate the bed bugs on your own? Bed bugs are challenging pests to get rid of, since they hide so well and reproduce so quickly. In addition, the egg stage is resistant to many forms of treatment, so a single attempt may not be sufficient to complete the job.
Contact Usto ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
Make sure the methods you select are safe, effective and legal. SeeWhats Legal, Whats Notfor more information.
Bed bugs: Do-it-yourself control options– Texas A & M AgriLife ExtensionExit
If repeated treatments are needed, consider using pesticides withdifferent modes of action.
Before starting, you should lay out all of the steps on a calendar. The following steps will help you begin:
Cold treatment can be successful in the home environment if the freezer is set to 0
Continue to inspect for presence of bed bugs, at least every 7 days, in case any eggs remained.
Reducing the numbers of bugs with these and other non-chemical methods is helpful, but is unlikely to entirely eliminate the infestation.
Continue toimplement preventive measures.
Keep the infestation from expanding
Use spray paint to mark furniture with Bed Bugs.
An official website of the United States government.
If using desiccants, be sure to use only products registered as a pesticide.
For additional information, please see:
Learn more about preparing for treatment
Achieving complete control can take weeks to months, depending on the nature and extent of the infestation, and everyone will need to cooperate and do their part.
Plan to keep records through the whole process including dates and locations when pests are found.
Landlords may have a responsibility to participate in treatment.Check the housing codes and laws in your area.
carefully according to the label directions or hire a pest management professional.
Items that cannot be treated should be placed in a sealed plastic bag and left for an extended period of time to ensure any active bugs are dead (research shows variation in the length of time needed, but it can be as long as a year).
Dont discard furniture if you can eliminate the bed bugs from it.
carefully look for any evidence of bed bugs.
Weve made some changes toEPA.gov. If the information you are looking for is not here, you may be able to find it on theEPA Web Archiveor theJanuary 19, 2017 Web Snapshot.
Do not use pool or food-grade diatomaceous earth – this type of diatomaceous earth can harm you when you breathe it in. The pesticide version uses a different size of diatoms, which reduces the hazard.
Use foggers (bug bombs) only with extreme care. Improper use can harm your health or cause a fire/explosion.
Learn about treatment options (PDF).(4 pp, 480 K,About PDF)Exit
Collect a sample toor other reliable expert in entomology.
Desiccants (drying agents) can be particularly effective
Using a calendar, map out each stage based on the recommendations in the following sections.
Inspect infested areas, plus surrounding living spaces, to determine extent of infestation.
Extension agents are trained in pest control issues and know your local area.
If furniture cannot be salvaged, discard it responsibly. Destroy it so someone else wont be tempted to bring it into their home. For example:
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Anything removed from the room should be placed in a sealed plastic bag and treated.
If you have bed bugs and live in an apartment, notify your landlord, because the units surrounding yours should be inspected.
Seal the bag and throw it out in an outdoor trash container.
Every few days after you complete your initial cleanup and control processes,
Heat treatment using a clothes dryer on high heat, black plastic bags in the sun or a hot, closed car (pest management professionals have other methods that are not suitable for non-trained individuals to use).
Bed bug interceptor (place under furniture legs to catch bed bugs)
Take steps to have infested items picked up as soon as possible by the trash collection agency.
Because foggers work with a broadcast spraying action, they should not be used as the sole source of bed bug control. The spray will not reach the cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide.
Look for EPA-registered pesticides.
in some situations since they work by drying out the bug (which means the bed bugs cant develop resistance to it).
Interceptors (placed under the legs of furniture to catch bed bugs and keep them from climbing the legs; commercial and do-it-yourself versions available), traps or other methods of monitoring can be used.
Treating bed bugs is complex. Your likelihood of success depends on many factors, including:
Leave time for long-term monitoring to make sure all of the bed bugs are gone.
If you see bed bugs, that means that either the initial cleanup missed some individuals or that eggs have hatched (finding and removing or killing all eggs can be very difficult) and retreatment may be needed.
Bed bugs must be listed on the label.
Jumping straight into control is tempting, but wont work. Preparing for treatment is essential to getting successful control. It will also help by making it easier for you to monitor for bed bugs that havent been completely eliminated. This preparation should be conducted whether you are doing the treatment yourself or hiring a professional.
F. You must leave the items in the freezer at that temperature for four days. (Always use a thermometer to check the temperature, since home freezers are not always set to 0
of killing bed bugs. Some will be more useful than others.