The Truth about Getting Rid of Bed Bugs - Don't Fall for the Bait and Switch!

If you've ever met Josh, you know that he is an honest guy that doesn't sugar coat anything. In this video, he explains why the large national pest control companies are using bait and switch tactics to take advantage of those that have a bed bug problem. Don't fall for this unethical tactic in which they say they will use chemicals to get rid of bed bugs and then ultimately say that they need to use heat.

[haxonprime]

The best way to fight bed bugs is not with an exterminator of any type. 90% of the time the exterminator WILL NOT get rid of the bed bugs giving them another chance to charge you for re treatment.The best way to eliminate these little demons is by yourself. This will take many weeks to a month, will cause some anxiety and stress and maybe a few sleepless nights here and there, but if you stick to it, you will win the war, and eventually have a bug free home.

Lets start off with the very first step to getting some sleep at night in an infested home. START WITH THE BED/s. Once you have secured these, the bugs can not feed and eventually die off, but this method alone can take up to a year as they can survive (im told) up to a year without feeding, so I will have another option later on for you. Wash all linens, this includes the pillows themselves. Everything MUST be washed and dried at high heat. Heat will kill them almost instantly. Washing with cold water does nothing as they can hold their breath for a very VERY long time, and soap only kills a small amount of them for some reason, it never gets them all. Now you will need to break down the bed, including all drawers if your bed includes these. Also make sure to wash all cloths that were in the bed room/s. You will need to steam the shit out of every nook and cranny of the bed (including the box board). These little mother f!@#$ can squeeze into the smallest of cracks and crevasses. I do stress that you be VERY thorough about this part, because this is what is going to let you have a good nights sleep, because bed bugs often don't wander far from their source of food. Once you are sure you have treated every square inch of the bed with very hot steam, you now need to apply bed bug covers to your mattress and pillows. These can be bought at any store like a Walmart, if you don't have one of them in your area, you can just go to a store with anything that has a home section. These covers stop things from getting in OR OUT in case you may have missed any bugs while steaming. Next you will need to get traps for the legs of your bed. If for some reason you just lay a mattress on the floor.... I suggest you go find a box board and frame with legs or this will not work for you. Traps can be hand mode but most you can order these traps online, or once again buy them from Walmart or any store equivalent. For the home made traps, you can find those on YouTube, but make sure its from a good source an not some hill billy with a mullet showing you how to make it. Set up the traps under thee legs of the bed, and move the bed AWAY from the wall, also please make sure to not have anything hanging to the floor at night.... this is important. Now your bed will be bed bug proof as long as you followed the steps correctly. Make sure to check for signs of bed bugs every morning, if you find any signs or have new bites, rinse and repeat until you sleep with no new events.

SIDE NOTE: You may feel like your getting bit at night after this, but most of the time this is your brain freaking out. If you feel the need to check, then please feel free to do so, I can't fault you, but try not to let the psychological damage get to you. That is what these bugs do to your mind. Even when they aren't there, your brain will make you think they are.

Once you have have had few good nights of sleep, and you know they cant reach you, the next big battle starts. TREATING ALL THE SLEEPING ROOMS IN YOUR HOUSE!! The best way to do this I have found is with a reputable bed bug spray. Just make sure they come from a good source, read reviews. The one I suggest is Hot shot, bed bug and egg killer. WARNING! This product will need the windows to be open and a mask to be worn, it is very brutal to the nose and lungs, but this is what makes it effective against bed bugs as well. Do not attempt to use it without doing these things first or you will not have a good night, trust me. We learned the hard way. Spray every crack that you see along the base boards ceiling and walls. Do not miss any spot they can crawl into. This includes light sockets. For those you will need to turn off the power to that room while treating it though. Once power is off remove the plate from the outlet and spray around the socket itself and not directly on or into it. You will need to repeat this many times over the next few weeks to a month, but its worth it, and it does kill them all.

