How to get bedbugs out of an apartment: a description of all the methods

Bedbug repellents are most often available in the form of:

• Aerosols
• Spreev
• Concentrates
• Poroshkov

Aerosols and sprays are the most convenient means, as they are completely ready for use. More suitable for disinsection of individual objects and surfaces. You can treat the entire apartment with them, but most likely you will have to buy several bottles of insecticide.

Concentrates in various forms are quite effective, but require preliminary preparation of solutions with calculation of proportions and the presence of special equipment for spraying. Most of the products in this category are professional, so they should be used with extreme caution in everyday life.

Powdered insecticides must literally be scattered in areas where bedbugs accumulate, which can be dangerous if you have pets and children. A compromise option can be considered natural powder products that do not contain chemicals.

Helpful advice.

When choosing a remedy for bedbugs, start with safer and simpler options - sprays and aerosols, and only if they do not help, switch to concentrates. Working with drugs for dilution in water is always a risk that you should not expose yourself to unless absolutely necessary.

Dr. Klaus for fleas and bedbugs

• Made in Russia
• Ready-to-use aerosol with a volume of 250 milliliters
• The main active ingredients are cypermethrin 0.25% and tetramethrin 0.15%
• Price ≈ 200 rubles

One cylinder is enough to treat a room of about 15 square meters. According to the manufacturer, it is odorless. Used for local treatment of mattresses, bed frames and other places where bedbugs live in apartments
. Has a prolonged effect up to 45 days after treatment.

How do bedbugs get into an apartment?

The reasons for the appearance of bedbugs in your apartment have nothing to do with its cleanliness. Pests often settle in perfectly clean and tidy rooms. To understand how bedbugs could have started, answer the following questions:

• How long have you been visiting? Insects could climb on you and hide in the folds of your clothing.
• How long has it been since you went on a business trip and spent the night in a hotel? Bed bugs could get into your suitcase, outerwear, and other clothing.
• Have you shopped second hand? Parasites can enter your home through used clothing, furniture and household appliances.
• Have you had contact with stray animals or taken them home from the street? Bed bugs could parasitize them. The habitat of insects can be chicken coops and other poultry houses.

Another source of pests is your neighbors. Surely none of them will admit that they have bedbugs. But this does not in any way prevent insects from moving from one apartment to another through the ventilation ducts.

Medilis Anticlops

• Made in Russia
• Completely ready-to-use spray with a volume of 250 milliliters
• Active ingredients – imidacloprid 0.2% + cypermethrin 0.25%
• Price ≈ 500–600 rubles

Suitable for local treatment, has a prolonged effect of up to 3 weeks on non-absorbent surfaces, up to 7 days on absorbent surfaces. According to the manufacturer, it has a moderate odor and is effective on eggs. The product was developed specifically for bedbugs that have already developed resistance (immunity) to other drugs.

Working methods for controlling bed bugs

All methods of combating bed bugs can be divided into three groups. They differ in effectiveness, complexity, time of onset of results and safety for people and animals.

Professional pest control

An exterminator inspects the habitats of bedbugs / An exterminator poisons bedbugs.
Disinsection is the fight against harmful insects through extermination using chemicals. At home, it involves treatment of rooms by SES workers using the cold or hot fog method. It penetrates into hard-to-reach places and causes the death of parasites.

Advantages and disadvantages of disinfestation

Fast - processing takes 0.5–1.5 hours (time depends on the size of the home).

Effective - the likelihood that domestic bloodsuckers will remain alive is negligible.

Reliable - specialized companies provide a guarantee for a certain period. If bedbugs appear again soon after the parasites are removed, a second treatment is carried out free of charge.

Expensive - depending on the region and area of ​​the premises, the cost of one treatment can range from 1000 to 5000 rubles. and more.

Dangerous - chemical substances of hazard class IV (low hazard) are used for processing. But since it is carried out indoors using highly concentrated agents, there is a risk of poisoning.

It’s troublesome - before pest control you need to prepare the apartment.

Self-administration of drugs

Hardware stores offer a large selection of pest control products for use at home. This includes various powders, aerosols, suspensions, emulsions and other insecticides. They can be either natural (safe for humans) or chemical (poisonous).

Advantages and disadvantages of dealing with bed bugs yourself

Cheap - preparations for pest control are ten times cheaper than calling an SES.

Less troublesome - the apartment can be partially prepared.

Convenient - during self-disinfestation, you usually do not need to leave the room.

It is not always effective - pests have developed resistance to one part of the preparations, while another part of the preparations cannot penetrate into hard-to-reach places.

Sometimes it is dangerous - if the product is chemical, it can cause poisoning of people and animals.

Long - the fight against domestic bedbugs can take several days/weeks.

