No matter how clean you are, no matter how many times you clean your home, no reason can be good enough to excuse yourself from bed bug infestation.
Bed bugs move and feast on the moisture, blood, and carbon dioxide that humans and animals emit so that they can stay in your home indefinitely.
Over a lifespan, female bed bugs have been reported to produce hundreds of eggs. These eggs are equivalent to the size of a microscopic grain of sand and are difficult to see with the unaided eye.
Because of their diminutive size, it is critical to determine whether or not your home is contaminated with bed bugs. These creatures are most energetic during the night time while we are sleeping.
With a piercing and extended snout, they extract blood from the victim. Every suckle lasts somewhere between 2 to 8 minutes.
After which, they creep back to their hideouts undetected. Bed bugs are “drifters” that several individuals scoop up while traveling.
They could get on your garments when you are staying overnight at a hotel or someone else’s house, and then you carry them home along with you. When buying used furnishings, it is possible to bring bed bugs inside your place of residence.
Bed bugs can live for about 20 to 400 days without eating or drinking. Hence, even if your belongings have been in storage for an extended period, you should assess carefully before using them.
Bed bug wounds are ordinarily harmless and undetected at first, but they quickly become irritating. And, we usually mistake a bed bug bite for a mosquito bite.
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Early Signs of bed bugs infestation
If we can detect early signs of infestation, it will be much easier to get rid of these annoying creatures. Bed bugs multiply very fast. Hence, it is best to watch for the following signs if you do not call the bed bug exterminators.
- The presence of metallic or crimson streaks on your couch or linens is persistent. These markings are most likely dried blood splatter from the pests.
- You may discover transparent to semi-transparent eggshells in your bed sheet or sofas. Because eggshells are petite and paler in color, it is often difficult to see, but keep a close eye for tiny fragments of cream or white granules on your mattress, rug, or even furnishing.
- Presence of black spots. If you notice minor dark marks or black specks on your bedding or couch, they could be feces or the shells of immature bugs.
If you feel like your home might be infested with bed bugs, worry not, as you will find a list of organic ways below to help you get rid of these blood-sucking creatures.
1. Cloves
Cloves, both fresh and dry, function as a repellent. Hence, please place them in locations where you don’t want bed bugs to arrive and multiply or in spaces where you have already treated them, so they do not re-emerge.
You can also prepare a solution of water and crushed cloves. Spray the entire house with the mixture.
2. Natural dryer Sheet
Homeowners are increasingly considering the dryer sheet treatment as a creative manner to get rid of bed bugs. Dryer sheets, also known as fabric softener papers, are used to make your clothes soft and supple by drying them at an elevated temperature.
Naturally formulated fabric dryers with essential oils have a delightful odor that makes us happy but keeps bugs and other creatures off your sheets and blankets.
This organic treatment for bed bugs repels insects and keeps them from increasing. A natural dryer sheet is readily available on Amazon.
3. Black walnut tea
Black walnut tea’s antimicrobial, antifungal, and insecticidal characteristics can help you eliminate a bed bug infestation in your residence. Instead of throwing away your spent black walnut tea bags, lay them in spots where bed bugs are known to hide.
Carefully position the tea bags in any cracks and holes, as well as moldings and other areas. You can also scatter dried tea leaves over your bedding and sheets to get rid of not only the pests but also the eggs.
4. Vacuum
Using a vigorous vacuum cleaner and a forceful hose extension helps suck these annoying creepy crawlies. When fighting a bug invasion, you must clean up thoroughly at least once every day.
Thoroughly vacuum the bedding, linens, and plush furnishings, such as couches and plush furniture. Begin on a higher surface and work your way below, paying close attention to the rugs, floorboards, and fractures in the ceilings or baseboards.
Additionally, look for indicators of an invasion in electrical items such as fans and laptops. When vacuuming, throw the sealable bag or burn it to ensure that the bugs are destroyed.
5. Borax
Borax is an organic domestic cleaner that suffocates bed bugs and destroys them. If you are bent on killing the bugs, go ahead and scatter a large amount of borax across your bedding.
To smother the bed bugs, leave it for at least two days. Although bed bugs will not ingest borax, they will have trouble breathing if the compound is sprayed on them.
While cleaning your garments, you can add borax to the washer as the solution to naturally dehydrate them. Purchase your pure Borax powder here if you are having bed bug issues.
6. Heat and Cold Therapy
Rinse linen, garments, plush toys, and delicate goods in the washer at the hottest temperature permitted (over 140° Fahrenheit) to instantly destroy bed bugs. You can also refrigerate non-washable products.
