The good news about bedbugs is that, one, they’re not dangerous, and two, they don’t carry diseases. The bad news is that these hugely irritating insects love nothing more than to feast on your blood while you sleep. And despite the name, you don’t just find them in beds – they can also attach themselves to your clothing, your sofa and even your bags and luggage.
You can console yourself with the fact that these oval creatures are tiny; roughly the size of an apple seed or up to 6mm in length. The downside of this is that it’s easy for them fit into the smallest crevice around your bed, with cracks in the wall, skirting boards, plug sockets and more all comfortable locations. From there, they can crawl out of at night to bike exposed skin, or worse if they’re female, lay up to five eggs a day and up to 500 in one lifetime. These baby bedbugs – known as nymphs – shed their skin five times before they are fully grown, and the little horrors need more blood before each shedding. They can potentially grow to fully fledged bedbugs in just one month, then produce three or even more generations every year.
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And because bedbugs can crawl long distances, they can spread like wildfire around your home. They particularly like fabrics and wood but can also be found in places ranging from the edges of carpets to behind pictures. Even if bedbugs don’t get access to your blood, they can survive for up to a year, which makes eradicating them all the more difficult.
So, the big question is, how do you get rid of them?
Are there any myths about bedbugs?
Yes, here are just some of them:
- Bedbugs only live in dirty homes: Because bedbugs survive on blood alone, the reality is you’re just as likely to find them in spotless homes.
- Bedbugs nest: Unlike ants and bees, bedbugs don’t have nests, but they do find common hiding places, so you are likely to find them in groups.
- Bedbugs only live in your bed: Of course, bedbugs love beds because it means easy access to your blood. However, once they start spreading you can find them anywhere in your home.
- It hurts when bedbugs bite: Although they have to pierce your skin to access your blood – which they feed on for several minutes, accessing any area of the body they can find – they do this mainly while you’re sleeping. You only feel discomfort when the bites turn into itchy marks or lumps later (not that that’s a whole lot of comfort).
How can I prevent bedbugs?
- Check any second-hand bedroom furniture (beds, bedside cabinets etc) thoroughly before bringing them into your home
- Avoid buying second-hand mattresses
- Inspect your mattress and bed regularly
- Keep your bedroom clutter-free – and so cut down on their hiding places
- If you think you've stayed in an infested room, check everything you have with you (luggage, clothing etc) for bugs, using the top tips below. Ideally, wash them on a hot (60°C) cycle. Alternatively, dry clean everything or put them in a freezer for at least three days to kill all the critters off.
How can I tell if I have an infestation of bedbugs?
There are several tell-tale signs:
- You wake up with itchy bites you didn’t have the night before; these often appear in straight lines on your body
- You got a used bed or other used furniture when these bites started
- There are tiny blood stains on your sheets or pillowcase
- There are small dark or rusty spots of dried bedbug poo on your sheets, pillowcase, mattress (don’t forget to look on the underside) or other areas around the home, including walls
- There are signs of shed skin (tiny mottled bug shaped exoskeletons) around your home
- There are signs of tiny white eggs in the crevices and joints of your mattress and furniture – you may need a torch to find them
- There’s a musty smell in your bedroom
If you think you have an infestation, remove all bedding and check for excrement signs, then check for these excrement signs in the mattress and on the bedframe, as well as all around the bed including on the carpet, in books, clocks, phones and plugs. Don’t forget to examine your wardrobe as bedbugs love clothes, and it’s worth checking any other fabrics in the room like curtains, cushions and cuddly toys. You should also inspect whether the bedbugs have spread into other areas of your home. Still not sure? Use bedbug traps under furniture legs and the bedframe to monitor whether you have any bedbugs. And if you’re not sure about the signs, pest control can help (see point 7 below).
I have a bedbug infestation – what next?
1. Wash all the fabrics in the relevant room – including bedding, clothing and curtains – on a high setting (ideally 60°C) and/or put them in a tumble drier on a hot setting for half-an-hour; the heat will kill the bedbugs. Alternatively, dry clean all affected items, as the chemicals also kill bedbugs.
2. Scrub all surrounding areas, especially around your bed, with a stiff brush, then vacuum thoroughly to suck up the bugs, getting rid of the sealed bag outside immediately. Don’t forget the walls, paintings and all furniture – and pay special attention to bed and furniture legs, carpet edges and door and window frames.
3. Apply a chemical bedbug treatment (spray or steamer) to all the areas mentioned above, taking care to use a product that is safe for bedrooms and bedding. See below for specific mattress cleaning instructions. Be sure to check if, and how often, you need to reapply the treatment.