Traditional methods

Folk remedies for killing bedbugs: 1. vinegar;
2. turpentine; 3. ammonia; 4. kerosene; 5. camphor oil; 6. tea tree oil; 7. valerian; 8. boric acid; 9. tansy; 10. pyrethrum. Also popular:

• sagebrush,
• salicylic acid,
• transformer oil,
• denatured alcohol,
• naphthalene,
• alcohol,
• soap and water,
• petrolatum,
• neem oil

Traditional methods of combating domestic bedbugs are aimed at creating conditions in which the life of parasites becomes impossible. They involve the use of strong-smelling herbs, compounds, and high temperatures.

Pros and cons of traditional methods:

Cheap - almost no material costs required.

Safe - do not harm pets or people.

Ineffective - creating unfavorable living conditions for bedbugs helps to restrain their growth, but it is almost impossible to completely get rid of them using folk remedies.

Advice! Take a comprehensive approach to the fight against bedbugs in your apartment. Using chemicals together with folk remedies will help defeat harmful insects faster.

Clean house

• Country of origin: Russia
• Ready-to-use spray with a volume of 400 milliliters
• Main active ingredients – alphacypermethrin 0.10% + tetramethrin 0.10%
• Price ≈ 250 rubles

Has a chamomile scent. Suitable for local treatment of furniture, objects and surfaces. One bottle is enough to treat an area of ​​up to 50 square meters.

Preventive measures

Since it can be quite difficult to destroy or remove bedbugs, it is better to take the following preventive measures to help avoid the appearance of insects:

1. Maintain sanitary standards in the premises: carry out regular cleaning, cleaning furniture, washing and replacing bed linen.
2. When moving to a new premises, pre-treat it with insecticides that have a poisonous effect on bedbugs.
3. Elimination of cracks in floors and walls, as well as other similar loopholes in which insects can settle.
4. Wash dirty linen and clothes in a timely manner; long-term storage is not allowed.
5. Observe the presence of insects, if traces of their vital activity are found, then it is urgently necessary to take appropriate measures before their population has time to grow.

K-Otrin VG 250

• Country of origin: Austria
• Beige water-soluble granules in individual bags, packaged 2.5 grams, 16 pieces per box
• The main active ingredient is deltamethrin 25%
• Price of 1 sachet 2.5 grams ≈ 200–300 rubles

The prepared solution is applied with a brush to the surface or sprayed through a sprayer. Insects begin to die 15 minutes after contact with the drug, the prolonged effect lasts up to 3 months, the product leaves no traces. One 2.5 gram sachet is enough to treat a room of up to 70 square meters.

What you should know

Raid aerosol for insect control
Despite the relative safety of Raid, it must be used with extreme caution, following the recommendations prescribed by the manufacturer.

1. It is unacceptable to treat the premises against bedbugs with the aerosol agent Reid in the absence of personal protective equipment (maximum closed clothing, a respirator, safety glasses and rubber gloves).
2. Disinsection of the premises is carried out with the windows open.
3. The presence of children and pets during treatment is contraindicated.
4. In the room where the treatment will be carried out, food, dishes, personal hygiene products, bedding, children's clothes and toys should not be in the public domain.
5. At the end of the procedure, you should thoroughly wash and rinse your mouth.

GET Express

• Country of manufacture – Russia
• Microencapsulated suspension in a 50 ml bottle
• The main active ingredient of the concentrate is lambda-cyhalothrin 1.1%
• Bottle price ≈ 600 rubles

According to information from the manufacturer, it leaves no residue and has a neutral odor. Insects begin to die 2 hours after spraying the drug; the prolonged effect lasts for 1–2 months. A 50-ml bottle is enough to treat a room of up to 40 square meters.

Preparing the premises

So, having determined the obvious presence of bedbugs in the house, and having thought through how best to get rid of them, the first thing to do is to prepare the room for such a process.

Sometimes parasites appear again, even after treating the room for bedbugs. This happens because some important rules were not taken into account. One of which is carrying out disinfestation in a prepared apartment. To do this, it is important to perform certain actions:

1. Ensure high-quality wet cleaning of the entire apartment.
2. Collect all the products in the house and take them out so that the disinfectant does not get on them.
3. Provide the opportunity for free access to places that require special careful treatment. You should move the bed and other furniture that is near the wall, because it is in the corners and under the baseboards that pests often live.
4. All clothes and other things should be removed from cabinets and bedside tables to provide access to the processing of shelves and drawers.
5. For the safety of electronic devices, it is better to hide them under film so that there is no certain contact with chemicals.
6. During the processing of the apartment, which will last about 2 hours, monitor the quality of the process.
7. After disinfestation, it is best to leave the house and first open all the windows, since at this time the active action of insecticides will take place.
8. Upon return, the room should be well ventilated and all bedding should be washed at a temperature of about 90 °C.