This will not only save you thousands of dollars, and repeat visits from "Exterminators" (that are almost always useless) an will cost you even more money, but it will save your house from the prying eyes of those filthy brown nosing neighbors that like to tell everyone what they saw like it was their god given job to do so. Remember, even the cleanest, most tight knit houses in the world can get infest by these things. An most of all DO NOT GIVE UP! Keep ahead of them an you will win.

Lastly pleas do not bother with diatomaceous earth. This garbage does nothing but make a mess of your house. I have never found it to kill the bugs enough to justify the mess. Good luck.

[sanjosemike]

I agree that heat treatment is a very good way to kill bed bugs. But it also has limitations. Often it is difficult to get areas that are lower (walls next to the bed) up to a temperature that will kill them because the BBs escape into the areas of loose molding, under carpeting under the molding and into electrical outlet boxes after they get into the wall.

Cement walls and cement block walls almost never get hot enough, without very large propane heaters right next to them.

When heat failures occur they are almost always on lower areas of wall.

You need to follow up ALL heat treatments by baiting electric boxes (take off their covers) with DE and or Harris powder. Use the powder squirter to get puffs into and around the electrical boxes close to the ground behind and next to the beds where people sleep.

Pull the drawers out of the nightstands and squirt the powder into them. Then turn them over and squirt the bottom and the back.

Concentrate on areas next to the beds. And lower areas.

I have seen BB’s crawl underneath wall molding that looked “sealed.”

This can occur while heaters are working above them! Remember, heat always rises.

Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

[Zach-xbpx]

You are absolutely correct this is as of 2022 I’m actually an inspector for TERMINIX and we are usually charge by the square foot of the home and the technician will handle the rest of the part. The problem with that idea is there is no applicable way to explain to the homeowner or the customer specifically what needs to be done. I totally agree heat treatment is the way to go but nine times out of 10 in order to get more money out of the customer the technician will use a chemical and it’s an aerosol chemical. Its something that is an a literal can that you can purchase from the DIY pest control store and save you about $1200. What I will say is do you research I know a bedbug problem depending on the infestation size can be nerve-racking but like he said in the video it’s pretty simple and effective sometimes all it takes elbow grease and patience

[jseries]

Thank You Josh for the honest video, I am currently dealing with bed bugs. I'm no expert on this but I can tell you that our exterminator tells us that they have 7 different chemicals they choose from and after 4 applications and 8 weeks later we are still dealing with it. This is a very frustrating thing to deal with, and I'm tired (literally) of losing sleep over this. Thanks for you help:)

I tried DE, it didn't work. I had a pro come in 4 different times, that didn't work. I bought Ortho flea, tick and bed bug killer. I sprayed it on everything and around the base boards and it killed them all. I bought 4 gallons of the stuff, thinking I was going to have to drowned those Mf's. I have a 2400 square foot home. I used a little over a gallon. I also bought some of the Ortho flea, tick and bed bug killer in the powdered form to spray in the outlets. All the bug have been destroyed in one application.

[TheSomnambulants]

I live in a apartment complex and my downstairs neighbors have a infestation. The landlord called Orkin and had them spray twice downstairs two weeks apart. On their second visit we alerted them that we had found them in our daughters room. They claimed she brought them in after playing with the neighbors kid. We NEVER let them play together because of other issues this family has. (Drugs and Crime) When asked if we could get heat treatment instead of chemical treatment they outright refused even after we said we would pay for the treatment. They claimed that if they heat treated our apartment the bugs would spread to other units. We found out from others in the building they already had. Landlord doesn't want to pay for heat treatment and Orkin will not offer heat treating service to us or any other tenant. We have thrown most of our furniture out encased our beds and box springs. We our on our second spray and they say they will be out one more time to inspect. We are still getting bit but see no bugs or sign of excrement. Our home is nearly bare. All our belongings are in heavy plastic bags or plastic locking lid totes. Orkin has told us that our bug problem is very minimal. The down stairs neighbors will be moving out through eviction by the end of April. The maintenance team explained they will have to tear out everything in the apartment below after they leave. I feel the bugs will then migrate in vast numbers to the rest of the building. Our landlord has threatened to make us eat the cost of the spraying. Our other option is to move and leave everything but our clothes behind. All this for a moderate or minimal bug problem according to Orkin.

