How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in a Mattress

6 Tips on How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs from a Mattress

While responding to the challenge of how to get rid of bed bugs in a mattress, if you choose to remove the mattress bugs on your own, be mindful that the cleanup process can take considerable time. Removal won’t happen overnight. You may need to repeat a process over and over again to see visible results.

Even after implementing all the required steps you still see signs of bug infestation. In this case, we recommend you take professional assistance to get rid of these annoying little beings.

Step 1. Clean your Bedding

First things first. You have to deep clean your bedding and wash everything that has been coming into contact with your mattress. This includes pillows, pillow covers, bed sheets, throws, blankets, duvet covers, mattress encasements, mattress pads, and anything that you think may be infested with bugs. Carefully wash the linens in the washing machine or you can also get them washed by professional laundry services.

Do not use a laundry basket to transport the linen from the room to the washing machine. Insects can quickly crawl into the basket and may hide inside your other clothes and garments.

Wash the linens with hot water and powerful detergent. let everything air dry and put them under direct sunlight. Learn more…

Step 2. Vacuum the Room, Mattress, and Bed Frame

After cleaning the bed linen, now is the time to thoroughly vacuum your room and bed. Vacuum clean the entire room and clean the mattress surface and sides with great detail and precision.

Avoid using a brush as bugs can hide inside the bristles and move to other places in the house. Clean the bed frame also, as many times bugs hide inside the wooden slats and panels along the sides of the bed.

Step 3. Dismantle your Bed Frame

If possible, dismantle your bed frame and clean the bed piece by piece. Bed bugs live in tiny spaces and usually hide inside the frame. Make use of magnifying glass and torch light to spot the traces and clean the surface as thoroughly as possible.

Step 4. Use Pesticides

You can make use of safe insecticides and chemical sprays to clean up your mattress. Make sure the windows of the room are open before you begin to spray on your bed. Avoid using a general aerosol and use a mattress-safe pesticide instead. Spray over the frame, side tables, box springs, and mattress.

Spraying the mattress with insecticide is the most effective way to get rid of bed bugs in an instant. The majority of the sprays kill the bugs immediately. Leave the room open for a few hours and do not sleep on the mattress immediately after spraying.

Do adequate research before you purchase an insecticide spray to make sure you get your hands on the best one for productive results.

Step 5. Steam your Bed

Steaming the mattress can also help in getting rid of bed bugs. The steamer must be set at 120 degrees of temperature to work effectively. The majority of the people do not have steamers in their homes. A suitable alternative is to use a steaming iron to steam the surface to kill the bugs on and inside the surface.

Step 6. Cover your Mattress with a Protective Sheet

If you are not able to implement any of the bug removal methods at home and are also not in the position to buy a new mattress, then safeguarding your mattress with a protector is the only viable solution. Specialized protectors and mattress covers prevent the bugs from escaping the mattress. Put on a protective cover and let it sit for at least a year. Seal it up and do not open it. Bugs trapped inside will ultimately die and won’t reproduce.

However, this method will work only if the infestation is in your mattress only. If the bugs live in your bed frame then you would have to use pesticides or insecticides to kill them away for good.

Being Well-Informed about Bug Removal is Crucial

Removing bugs from a bed or mattress is crucial, as living around these pesky beings can cause a lot of health hazards. No matter how clean or fresh you keep your bed, the bugs still make their way up to the mattress and reside there for years. You wouldn’t even know your mattress is infested with bugs for a long time.

Before we jump on to the tips about how to get rid of bed bugs in a mattress, it’s important to know whether your mattress has been infected with the insects.

What are the Signs of Bugs Infestation? How to Check for Bed Bugs on a Mattress?

If you have lately been waking up with itchiness and you find redness over your body, there is a good chance you have bugs in your bed. A lot of times second-hand mattresses are infected with dust mites and bed bugs without you even knowing about it.

Other common signs that indicate you may have bed bugs include:

• Rusty red spots on the mattress surface or bed linen
• Blood stains on the mattress cover, sheet, or pillows
• Egg shells, dead skin, and defecation stains on the mattress
• Bad or pungent odor around the bed

If you think your bed has a bug infestation, strip off all the bedding and inspect the bed carefully to look for signs. Examine the bed frame also and see if you can spot any insects or excrement. When you are finally sure that bugs are living inside your mattress, gear up to act quickly and take immediate action.

How do Bugs Look Like on a Mattress

First of all, you should be well aware of how to rightly identify bed bugs. These insects are oval in shape and small in size, just like a seed of an apple. They are reddish brown in color. They move quickly but they cannot fly. These bugs survive on animal and human blood.

The female bug can lay hundreds of eggs during its lifespan. It’s crucial to eradicate them as soon as possible as they can multiply in a short time and can increase in number within days.

Where do the Bed Bugs Actually Live

As they are incredibly small, these tiny insects can slide into the tiniest of spaces where you wouldn’t even imagine a bug to be hiding. Generally, the bugs live in groups and can be found under the mattress covers, inside box springs, and around the bed frames. They reside in spaces where they can easily access humans to suck in their blood to survive.

Do We Need to Throw Away a Mattress if It Has Bed Bugs?

You do not essentially need to dump your mattress that is infected with bugs. Throwing away a mattress and getting a new one for your space may be ridiculously expensive.

You can experiment with different do-it-yourself methods to get rid of the bugs or can call professional help to remove the insects and clean the mattress thoroughly. No matter what solution you choose, you need to act sooner as the bugs won’t go away on their own.

Conclusion

Get informed about How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in a Mattress properly. No matter how clean you keep your mattress, bed bugs still creep in and reproduce in large numbers. If you suspect of bug infestation in your bed or mattress, you may need to take immediate action to get rid of them. If you are wondering how to get rid of bed bugs in a mattress, clean up your bed linen, use insecticide spray and protect your mattress using sealed covers and sheets.

We hope you have found this blog post helpful in removing those pesky little beings from your sleeping surfaces.

FAQs

Q:1. What is the best method to get rid of bed bugs in mattresses?

Ans: Insecticide spray is a proven method to kill the bugs on spot and prevent them from further reproducing bugs.

Q: 2. How long can scabies live on a mattress?

Ans: Scabies cannot live more than 2 to 3 days on a mattress surface. You can wash your bed linen in hot water to kill and remove scabies from your bed.

Q: 3. How to get rid of dust mites on a mattress?

Ans: To get rid of dust mites, wash all your bed linen in hot water. Discard all old and worn-out bed sheets. Make sure the level of humidity is low inside the room. Vacuum and clean your mattress thoroughly.

Q: 4. How long do lice live on mattress?

Ans: Lice cannot live for more than 1 or 2 days on a mattress surface. They die on their own as they can only survive on a human scalp.

Q: 5. What kills bed bugs instantly?

Ans: Rubbing alcohol wipes on the mattress surface and spraying insecticide on the bed kills the bed bugs instantly.