Best Bed Bug Control
Based on In-Depth Reviews

Bed bugs are tiny creatures that have been living with us, their favorite host, for quite some time. The common hypothesis among entomologists is that their ancestors lived off bats first. Then, says forensic entomologist Louis N. Sorkin, as humans moved into caves to seek shelter, they would share the space with bats, giving these "bat bugs" another source of food. Whenever humans moved, they took their belonging to other types of shelters, but they would also bring “these bed bugs along with them, because bed bugs like to crawl in and hide in things. Of course, people had no idea about this and just lifted up their belongings and took it with them. And so, [they] have been associated with people and their homes for thousands of years.”   

In the early twentieth century, bed bugs became one of the most common pests in the U.S., until the powerful pesticide DDT was introduced to the market after its invention in 1936. Though DDT and other chemicals were able to curb the infestations that had so plagued daily life, DDT was banned in the 1970s after it was found to represent a hazard for both the environment and humans. And, while bed bugs temporarily seemed to virtually disappear for 40 years, they’ve since returned stronger than ever, since they're now resistant to quite a few pesticides.      

But why did they come back? Dr. Changlu Wang, an entomologist from Rutgers University, says that “traveling is one of the reasons why resurgence occurred.” As hopping on a plane became easier and less expensive worldwide, it also became easier for bed bugs to migrate from place to place. According to Dr. Wang, other reasons included “resistance, development, the lack of awareness, [and] the lack of control materials.” 

What Are Bed Bugs? 

Bed bugs are a type of parasitic insect that feed on human blood, typically at night. They can sense our heat and the carbon dioxide we exhale with their antennae, making us easier to find when we’re resting. There are about 90 different species, although those who typically terrorize our homes are two types in particular: common bed bugs and tropical bed bugs. The former are the most predominant one in the U.S., while the latter, as its name implies, only occur in tropical regions. 

Image by ConsumersAdvocate.org

Bed bugs’ maturation process can take between five and seven weeks, depending on temperature levels. Warmer conditions—around 80℉ or higher— will contribute to a faster development, while colder temperatures will make the process a little slower. However, they will still grow and breed in both types of conditions and can live up to a year without feeding.

Temperature and density also influence how quickly female bed bugs are able to reproduce. Under the right conditions, and with a stable food source, a female could lay between 20 and 30 eggs each time she deposits, which would normally take from one to two weeks to hatch, also depending on temperature. In general, a female bed bug, said Sorkin, “can produce a few hundred eggs in her whole adult life, which will go from months to a year. And that's enough to populate [because] with one pregnant female, you'll get 30 or 70 eggs.”

While some people think bed bugs are too small to be seen by the naked eye, that’s not true.

Generally, bed bugs are:

• about the size of an apple seed or a medium size ladybug (7mm)

• brownish in color, except in their nymph stage or recently hatched, when they are more whitish and translucent

• long and flattened from top to bottom, unless they’ve recently fed, when they become more elongated and red-brownish in color 

Image by Shutterstock.com

Do Bed Bugs Pose A Health Risk? 

Bed bugs have been the subjects of nightmares and myths for a long, long time. In Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga’s 1917 short story, “The Feather Pillow,” a recently wedded couple finds that, after a few months, the wife gets sick from a disease that their doctor can’t really explain, and that does nothing but worsen as the days pass by. Eventually, she dies. After her death, the housemaid finds some bloodstains on the woman’s pillow. It turns out that “in the bottom of the pillowcase, among the feathers, [there] was a monstrous animal,” a parasite—most likely a bed bug—that fed on her blood and caused her death.

Of course, Quiroga was taking poetic license, and there’s no proven evidence that bed bugs can cause diseases, much less someone’s death. Unfortunately, his characters also lived in pre-internet times, so unlike you, they couldn’t go online and find this article. If they had, they could have read this, identified their bed bug infestation in time, and prevented the woman’s death—the signs were all there. 

Now, bed bugs can’t transmit diseases, but can they pose any other health risks? 

Health Risks

We asked three different entomologists and they all agreed that bed bugs can’t transmit diseases, although in some cases they might be an allergy trigger. According to Dr. William Kern from the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, bed bugs can cause dermatological rashes, and in cases where the person is extremely sensitive, they “can have very severe reactions, including hives and blistering. But most people just get a little red bump [that] unfortunately, tends to hang around a while.” 

Nonetheless, these cases are not very common. Sorkin said that sometimes people don’t get an immediate reaction but “later on, maybe even years later, finally get a reaction to the bed bug saliva that's been injected into [them].” He added that “some people have no idea they're being fed upon” because they don’t show any immediate reaction to the bites. Yet when they do appear, bites are similar to a mosquito bite except that there’ll be a red dot in the center and generally appear in groups of three.

Psychological Effects

Even when you may not get an allergic reaction to its bites, having bed bugs can be an unpleasant experience. Some people feel anxiety, discomfort, insomnia, and/or the sensation of insects crawling on them even after their house has been properly treated, just as talking of lice makes your head itch automatically. One of our own editors at Consumers Advocate had bed bugs in his New York apartment in 2009, and he still remembers the distress it caused. “It traumatizes you for a long time afterward because that's where you're at your most vulnerable, when you're sleeping. So you think that they can come back and that you’re going to wake up and feel that you are bit again. It affects your sleep because you keep thinking that they might be in the bed. It takes a long time for you to get out of that mindset and just go back to normal,” he said. 