Thus, after disinfestation, adult individuals will immediately die and will be found in all corners of the apartment. They should be collected in a bag, just like the larvae and eggs, and destroyed. It is important to know that wet cleaning after such procedures is postponed for a couple of weeks. This is explained by the fact that nymphs that have just emerged from eggs, as well as long-lived bugs that managed to survive after disinfestation, will move along the treated surfaces and die.

Precautionary measures

The best way out would be to leave the apartment for this period, and upon returning, thoroughly clean all the rooms, using hot water and an antiseptic in the form of soda, wash and sterilize the dishes, arrange ventilation, use a vacuum cleaner to clean in the corners of the rooms and under the baseboards, and also clean all furniture.

August Bedbug beetle

• Country of origin: Russia
• Insecticidal liquid for dilution in water in a 100 ml bottle
• Active ingredient – ​​imidacloprid 18.2%
• Bottle price ≈ 250 rubles

According to the manufacturer's information, it does not have a strong odor and has a prolonged effect of up to 1 month. Insects begin to die the next day after treatment. A solution of 100 milliliters (the entire bottle) and 2 liters of water is applied with a brush or roller where bedbugs were found.

How to detect places where bedbugs accumulate in an apartment

The most popular habitats for bedbugs
Before you get rid of bedbugs, you need to make sure that they really exist. Direct evidence of their presence in the apartment is the detection of insects at any stage of their development. Their nests can be found:

• behind the baseboard;
• under the floor covering;
• in the cracks of walls, pieces of furniture;
• inside electrical appliances, in sockets;
• in closets with clothes, books;
• in upholstery of upholstered furniture;
• under the mattress, between it and the headboard;
• in the folds of curtains, tulle;
• behind pictures and other hiding places.

In addition to direct evidence of the presence of parasites, there are indirect signs of this. These include:

• blood stains on the bed;
• red and swollen spots on the body, itching, appearing after a night's sleep;
• a characteristic smell of pests, reminiscent of old cognac;
• light brown husks (chitinous shells) and yellowish shells of already empty eggs in secluded corners of furniture and rooms.

Attention! While there are few bedbugs in the apartment, they nest next to the power source - the place where you sleep. As the population grows, insects spread throughout the living space.

Example of a bedbug inspection

Carefully inspect the mattress for black spots. This is especially worth doing when checking into the hotel.

An example of black spots and accumulations of bedbugs on the seams of a mattress.

Example of furniture inspection. There are bedbugs in the seams of the sofa. And they hide in the nightstand. Inspect the furniture if you buy it secondhand.

Example of inspection of baseboards and carpets. Characteristic black spots were found.

Agran

• Made in India
• Water-based emulsion in 50 ml bottles
• The main active ingredients are chlorpyrifos 50% and cypermethrin 5%
• Bottle price ≈ 150–200 rubles

Agran belongs to the category of professional products, therefore, before using it, you must carefully study all the instructions for use. The product destroys most insects within the first 2 days after treatment and retains a residual effect for up to 1 month.

The most useless ways to deal with bedbugs

Vladimir B.

Insecticide Treatment Expert

Ask a Question

We receive a lot of questions about bed bug control. We answer some of the most popular questions.

The most useless thing you can do to get rid of bedbugs is:

If you keep the lights on at night, won't bedbugs bite?

They are not afraid of light; only dangerous activity can scare them away. While you sleep, the light will not prevent insects from drinking blood.

If you move to another apartment, will the bedbugs die of starvation?

It won't work. Adults will move to neighbors, and nymphs will become numb. When you arrive, you will again become their victim.

Is it possible to kill them all with a “slipper”?

Physical extermination helps control pest population growth. But you won’t be able to completely get rid of bedbugs at home this way.

On the Internet I found many methods of fighting bedbugs using spells. Will this help?

Conspiracies, rituals, ceremonies, prayers and other actions associated with “supernatural power” have zero effectiveness. The fight against bed bloodsuckers requires decisive and consistent action.

Steam treatment

Bed bugs cannot tolerate high or low temperatures; this is equally destructive for them and their eggs. That is why this method is superior to any chemical sanitation, which leaves the eggs completely viable.

For steam treatment, a special device is used - a steam generator. A hot (80-100 degrees) jet of steam denatures proteins, as a result of which both bedbugs and their eggs are literally “cooked,” which leads to the instant death of the parasites and the impossibility of a new generation hatching from the eggs.

You can use the steam treatment method without calling the special services. Of course, there is no point in buying a steam generator to kill bedbugs: the unit is expensive and it is not worth purchasing it just for 1-2 uses, the costs simply will not be recouped. However, if your home has special steam cleaners for cleaning surfaces with water vapor, you can use that too. The main thing is that the technical characteristics of the unit allow it to be adjusted to a temperature above 60-70 degrees. Otherwise, such treatment will be useless, since at least a few parasites will still be able to survive.

