How To Treat Books For Bed Bugs? 4 Easy Methods!

Before we discuss how to treat books for bed bugs, let us first know whether or not those pests can really live in books.

Bed bugs like to habituate near the place where their host sleeps and it is typically in a room or the couch.

how to treat books for bed bugs

They also prefer quiet and dark areas so that nobody can disturb them.

So they would usually stay beneath your mattress or pillows.

So why would they live on your books?

If you are among the many people who keep your piles of books or bookshelves in your bedroom, then it is most likely.

Books have crevices and cracks where the bed bugs can hide.

Some books even have hardback spines which provide them a space to crawl back and forth easily.

I know most of those books are left untouched for several months.

Some are even there since the beginning but you haven’t got the time to read them yet.

This makes them an excellent place for those pests to hide.

If you are wondering how those bed bugs reach on library books, well, most of the infestations are due to the public who might have harbored those bed bugs in there.

Furthermore, library books are shared multiple times every year, allowing the bed bugs to transport from a place to another.

 

Damage Caused By Bed Bugs

The only thing that bed bugs feed themselves is blood, so they cannot get their food on books.

But it does not mean that your books are entirely safe from any sort of damages.

Any area that is infested by bed bugs can be characterized by the blood spots they give away.

It can be considered are the excrement of the bed bugs.

They will stain every area that they infest.

So if ever they decided to habituate in the library books at your house, the stain can bring some damages to those books.

 

Methods To Treat Books For Bed Bugs

The most commonly used methods include pesticides, physical isolation, heat, or the combinations of these methods.

You might as well use lures and traps to exterminate the infestation of bed bugs.

Let us take a look at each method below and find out which method is the best on how to treat books for bed bugs:

 

Method #1. Using heat treatment

A lot of people thought that using an oven or microwave is a bad idea.

But this is not the case, it is just the incorrect execution and this can be a bit misleading.

In fact, using heat treatment is effective in killing bed bugs. However, you need to utilize this method properly.

This is the go-to technique of a few pest control professionals.

But they use a heater that is portable and then, they will raise your house temperature to a certain degree that bed bugs cannot bear.

Though some would not opt for this because it is time-consuming and expensive.

 

Method #2. Freeze the bed bugs

You can also take the exact opposite of the previous treatment.

In this method, you will have to deep freeze the books.

To do that, you need to put the books inside a bag with a ziplock and put them inside your deep freezer.

Leave it long enough so that even their eggs cannot survive, it is preferable to let it sit overnight.

Although bed bugs like to stay in a cool atmosphere, freezing temperature is another story. This is deadly for them.

 

Method #3. Use pesticides

When it comes to treating bed bugs, the most popular method is using pesticides.

If you use a spray can you can reach the spine of the books where those bed bugs commonly hide.

But take note that after you treat the books with the pesticides, use the residual spray to treat the bookshelf as well.

This is to ensure that bed bugs will be kept out of your books even in the long run.

 

Method #4. Isolation

You can also isolate the population of bed bugs from your books.

Through this, you can cut them from the food chain.

To do this, you need to put the books inside a ziplock and keep it inside storage.

But its technique is not that ideal since it will be very long before those bed bugs will die from hibernation.

 

It’s A Wrap!

How to treat books for bed bugs.

Now, you know that just like the furniture you usually use, books also be a harbor of bed bugs.

We often tend to put our books in areas with high proximity for infestations such as in couches and beds.

Most often than not, your books are your bed companion.

This is the chance for those pesky bed bugs to move to another destination.

They will even make your book their home if not treated.

Fortunately, we have discussed the effective methods above so you can surely get rid of them.

If you borrow a library book, check it twice first before the checkout as well as before returning it to the library.

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