How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs: We have all heard “sleep tight and do not let the bed bugs bite.” However, the process of ridding oneself of these annoying pests can be difficult. Regardless of who or where you are, after a long day of work we all crave a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in. But what if you come home and are tormented by bed bugs? What if a day and a half later you come back home and try to go to sleep, only to discover small parasites crawling all over your mattress? What do you do then?
With a size of only 5 millimeters, bed bugs have oval bodies that feed on the blood of animals or humans. Once bed bugs breed, the eggs they have laid look like small dust specks. They are fast, nimble and difficult to kill. Bed bugs cannot fly. However, their crawling skills allow for movement over walls, ceilings, and floors. Immature bed bugs are known as nymphs and are distinguished through five skin sheddings before reaching adulthood.
For this treatment, they feast on blood and need a month’s time. Even the ancient Egyptians had to deal with these insects and with time pesticides helped control their spread. While in the world today, it is best to leave pest control to the experts, who will eliminate the annoying bugs from your home for items like small household items that are capable of harboring surviving bedbugs. Some good home remedies include exposing the affected areas to sunlight.
How to Identify Bed Bugs?
One of the most important steps in controlling the bed bug infestation is to detect their presence before they become a major problem in your home. Once they are past the stage of infestation, it is almost impossible to eliminate them. Also known as Cimex lectularius Linnaeus, bed bugs may be a little brown or reddish in color. Females lay about 1 to 5 eggs per day.
These insects typically attack you at night because they search for warm-blooded hosts that exhale carbon dioxide. When finding a suitable host, bed bugs make use of two tubes to inject their fluid. Once they have finished providing blood, they disappear for five days to ten days to regenerate, rest and reproduce.
If you are noticing red welts on your body, the first step is to identify the presence of bed bugs. Bed bugs can often be found approximately eight feet away from where the host sleeps. Inspect the mattress underneath and around the piping for red bugs that could be crawling. Also search for faecal matter spots.
Common locations to inspect
- Frame for a bed
- The head and footboard of the bed
- Other household items.
- Corners and walls
- The carpet
- Electronic devices with concealed spaces are a major hazard in evacuation and disaster situations.
If you find bed bugs, you can probably have an infestation on your hands and you should inspect other rooms as well. You can also use insecticides to force them out of their hiding locations. You can remove the bed bugs in your bed mattress after evaluating its level of damage.
Keep the Infestation from Spreading: How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs Permanently?
Call an exterminator to clean your home of bed bugs if you have them. Pesticides can kill the insects and prevent their spread. You may be able to handle the chemical cleanup process without a professional’s assistance, but do so at your own risk. Leaving hazardous materials on bedding could result in dangerous residues in some cases.
Exterminators will assess the damage then devise a plan of fumigation based on the severity.
Non-chemical and chemical treatments: How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs at Home?
In many cases, professional treatment is required for bed bugs. However, you may be able to treat your problem with home remedies for bed bugs if infestation is detected by monitoring the early stages of the invasion. Thoroughly clean your room and check for any hiding areas in the corners. Check your bedsheets and clothes for signs of blood or feces left by bed bugs.
Mattress Encasement: One of the best means of bed bug pest control, mattress encasement is the practice of wrapping your bedding with a special material that effectively traps bed bugs and prevents them from reaching the outer layer. This is the best way to ensure that new mattresses remain free of any infestation.
Vinegar is a vital home remedy for bed bugs. Chemical components in vinegar are capable of destroying the nervous system of bed bugs. Use white vinegar to disinfect the corners and edges of the bed or other furniture at risk of being infested with bed bugs. In addition, spray some vinegar on the insects. This will reduce their capability to to crawl and flee, reducing their concentration of bed bugs. However, this technique will only work if adult bed bugs are used. Vinegar does not affect the eggs.
Learn how to get rid of bedbugs in a mattress with another popular method by using ziplock bags that will form a vacuum cleaner effect. Place the bags over your mattress and seal the ends. Stay out of the room for more than 7 to 10 days. This will prevent the entry of and exit of bed bugs and will ultimately lead to their starvation.
Bed bugs typically cannot survive in temperatures above 45 C (113 F). Above this temperature, the insects will die. 60 degrees Celsius or 140 degrees Fahrenheit is the optimal temperature for quickly killing them. You could try increasing the temperature in the chamber or heating your bed for heat treatment. Nonetheless, this process can be ineffective if parts of the mattress remain cold. By strategically placing fans across an area, professionals can properly distribute heat and ensure its efficiency.
While self-administering insecticides inside your home is not recommended, you can obtain some non-toxic insecticide dust for bed bug control. For example, silica dust. Silica erodes the outer skull of bed bugs and dehydrates them, allowing this silica to be used on hard-to-reach places like the tufts and the corners of bed frames. This silica may also be used on the interior portion of a box spring or on the edges of a piece of furniture. Silica dust may cause irritations in your lungs, so it is recommended that you sleep away from the affected area.
Borax: Adding a splash of borax powder to your uncovered floors and cracks in furniture and walls can stop the infestation. You can also add water to a borax solution in a spray bottle and spray it on surfaces infested with cockroaches. Adding the solution to your bed will cause the bed bugs to suffocate and eventually die. Washing all your clothes, bedding, and pillowcases in hot water and borax is likewise an effective method to eliminate any remaining residue.
Rubbing alcohol kills insects by stripping away their cells. When bed bugs come into contact with rubbing alcohol, their skin dries up, causing them to die. However, testing has shown that this may only be done 50% of the time due to increased nocturnal activity. Rubbing alcohol is also a cause of fire hazard due to its flammable traits. It is generally recommended to undergo a checkup ahead of time.
Diatomaceous earth: If you are looking for an all-natural but safe substance for removing bed bugs, it is one of the most effective options. Sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on cracks between your wall or mattress, for example. It provides a water-based solution to the oily outer coating of the bed bugs’ exoskeleton, causing them to dehydrate and perish. This process takes a great deal of time but is extremely effective in the long-term when combined with other treatments. You must also wear a mask while spraying diatomaceous earth for bed bug control to prevent breathing in any fine particles.
Did you know bed bugs have been around since the time of Aristotle’s lifetime? Yes, people have been trying to stop these insects for centuries. However, today’s techniques are much more advanced than ancient Indian remedies, as we have many chemicals and insecticides at our disposal. Bed bugs are small, oval-shaped insects that are either brown or red. They can be difficult to spot because they are typically concealed during the day and hide from hosts at night. Bedbugs feed off the blood of humans and other animals and disappear for 5 days while they digest, rest and mate. If you discover red welts on your skin or blood stains on your clothes or bedsheet, it is likely that bed bugs have entered your home. Home treatments can be very effective in getting rid of bed bugs but calling an exterminator is the easiest way to guarantee your safety.
