Why You Cannot Just Spray Your Mattress To Control Bed Bugs

Posted on: 23 March 2016

Most people assume that if bed bugs are present, they are in or on their mattresses only. Along with this particular fallacy, many people also assume that just spraying the mattress with an insecticide or pesticide is and effective means of controlling and eliminating bed bugs. The following shows why you cannot just spray your mattress to control bed bugs, and why you need to do so much more than that to eliminate these pests.

Bed Bugs Live Anywhere Close to Their Meal

The first fallacy about bed bugs is that they only live on mattresses. The truth is, a bed bug will live under the baseboards, behind the bed, in your nightstand or just about anywhere close to where you sleep, especially if the infestation in your home is extensive and your mattress will not support their population alone. The mattress is just more or less the most convenient place to live because that is where you lay down at night and they can easily feed.

Why You Need to Spray More Than the Mattress

Given new information about where bed bugs will hide out during the day, you now know why you need to spray more than just the mattress. If you are not sure you have gotten all the areas these nasty pests like to hide, a pest control expert will have some stronger products that can reach into every nook and cranny, piece of furniture or tuft of carpet where a bed bug can hide. Because these pests can live several weeks to almost a year without eating, they are as hardy as their cockroach cousins so you will need thorough sprayings several times over the next year to make sure your infestation is permanently quashed.

Why You Should Treat Your Entire Home When You Have Pets and Kids

In addition to spraying your own bed and your own room, you should consider pest control services for your entire house, especially if you have pets and/or kids. Pets notoriously like to jump up on beds to nap during the day while you are away, and the warmth of their bodies draws the bed bugs out of hiding. Unless the bed bugs are desperate for a meal, they probably will not bite your pet, but your pet can act as a vehicle for the bed bugs and transport these pests to other areas of your house. If your kids spend even one night in your bed before you realize that you have bed bugs, they could be taking some of the pests back to their own beds on successive nights. This is why you need to spray more than just your mattress to control bed bugs.

For assistance, talk to a pest control professional.

Share