Everything that you cannot wash must be placed in plastic containers and a chiller compartment. Please leave them in the fridge for at least 24 hours and clean them to eliminate dead bed bugs or eggs.
At the highest temperature (over 140° Fahrenheit), a steam cleaner for essential things like couch sheets or furnishings can clean dead bugs.
Sweep the steam cleaner over the bedding or furniture multiple times, paying particular attention to the cracks and crevices where the mattress meets the table.
7. Essential oils
You can keep these nasty creatures at bay with the use of aromatic essential oils. They are simple to use and can also be stored in small quantities when traveling. After all, we do not want those hotel bed bugs to reach our sweet home.
Lavender, lemon, mint, thyme, peppermint, cinnamon, and eucalyptus are just a few of the essential oils that repel the bugs and can be purchased on Amazon.
They can aid in destroying bed bugs if applied on a consistent schedule throughout bug-infested regions. They also provide an additional bonus and leave your mattress smelling wonderful!
8. Natural Bed Bug Stickers
Another alternative for bed bug treatment is to use stickers. These are parchment sheets with natural adhesive on them. They induce bed bugs to move out of hiding, and as they slither across these sheets, their legs get stuck, causing immobility.
9. Diatomaceous Earth
The magic ingredient that works wonders on bugs is none other than dichotomous earth. It is formed from finely crushed bedrock naturally produced in the environment. Sprinkle it all over the flooring, as well as in cracks and holes, for best results.
The thin granules comprise small blades that kill insects. Remember that it can take up to ten days to show any results. This product is available on Amazon and works for all insects.
As alluring as it might seem, we do not recommend placing it on your bedding. The justification for this is even though the fragments are minuscule, they can enter your lungs and damage the air cavities.
10. Baking Soda
Another organic and safe bed bug remedy that you can use right from the pantry is baking soda. It quickly absorbs moisture from bed bugs, drying them out and killing them in a matter of hours.
You should apply a thin layer of baking soda to contaminated areas such as doors, ceilings, mattresses, and other surfaces. Then, allow it to remain for a week. At last, vacuum out the baking soda along with those pesky bugs.
11. Vinegar
When it comes to bed insect extermination, the smell of vinegar is just as overpowering as the taste. No wonder it makes an excellent emergency home treatment for most of the bugs.
However, it is crucial to understand that vinegar will destroy bed bugs by weakening their neurological pathways. Their eggs, however, will be unaffected.
Use white distilled vinegar to saturate the perimeter of the contaminated region and spray some directly on bed bugs (if you catch any!).
12. Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil’s repellent characteristics make it an excellent organic therapy for bed bug infestations. Bed bugs can be killed using self-made tea tree sprays.
Add 25 drops of tea tree oil in a spraying container full of water and mix thoroughly. Mist this natural insecticide liberally in all locations where you suspect bed bugs from beds and floorings to every nook and cranny.
Be sure to use the tea tree oil-repellent regularly until all symptoms vanish to minimize the instance of reinfestation.
13. Cayenne Pepper
Cayenne pepper is full of terrific antimicrobial effects that aid in the effective elimination of tiny insects, including bed bugs.
Take a spoonful of cayenne pepper to a cup of boiling water. Enable the pepper to soak in the water for at least an hour. Allow the ingredients to cool completely before transferring them to a spray bottle.
Make sure you spray the mixture all over the infected region. In only a few hours, all of the bed bugs will choke and die due to acute asphyxia. McCormick has the best seller cayenne pepper on Amazon.
14. Thyme
Another botanical herb with strong insect repellent qualities is thyme. It works wonders at keeping bed bugs out of your bedroom.
Attach a cotton rag to the end of a thyme twig and set it on fire. The accompanying odors would deter bed bugs, luring them out of cracks and holes.
15. Kidney Bean Leaves
Kidney bean leaves have light microscope grip strands that penetrate through the legs of bed bugs and lock them inside. Hence, assemble a few bean leaves and disperse them around spaces where there are a lot of bed bugs.
To Wrap Up
Regularly keep your home spotless and free from clutter, as bed bugs lurk and produce eggs in dark and undetected spots.
If you see any gaps or breaches in your floors or sidewalls, wipe them as soon as possible to discourage bed bugs from entering.
An outbreak of bed bugs can be aggravating, mainly if they continually reoccur. However, while you wait for the bug-assassins, you can adopt those, as mentioned earlier, natural and organic remedies to keep the bed bugs under check.
And on the brighter side, you might end up getting rid of every single bug without help from exterminators. Good night, sleep tight.
And, don’t let the bed bugs and ants bite! Do not miss our article on 14 natural ways to get rid of ants.
(Last Updated on December 8, 2021 by Sadrish Dabadi)
