Once you realize you have bed bugs, your first impulse will be to escape them and/or kill them. But beware, acting on those impulses can have serious consequences.

Bed bugs are fast, and they are tiny.  When they sense the fumes from the bug bomb, they will just scatter.  They will run into the walls, into the hallway, into other rooms, anywhere to escape the fumes.  Or if you live in a multi-unit dwelling, they will head over to the neighbor’s place.  Eventually, some will return to your bedroom.  The rest will be waiting for you everywhere else.  

This applies not just to bug bombs.  It goes for any kind of poorly-thought out do-it-yourself pest control plan.  If you don’t know what you are doing, you won’t kill them.  You’ll just wind up chasing them away, and spreading them everywhere.

And leave the bed in the bedroom.  If you move to the living room couch, they’ll follow you there and infest the couch.  Sleep on the floor in front of the TV, they’ll infest the carpet.  Sleep in the guest room, and they’ll lay eggs in the guest bed.  

What I am saying is that you have to stay in your bed, in your bedroom, in order to keep the infestation concentrated there.  Bed bugs are basically lazy, and they will not stray far from you – their food source – if they can help it.  That means that they will generally remain concentrated near the bed, or wherever you sleep.  Keeping them there means that it will be easier and cheaper for your bed bug exterminator to kill them.  

I know some people do, and if you live in New York City, you’ve probably seen couches and mattresses on the street, thrown away by bed bug victims.

But furniture can often can be treated by an exterminator and saved.  Having your furniture treated will save you money in the long run.  

And here’s an even better self-serving reason for not tossing your furniture:  If you put an infested sofa on the street, someone is going to take it.  Now you have just infested somebody else’s place with bed bugs.  And what if the person who took it lives in your building?  Now you’ve just spread the bugs to another unit nearby.  If you MUST toss your furniture, make it unusable.  Slash the cushions with a knife, or spray paint “BED BUGS” all over it.

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