14 days for bites to appear.
– Bedbugs can only reproduce when they have reached maturity. A female bedbug lays approximately seven eggs in a day and hundreds during her lifetime.
How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs
Make sure you really have bed bugs, not fleas, ticks, or other insects
Don’t panic. You can compare your insect to the pictures on our Identifying bed bugs Web page or show it to your local extension agent. (Extension agents are trained in pest control issues and know your local area.)
Kill bed bugs with heat, but be very careful.
Raising the indoor temperature with the thermostat or space heaters won’t do the job. Special equipment and very high temperatures are necessary for successful heat treatment.
Black plastic bags in the sun might work to kill bed bugs in luggage or small items if the contents become hot enough. Bed bugs die when their body temperatures reach 45°C (113°F).
To kill bed bugs with heat, the room or container must be even hotter to ensure sustained heat reaches the bugs no matter where they are hiding.
Stop Them From Travelling
When traveling, avoid putting luggage on the bed to reduce the risk of bringing bedbugs home in a suitcase.
It is also worth vacuuming any luggage after you return home and making sure you get rid of the contents of the vacuum in a tightly sealed bag. Dispose of this bag in a trash can outside.
Separate travel clothes from laundry and immediately wash them in hot water.
Don’t immediately reach for the spray can.
Be comprehensive in your approach. Try other things first. If pesticides are needed, always follow label directions or hire a professional. There is help available to learn about treatment options.
Reduce the number of hiding places — Clean up the clutter.
A cluttered home provides more places for bed bugs to hide and makes locating and treating them harder.
If bed bugs are in your mattress, using special bed bug covers (encasements) on your mattress and box springs makes it harder for bed bugs to get to you while you sleep.
Leave the encasements on for a year. Be sure to buy a product that has been tested for bed bugs and is strong enough to last for the full year without tearing.
So what about BEFORE you find bedbugs? What if you suspect that they are lurking somewhere, but you haven’t seen them yet?
Signs of Infestation
If you wake up with itchy areas you didn’t have when you went to sleep, you may have bedbugs, particularly if you