A common misconception about bed bugs stems from their name – bed bugs. They must live in beds, right? Yes, they do. They also live in bed frames, storage boxes and containers below beds, the nightstands and furnishings around the bed, even the electrical outlets near the bed! If you are looking to get rid of bed bugs in your home, will putting your bedspread and other bedding in hot water do the trick?
The answer is two-fold. Yes, in hot water, some bed bugs that are on your bedding may die. Some may not, but they may die if the bedding is in the dryer at a high enough heat (130 degrees or higher) for a long enough sustained period of time.
But what do you do about the ones in the mattress? The bed frame? The nightstand? The power outlet?
As a small step in a larger bed bug treatment process, hot water and exposure to high dryer heat will be effective at removing bed bugs from your bedding. Don’t forget, however, that they love to scatter and dwell in many different places because of their primary motivation – survival.