[djb]

I would say that 'guaranteeing' them anything is wrong, especially heat treatment where it fails so often. The heat trreatment was expensive, didn't work, and destroyed the glue on built-in furniture. Chemical treatment worked.

[patriciaclark]

Bed bugs can get in the Insulation while room is being treated with heat and once the room cools down they come back out. Even treating the entire house at once they still get into the Installation and stay till the house cools down. They can go without food up to a year.

[davidaranda]

The problem is more people need to be like you

[littleturtle]

5 gallon of gasoline and a match hot enough?

[Tigerlillielibra]

This is good to know. I had a small infestation in my apartment about a year ago. My apartment complex has a deal with Orkin, so I was charged almost $400 for two spraying treatments for my bed and my couch/living room. I thought they were gone, but now I think they are coming back. I just got a brand new bed a couple of weeks ago; new frame, new mattress, new box spring, everything. On the day of delivery, I placed covers on both the box spring and the mattress. I also have brand-new linen. Now I feel like they are coming back, or they are still in my living room furniture. I'm not finding them in my new bed, but maybe in my living room...? I don't see any bugs anywhere, but I am starting to see bites.

I tried the Ortho beg bug spray from Amazon, but no good. Maybe I'll try Harris...and I'm glad to know I'm not the only person this happened to.

[shellyblanchard]

I found out one thing about these pests, they love to hide in folds of sheet and creveses. Make sure they are white because you can see them better. They come out more so when the room is warm. Wait for about 30 minutes and you can line of them the folds of the sheet. Fill the washer with hot water and throw your sheet in there. Let it run on the wash and let complete the cycle. Let it dry in dryer if you have one. Do it as many as you need to, on the bed, and couch. If you have sheet long enough put it put one on your couch to. They will crawl up around the sheet till get to you. You can smash them or put them in the dryer if you have one. 😊

We had a small infestation a few years ago. Orkin charged us $3000 for 3 rooms to be heat treated. It didn't work as they were still in room 1 (ground zero). I eventually got rid of them myself using Harris Pyrethroid Resistant spray. It cost me $60 a gallon and I used a few but after constant spraying and keeping an eye out for travelers they were ultimately gone. Orkin was a joke! I also called Terminex for their free inspection and their 'tech' hardly checked anything but he did try to sell me their treatment which was to freeze them. Total BS from both these companies.
Update-I wanted to add that I also got rid of some furniture even though they say not to. These bugs are thin and can hide in tiny crevices and even in picture frames. I cleaned out what I could in room 1, put small items like pictures and things in plastic storage tubs and put them outside on back deck. This was from Spring ro Summer. When I finally opened them months later, I saw them all dead at the bottom. The summer heat killed them and I even found them in some picture frames. It's a lot of work but the only way.

[JORDANPAT]

How about Aprehend? Have you heard of this? I’d love to hear your input

[shellsoto]

Thank you josh this is so good to know, we have a major issue at my in laws and need help bad

[yammy]

This man speaks the truth, and big companies know you they are - I say big companies should not Utah's our bussiness >>> rather give your bussiness to small honest people like Erdye's pest control

[calisawce]

What irritates me is big companies take advantage of peoples desperation to get rid of them so people will pay your outrageous prices

[elizabethwinegar]

How much would it cost for a one room Studio apartment? Asking about the heat Method.

[breannathomas]

My place is really small, I see them everywhere. Halls kitchen and bathroom. Mine travel like crazy.

[genaillehall]

Thank you Josh for your video and your honesty