Bed bugs are nocturnal, UV radiation from the sun kills them rapidly. They are reddish-brown insects that have no wings and have flat bodies that allow them to hide in impossible spaces, not unlike the cockroach, only much more successfully. They can hide in almost any crack or crevis and can go without blood for extended periods. This makes it difficult to treat the problem fully with domestic or homemade products and generally requires professional treatment with commercial-grade insecticides and steam cleaning. This process will kill the bugs in any stage but will not kill the eggs. The process must be done again two weeks later for the effect to be complete. The female bed bug lays up to five eggs a day and can lay hundreds in a lifetime. The eggs are grain-like and white like milk. They are often laid one at a time but can be clustered for safety. When the eggs hatch a stage of bed bug called nymph breaks out of the egg and can drink blood immediately. This can be a serious issue when you can start with one pregnant female and get a thousand in just one month. Adults are much stronger and more resistant to treatments and can drink much more blood. They can live in perfect conditions with daily blood meals in a sterile lab for five years, in the real world it is closer to six months due to being crushed while feeding, the way bed bugs mate causes many female deaths. The male will use a hypodermic needle-like appendage to pierce the female’s carapace and deliver sperm directly into the womb. This is stressful and painful and many females die from it.
There are not many domestic treatments that work on bed bugs. Strong acetic acid is effective but must be sprayed directly on the bed bugs which is hard to do as they hide through the day and only come to the surface at night. There are many strong oils bed bugs don’t like but you would have to fill your home with those same smells and humans tend not to like them as well. Clove oil is the most effective and can be mixed with water and soap and sprayed all over the house in cracks and crevices and all over fabrics. This may stop them from coming to the surface in the night.
Mattress covers, even plastic ones only cover the top and sides of the mattress which leaves the bottom open for entry. There are full covering mattresses and box spring covers but you must be careful which ones you buy. Most of them are made either for preventing the mattress from getting wet when a child with sleeping issues sleeps on the bed while others are made to preserve the mattress for longer. The type of cover that can protect from bed bugs is generally not made of plastic. Plastic can be easily punctured by almost anything. Sitting on it in jeans or putting your shoes or bag on the bed will make micro-tears in the plastic that will give the bed bugs air to breath and access to you while you sleep. There are often issues with the corners of plastic covers for bed bugs as plastic must be joined through heat and cannot be sewn easily. This will likely tear as it ages at the corners allowing bed bugs to survive. The best option is a waterproof mattress encasement sold by Sleep Country that guarantees bed bug control and prevention. If the encasement does not directly reference bed bugs then it does not prevent them. Remember you will need to cover your mattress and box spring in order to protect your bed from bed bugs. This can cost over two-hundred dollars or more for a large bed.
