Do's & Don'ts

Do

• Get educated with The Bed Bug Survival Guide.
• Cover your mattress, box spring and pillow(s) with Bed Bug Certified Covers.
• Vacuum thoroughly with a canister vacuum.
• Wash all clothing and place in sealed garbage bags.

Don’t

• Don’t bomb. (“bug bombs” or total release foggers). These devices release insecticide in small droplets that land on exposed surfaces and do not penetrate the cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide. This typically causes bed bugs to scatter all over the room, apartment, or, often, the whole house or building. This results in unnecessary pesticide exposure to the resident and poor control of these pests. It also causes pesticide resistance and repellency to bed bugs. In addition, The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene strongly discourages the use of “bug bombs” and foggers because of the potential of human exposure to insecticides and the risk of device explosions.
• Don’t throw out mattress or box spring. Simply discarding beds and bedding is NOT a sound approach to bed bug control. Bed bugs will spread quickly to walls, molding, ceilings, light fixtures, electronics, remote controls, alarm clocks, and spaces within and along floor boards and the edges of carpets.
• Don’t do any spraying yourself. Leave this to the professionals. Not only do homeowners put their family and themselves at risk by handling pesticides in an untrained manner, but doing their own treatments often causes bed bugs to scatter all over the room, apartment, whole house or building.
• Don’t treat mattress with pesticide. It is dangerous to sleep on top of pesticides.
• Don’t vacate your home. Many people think they will starve them out by leaving their home. Bed bugs can go many months without a blood meal. Moreover, bed bugs will go into a dormant state when they cannot feed. This dormancy hampers the pest control eradication efforts, since the bed bugs will not cross over treated surfaces which cause them to die.