You should not try to treat with steam from a kettle with boiling water: it will not have an effect, it can ruin the furniture, and this method certainly cannot be called safe. Therefore, if you use this method, then only with the help of a steam generator or steam cleaner.

But steam treatment also has its downside: there will always be places in the house where it still won’t penetrate. The steam will treat open surfaces perfectly, but it will not always get into various nooks and crannies (behind baseboards, in the joints of furniture, etc.). And if there is at least one clutch there, this time the war can be considered lost and the treatment will have to be repeated again.

How much does it cost to call an exterminator?

It doesn’t matter which company the owner chooses, private or public, but you will have to pay for the work. In large cities and regional centers of each region there is a local sanitary station that provides services for the elimination of insects. The cost of public services is usually lower than the prices of private services. By the time the customer realizes that the only salvation for him is the sanitary and epidemiological station, the bedbugs become very aggressive.

The owner of the apartment no longer cares how much it costs to disinfect the apartment from bedbugs. The main thing is that he be saved from the misfortune as soon as possible: sound sleep and the absence of allergies are more important than money. Prices for disinfection in both capitals are traditionally higher than in the country as a whole. Sanitation of an apartment with one room will cost 2,000 rubles, a dorm room or bathroom will cost 1,500-1,800 rubles, and disinfestation of each subsequent room will cost 500 rubles more.

Pricing for sanitation of non-residential premises is formed differently. If there are bedbugs in an office or warehouse, the extermination service will ask for 20 to 30 rubles per square meter. Owners of small premises will pay more, owners of spacious offices will pay less.

Insecticide.

Amount of drug required to prepare 1 liter of working solution:

• Cockroaches – 10ml
• Bedbugs, ants, fleas, adult flies and larvae, adult mosquitoes – 5ml
• Mosquito larvae – 1.2ml

Based on reviews, the drug is effective. Kills a wide range of insects. Long residual effect.

This drug is used by almost 90% of all organizations involved in the extermination of bedbugs, cockroaches and other living creatures. Averfos contains the so-called chlorpyrifos. Chemical class - FOS (organophosphorus compounds). Essentially it is a crystalline substance. This can be understood by the cap of the Averfos bottle; it always seems to be covered in sugar. Chlorpyrifos forms a crystalline film at the site of application, and the insect dies when it comes into contact with it. The active phase of action of chlorpyrifos is 2-3 weeks, the passive phase is 1-2 months.

The principle of action of chlorpyrifos is that when it comes into contact with a crystal, the insect’s nervous system is affected and the bug or cockroach simply loses the ability to move. A slow and painful death ensues.

Chloropyrifos is deservedly considered one of the best active substances (active ingredients) in insecticides used to exterminate cockroaches, fleas, ants, adult flies, bedbugs, mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes.

The Averfos product contains a number of original components that can ensure complete extraction of DV from the preparative form, which distinguishes it with considerable benefit from other similar drugs that were made on the basis of Chlorpyrifos.

Treatment area, concentration and modest price - these parameters allow us to confidently call Averfos the best product when you need one hundred percent and the fastest possible result.

"Averfos" is a product that does not have a sensitizing effect; in case of contact with the skin, the local irritant effect is rather weakly expressed. Upon contact with the mucous membrane of the eye, it causes irritation and miosis.

Toxicity: III hazard class (moderately hazardous substances)

Cold fog treatment

This method also uses an insecticidal mixture sprayed to the smallest particles, the temperature of which is equal to the ambient temperature (i.e., without heating). The fog settles evenly on all surfaces, penetrating even into the sockets and pores of some materials.

The effect of this method is the same as after using hot fog; it will help get rid of not only bedbugs, but also other parasites (cockroaches, moths, fleas, etc.).

The photo shows a cold fog generator

Independent use will also not be justified in price if you purchase a generator for one-time processing. But if you need to periodically destroy insects (for example, in some utility rooms where insects appear from time to time), then it makes sense to purchase a unit despite its high cost. When processing yourself, you must completely protect yourself using protective clothing and a respirator (this is a must!). In the absence of suitable equipment for this and experience in carrying out such activities, it is more advisable to contact an insect extermination service in order to avoid serious health problems.

When using a cold fog, sprayed insecticides “hang” in the air for less time, so residents will have to leave the house for at least 4 hours. During this time, the particles will completely settle on the surface.

This treatment method has the same effect on bedbugs as when using hot fog: some insects will die immediately, the rest will die upon contact with surfaces on which the poison has settled. It is important that long-acting insecticides (with a long residual effect) are used in this case, so that the larvae hatching from surviving eggs are immediately exposed to the poison by contact with it. If, after some time, miraculously surviving larvae are found in the home, the treatment procedure should be repeated.