4. Repair cracks in the plaster or wallpaper to seal up favourite bedbug hiding places.
5. Keep the area around your bed as clear as possible.Consider using bedbug traps under furniture legs and the bedframe.
6. If you feel overwhelmed by the infestation or aren’t sure you’re successfully eradicating them, call in professional help. Contact your local council or a pest control firm that’s a member of the British Pest Control Association or National Pest Technicians Association. They will carry out an inspection, then use special treatment such as insecticide, a steamer or rapid freeze system to get rid of the bugs.
How do I treat my mattress for bedbugs?
If your mattress is heavily infested, consider buying a new one. Just ensure you tackle the surrounding areas first, or the bedbugs will just move from the old mattress to the replacement. Cover the mattress with plastic before disposing of it.
If you want to treat your mattress and keep it, spray an aerosol can of bedbug treatment (see recommendations below) directly onto the mattress. Focus on the seams, tufts, and folds and don’t worry about the mattress getting damp; just allow it to dry.
Alternatively, use a bedbug steamer (again, see recommendations below) to steam your mattress, bed and surrounding areas.
Now use insecticide dust on both the mattress and box springs. This treatment lasts for several months and reaches tricky-to-get-to areas like mattress corners.
Next, cover your mattress with a bedbug proof mattress cover or bedbug mattress encasement to stop bedbugs entering or escaping for at least one year. It’s the only way to ensure they are all dead. Ditto with a box spring encasement for your box spring. If you don’t cover them, you’ll need to reapply your bedbug treatment every 7-10 days until you don’t see any further bedbug activity.
You can now reapply your bedding, as long as it’s been washed at a high temperature and run through a tumble dryer on high heat.
The Best products for eradicating bedbugs
1. Killer Treatment Spray Pack: best bedbug killer kit
Price:£32 l Buy now from Amazon
Some bedbugs can build up a resistance to certain pyrethroids, making them tricky to treat. But this comprehensive kit of various products is highly effective – giving you everything, in fact, that you need to blitz the little buggers. Use the spray and dust as per our instructions above and they’ll die immediately, then you light the fumer and leave the room for three hours. The smoke bomb releases an insecticide so no nook and cranny is unaffected. The result is the same as getting in professional pest controllers, but you must remember not to take stuff out of the room before you use the kit – everything, and we mean everything, must be subjected to this government approved chemical treatment.
2. Zero In Bedbug Traps: best bedbug traps
Price:£3.49 (pack of 3) l Buy now from Amazon
Not quite sure if you have bedbugs? Traps can be your best bet in finding out, acting as an early indicator that you have an infestation. They’re also good if you’ve had a bedbug nightmare and want to prevent future problems. Since these ones are poison and chemical free for up to two months, you don’t need to worry about inhaling nasties – and they catch bedbugs at both the immature and mature stages quickly. Once you find bedbugs in the trap, we recommend following our tips above promptly or calling in the professionals.
3. Petshield Bedbug Killer: best bedbug spray
Price:£9 (pack of 3) l Buy now from Amazon
You get three cans in this pack, which is a good job as, with a bad infestation, you’ll need to keep spraying and spraying as per our instructions above. Don’t use it on the bedding and bed linen – that needs to be washed at high temperatures. Instead, save the spray for the mattress, headboard, springs, base and every area you can around the bed, including carpets, skirting boards, walls, bedside cabinets and elsewhere. The mattress will take the longest because you’ll need to focus on seams, tufts and folds, as well as the surface. Petshield Bedbug Killer is one of many such products on the market, but we found it more effective than others in killing on contact and not stinking your home out along the way.
4. Comfort Nights Fully Encased Waterproof Anti-Bedbug Mattress Protector: best mattress protector
Price:£21.75 l Buy now from Amazon
This is another good preventative method. It doesn’t feel unlike other decent mattress protectors, but it washes at up to 95 degrees, is antibacterial, anti-bedbug and anti-mould, not to mention breathable and waterproof. It can be zipped right across the top and half way down the sides. An effective way of keeping bedbugs at bay, and easy to put on too.
5. Lifesystems Bedbug Sheets: best travel solution
Price:£14 l Buy now
Worried about bedbugs when you’re staying elsewhere? This lightweight (100g for the single; 160g for the double) and easily transportable sheet is made from an ultrafine netting material with 196 holes per square inch to add an extra layer of protection between you and the mattress. It comes with its own lightweight storage bag in a choice of double and single sizes, and we found it’s a good fit that seems to stop anything getting through without spoiling your night’s sleep. The sheets are also treated with Lifesystems’ EX8 Anti-mosquito formula; a permethrin impregnation that kills any insects upon contact and will last for up to 2 years or 35 washes.