So if you’re already experiencing mysterious bites at night and think you have bed bugs, you should act fast and see if you have the signs of a possible bed bug infestation. The faster you act, the faster you’ll be able to control and eliminate them from your house and bedroom. 

How Do I Know I Have Bed Bugs?

An adult bed bug is approximately the size of an apple seed, so you can definitely look around for their presence. Nonetheless, just because you don’t see them it doesn’t mean that you don’t have them. There are a series of distinct signs you can look for, as you’ll see below.  

• Check if you have bites: Bed bugs bites resemble those of mosquitoes, they’re usually swollen bumps with a red spot in the center. These bites tend to show in a row, typically of three, on arms, legs, and other exposed areas while sleeping. Remember that not everybody has an immediate reaction to their bites, though, and it can sometimes take days for bumps to appear. 

• Check for any trace of bloodstains or rusty spots: Bed bugs may be good at hiding, but they usually leave blood stains on your sheets or pillowcases. It’s also common to find rusty spots from their faeces in your bedding. Make sure to search for these traces on all your sheets, the mattress, and sometimes even the walls, if the bed is wedged up tight.  

• Look for skin shedding or eggs: If bed bugs are hiding in your mattress, it’s possible to find molted skin or eggs. Bed bug eggs are the size of a pinhead (1mm) and have pearly white color. This can be a difficult task if you don’t know what you’re looking for, although a professional could certainly do so. 

Shed skin of bed bug nymph, picture courtesy of Louis Sorkin, B.C.E.

• Install interceptors: Using intercepting devices, like ClimbUp insect interceptor, can help you monitor and detect the presence of bed bugs. These plastic cups with sticky inside surfaces are placed underneath the legs of your bed or furniture, so when bed bugs fall inside, they’re prevented from crawling out. 

• The nose knows: Bed bugs can also be detected by their smell. In fact, some pest control companies use trained dogs to detect them. It’s plausible that in the case of a heavy infestation you’ll be able to notice an offensive, dank odor. 

What Do I Do Once I Know I Have Bed Bugs?

Much of the process for getting rid of bed bugs begins with one fundamental step: in-depth cleaning. Usually, pest control companies give you an instructional sheet with cleaning steps to follow. It is important you do this cleaning with extreme care, or you risk the chance of spreading them to other areas of your house. 

If the infestation is severe, you’re going to need a bed bug control treatment. Although there are off-the-shelf sprayable products that you can buy in a retail store, our recommendation is to always consult a professional. As Sorkin warns, if you buy a bed bug killer and “start helter-skelter, just spraying when you see them, you're not going to get rid of them at all. You have to find out where they're living, and then treat those harbored areas.” If you don’t do this, they’ll simply come back. 

Your cleaning should include the following:

• Wash all bed linens, clothes, or curtains in the infested area with hot water, and dry them at high temperature. 

• Place any non-washable items like shoes in a plastic bag and either dry them at high temperature or put them outside in the sun for a few days. 

• Vacuum the mattress seams with a stiff brush in order to remove bed bugs or eggs. Additionally, vacuum all nearby areas, and then remove the cleaning bag, place it in a plastic bag, and throw it in the garbage outside.

• Use a zippered cover or specialized bed bug mattress cover to encase both mattress and boxspring. This is a good option to keep bed bugs trapped. However, bed bugs can live up to a year without feeding, so you should keep it for about that time to make sure they’re dead. This will only kill those in the mattress or boxspring, not those hiding elsewhere.

Do I Need A Professional Bed Bug Exterminating Service? 

While it’s possible to get rid of minor bed bug infestations on your own, it’s highly recommended that you hire a professional with the training and equipment necessary to identify the places where they might be harboring. Treating their hiding spots is essential because that’s how you minimize the risk of a resurgence. Eradicating bed bugs is a collaborative process, which is why you’ll be asked to follow some of the previous cleaning steps alongside proven non-chemical or chemical methods.   

Most common methods for controlling bed bugs

Image by Shutterstock.com

The standard approach for treating most pest infestations in the industry is Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This approach is a combination of non-chemical and chemical solutions that take into account the manner in which pests behave, their life cycle, and their interaction with the environment. Usually, pest control companies have their proven and preferred control methods for treating bed bugs, these can include a combination of the following options:

• Canine Inspection: Because of dogs’ keen sense of smell, some pest control companies use them to identify bed bugs’ hiding places. Dogs are trained to track bed bugs’ peculiar odor wherever they’re hiding. 

• Heat Treatments: With this non-chemical option, a pest management professional raises the room temperature to over 120℉ by placing heaters and sensors. Sometimes large boxes are used to treat non-clothing items that can withstand high temperatures and steam, in order to hit bed bugs more directly.   

• Freeze Treatments: This technique is similar to heat treatments, only they convert liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) into dry ice to freeze bed bugs and their eggs at 0℉ or colder. 

• Insecticides: Pest control professionals can also offer fungus based eco-friendly or biological pesticides, only authorized for professional use. These are sprayed in mattresses and  adhere to bed bug spores. They then carry the poison back to their nest, killing others as well.