Adult bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) are 4-6mm in length, round, flat and mahogany in colour. Increasingly found in the UK, especially in buildings that have high traffic such as hotels, but can just as easily be found at home, as they travel a lot.

Like mini vampires they suck blood from humans and sometimes domesticated pets and as a result they bring fear and anxiety. Fortunately once diagnosed, treatment is straightforward.

The misconception is that they relate to poor hygiene. The truth however, is that they can be easily bought into an environment like your home, on clothes, shoes, baggage or even secondhand furniture. They thrive in dark crevices near their food (humans), so that means headboards, bed frames, bed side tables, skirting boards etc.

So if you have bedbugs, there is no shame or embarrassment to be had. Rich and poor people get them alike.

Treatment

Clean bedding, linens, curtains, and clothing in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. Place stuffed animals, shoes, and other items that can’t be washed in the dryer and run on high for 30 minutes.
Use a stiff brush to scrub mattress seams to remove bedbugs and their eggs before vacuuming.
Vacuum your bed and surrounding area frequently. After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag and place in garbage can outdoors.
Encase mattress and box springs with a tightly woven, zippered cover to keep bedbugs from entering or escaping. Bedbugs may live up to a year without feeding, so keep the cover on your mattress for at least a year to make sure all bugs in the mattress are dead.
Repair cracks in plaster and glue down peeling wallpaper to get rid of places bedbugs can hide.
Get rid of clutter around the bed.

If your mattress is infested, you may want to get rid of it and get a new one, but take care to rid the rest of your home of bedbugs or they will infest your new mattress.

Call Little Monster for a full chemical treatment that is harmless to humans, but destroys bedbugs on 01727 815 153