I love my shoes very much. I am one of those people who collect designer shoes as a guilty pleasure. Although I wear some of my shoes more than the others, I still want to take good care of all of them. However, there are times when my shoes get infested with bed bugs. I disdain these situations every time. Bed bugs are known to be one of the smallest, most silent predators of men. But they don’t just feed on human beings, they feed on animals as well.
Bed bugs typically come from the outside. They feed on random animals that they encounter. However, there are times when they need to infest homes. Bed bugs are one of the most common winter pests. Meaning, they cannot survive the cold. When the temperature starts to drop, they seek warmth, shelter, and food to outlive winter.
These creatures are very cunning. Bed bugs can enter homes by latching on to human beings. So, if you like going to movie houses, restaurants, hotels, even gardens, you could easily catch bed bugs and bring them home.
Once they secure a safe passage to your house, they start to look for a secure hiding spot where they can hide and reproduce. This includes your carpets, beds, sofas, and sheets. They can even hide on your clothing and shoe compartments. Granted, vacuuming and sweeping can easily get rid of bed bugs on your floor and carpet. Washing and drying can eliminate bed bugs from your clothes and sheets. Covering holes and crevices prevents them from hiding.
But one of the hiding spots you should focus on is your shoe and your shoe compartments. Some of us rarely clean our shoes. When we do not use them, we stack them in cabinets until the next time our outfit matches the pair. Little do we know that when we do not take good care of our shoes, this could mean a full-on bed bug infestation in our homes.
To most people, bed bugs seem to pose no danger at all. On the contrary, they can be as dangerous as mosquitoes. Bed bugs harbor parasites and bacteria from one prey to another. When a human being gets infected, he might develop serious illnesses. Furthermore, bed bugs are one of the leading causes of anemia among humans and animals. If you have children and pets around, you might want to eliminate the existence of bed bugs at home, starting with the maintenance of your shoes.
Get Bed Bugs Out Of Your Shoes!
Bed bugs want to be near where you sleep. They usually prefer to stay within six feet from your bed or from your sofa. So, when they sense that you are asleep, they can easily latch onto you and feed off your blood. Furthermore, they like to stay in dark places. They like their peace. Bed bugs want to secure a space where they can prevent any unwanted surprises. Plus, they usually harbor where there is fabric so they can easily latch onto it. These preferences make your shoes the number one hideout of bed bugs.
Here are some tips you can get rid of bed bugs from your shoes:
1. Wash your shoes regularly, even when you do not use it as much. You can put it in the washing machine, depending on its fabric. Usually, shoes made out of polyutherane, PVC, cotton, nylon, and polyester are washable using the machine. Some rubber and plastics can be washed too. But check the instructions of the manufacturer upon washing. If you want to do it manually, remember to remove and wash the paddings of the shoes. It helps using a fabric softener to exterminate bed bugs. For some reason, the smell and contents of fabric softeners repel bed bugs and other pests. It would be good for you too since it can eliminate some smells after a long day of walking in them.
Here are some tips to remember when washing your shoes in the washing machine:
1. Before washing your shoes, scrub the mud and grubs from its outskirts. Mud can contaminate the water in your washing machine and could affect the cleanliness of other shoes, especially when they are white in color.
2. To avoid any prospective damages, put your shoes in a mesh laundry bag. This process helps avoid the snagging of laces and the tearing or breaking of your washing machine. If you have no laundry bag for your shoes, improvise using flour sacks or used-up pillowcases.
3. Most people do not know this. But it helps when you mix your shoes with some clothes and towels to prevent them from banging towards each other inside the machine.
4. If possible, you can set your washing machine to “hot” in settings, for at least 1 hour or sixty minutes. This helps get rid of bed bugs, stains, and smells.
After washing, check if there are any bed bugs on your shoes or at the bottom of the laundry bag. If there are, the adults are already dead. Your only problem is the eggs that could still hatch on or inside your shoes. For this issue, you can use tree oil to repel and kill the eggs.
Tree oil is known for its ability to impede the growth of any insect in all stages–from egg to larva, pupa, and adult. So, if you are worried there might be eggs left in your shoes, better get yourself some tree oil that you can use in many different situations.
NEVER wash leather or suede shoes. And if your shoes are made out of satin and silk, avoid using water to clean them. However, not shoes are the same. It is still best to check the notes added by your manufacturer.
If you do not want to use your washing machine against bed bugs, you can also use the dryer. They have the same mechanism of killing bed bugs, except a dryer does not need water. Here are some notes to consider when putting your shoes on the dryer:
1. Use towels and other thick fabrics to line the inside of your shoes. This helps them dry faster.
2. You can also try using a shoe bag which usually hangs on the dryer door. This helps the shoes stay in place to stop them from banging and clashing with each other at every cycle.
3. As much as possible, avoid putting shoes made out of plastic in the dryer. For these cases, it is best to clean them manually.
4. Unfortunately, leather doesn’t work well with dryers either because it can dehydrate the fibers of the shoes and cause it to crack, break, and age.
5. If you love your leather shoes and can’t use a washing machine or a dryer, consider investing in a bed bug heater. Heat treatment helps remove smells and dirt from shoes. Plus, they instantly eliminate bed bugs. Indeed, bed bugs cannot survive the cold. But they cannot survive extreme heat either. A bed bug heater turns up the house temperature up to 122 degrees, eliminating any sign of bed bug infestation. The best part is, other pests might be repelled by this process as well. You will not only be eliminating bed bugs at home but other nuisance-causing pests such as termites.
6. Consider putting your shoes under the sun. Since they cannot outlive very hot temperatures, you can use the sun as a natural bed bug repellant. But make sure to check the notes from your manufacturer if this process is okay for the materials used in making your shoes.
7. If you want your shoes to outlive their shelf life, it is best to store them in a secure bag or box. This helps get rid of bed bugs by starving them to death. Plus, it makes a good storage area for your shoes to avoid dust and other pest infestations.
8. Experts recommend using Dichlorvos Strips. To us humans, it is used as an air freshener. However, it gives off a form of insecticide that repels most kinds of insects. This product is usually used to protect food compartments to keep it fresh. But it also helps avoid the infestation of various pests.
Call For An Expert Exterminator
What more can eliminate pests than calling for an exterminator near Troutman? If you are having thoughts about your methods and if you feel like nothing works, call for help. Remember, safety always comes first. You should not risk the lives of your family members to any kind of infestation.
If you are looking for the best and most competent pest control service near Troutman, NC, call Lake Norman Home Services. This company has proved the quality of its methods for over 50 years. They pride themselves in using state-of-the-art treatments that are safe for humans, plants, and animals. All at a very affordable price! Not only will they focus on bed bugs. Once you call for their help, they will exterminate all forms of pest infestation inside and outside your home without any additional charge. There is nothing better than Lake Norman Home Services–the only company that saves and protects.