Bed Bugs: How to Kill Them… that’s the biggest question. I’m pretty sure that your skin is already crawling after reading the title of this article, but unfortunately, bed bugs can go undetected for years unless you actively seek and combat them. They’re fantastic hiders, and not everyone reacts to their bites, so their presence can often go unnoticed. They don’t care whose bed they move into, creeping around silently day or night, and they don’t care if your house is clean. Bed bugs are incredibly tiny and can set up camp in the smallest of places, making them difficult to detect with the naked eye. They thrive off warm temperatures and feed off their human host’s blood (gross right?) We’ve compiled some helpful tips for a DIY bed bug inspection to make sure you can sleep soundly at night.

Finding bed bugs

• Look carefully for red spots on the mattress/couch (Bed bugs are attracted to warm places so be sure to check the areas people often sit) • Bed bug excrement will leave tiny dots that may appear to bleed into the fabric like a pen mark • Search for eggs or eggshells, pale yellow in color and roughly 1mm in size • Inspect your family for any noticeable bite marks or reactions

How to eradicate bed bugs

• Thoroughly identify the problem areas around the home and put together an action plan to execute • Remove any smaller items that you think may have been infested and put them in a zip bag ready for treatment • Empty your vacuum thoroughly after each use, sealing the bag before putting it in the trash. • Try non-chemical methods for smaller items, such as tying them in a black bin bag and leaving them in direct sunlight. Or in freezing conditions for up to 4 days • Use EPA registered pesticides if necessary and apply with extreme caution. • Hire a professional West Michigan service to come and spray, or heat your home to a high temperature. Combating bed bugs can be an extremely lengthy and complicated process for someone to do by their self. It requires inspecting many areas of your home, and the methods used can be tricky for a novice to get the hang of efficiently, this is a good thing to add to that spring cleaning checklist. You could spend weeks upon weeks treating the bugs only to find that you’ve missed their pivotal hiding places, spending a fortune in the process without solving the problem. Hiring a professional in West Michigan can prove to be the simplest solution.

Other pests that love your home as much as you do

Ticks

West Michigan is already starting to warm up, and those nasty ticks are waking up from hibernation. Ticks make they way into your home in many ways, from pets coming indoors, from you, or as they make they way towards warm garages during the spring. The good news is most ticks cant survive indoors where there is low moisture, and die within 24 hours if they cant find their next blood meal. Soft ticks and brown dog ticks, on the other hand, reproduce and live well indoors slowly hunting you and your pets for a quick snack. Heres a few ways to prevent a tick infestation in your home.

Treat your pets for fleas and ticks, check them when they do come back inside
Seal your home, don’t make it easy for ticks to hide in nooks and crannies.
Vacuum your carpets regularly, tie up the vacuum bag in a plastic bag double knot and throw away outside.
Use a professional carpet cleaning service regularly to suck any eggs and other nasties out.
Use pesticides if you have an infestation or call a local bug killing contractor.
Don’t burn down your house.

To see if your area is an “at risk” location for Lyme disease-carrying ticks, check out this link.

Ants

In spring large swarms of flying queen ants make their way to their preferred spot to create a nest. Ants will set up shop in your home for obvious reasons and some not so obvious reasons. Ants can create a nice cozy place in your home whether it is cleaned or not, a good cleaning regime does help though! If you suspect you have an ant infestation the best course of action is to bait your prey and hope to kill the queen. Spraying directly on ants won’t do much in the way of getting rid of ants, as more will just follow. Prevention is a great way to keep these pests from setting up shop in our homes, making sure spills are cleaned up, and crumbs are vacuumed. Need a natural way to kill ants? Try a DIY mixture of using borax and powdered sugar.

DIY ant killing recipe:

1 cup of water
mix in 1/2 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of borax

Drip your mix on cotton balls or set in shallow cups near the ant trail, don’t try to kill the ants as they need to bring your brew back to the nest, hopefully killing it off.

Pam and a bucket home cleaning contractor network.

Trained professionals will come and eradicate the bed bugs and other pests from your home, thoroughly and completely, taking away the guesswork and labor which you’re probably already too busy to deal with. Choosing which method to use, along with a safe but effective pesticide, can be a mind-boggling experience and potentially extremely harmful if you choose the wrong one. Hiring a professional West Michigan service will ensure things are done safely but efficiently and will lower the risk of those pesky critters returning as every crevice and crack will be searched around the house. If you do not feel like playing inspector or just don’t have the time contact us! We have a full list of trusted West Michigan contractors that we believe are excellent at what they do, and can provide you with any services we do not offer for any of your needs. Working side by side with many companies we have built an extensive network of partners to help homeowners and businesses find the right fit.