IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — There could be some little monsters hiding under your bed or inside the mattress, at least. Pest experts are warning about a resurgence of bed bugs. Local News 8 spoke with a local pest service to learn how to keep those unwanted guests out of your home.
Some people might think bed bugs usually live in dirty places, but they are attracted to warmth and carbon dioxide. That’s why they love to join you in your nice, cozy bed. People usually get bed bugs when they travel or have visitors stay the night.
“Biggest thing when you’re talking treatment is to figure out where you got them from,” said Falls Pest Services Branch Manager Rein Weil. “Because they are very easily reinvested if you don’t know where they came from.”
The little insects prefer to eat human blood and leave itchy bites on people. Bed bugs are not known to spread diseases, but they’re still a nuisance.
If you want to get rid of bed bugs, it’s best not to spray them. Spraying might make the bugs leave for a while, but it likely won’t keep the bugs from coming back.
“They can go several months, as in six months to a year, without feeding and survive,” Weil said. “So they’re going to disappear while that product is working, and then when that’s no longer active, they’re right back at it. In the meantime, guess what they’ve been doing…breeding.”
Professionals say the best thing to do is to call them for help. They will bring in fans and heaters to raise the temperature in the home to about 130 degrees. That will kill all the bed bugs in the house. Since the treatment takes at least 24 hours, the homeowners will need to sleep somewhere else for the night.
“It is a very loud job. When it gets up to that temperature, it’s a very sweaty job as well, but that’s what’s going to do the trick,” said Weil.
So goodnight, sleep tight, and in all seriousness, don’t let the bed bugs bite!
