The Best Home Remedies To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs Permanently

Before talking about home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently, we need to know more about bed bugs. So, let us be definite: what are bed bugs?

Bed bugs are very tiny insects, they are reddish-brown, they are like an apple seed in size.

They feed on the blood of humans and animals. 

They are active at night, so they live near where humans sleep. They can be in mattresses, headboards, box springs, and many other places where they can bite a sleeper. 

How do you know that there are bed bugs at your home? 

Firstly, we need to determine if we have bed bugs for sure, before thinking about home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

It isn't easy to know that bed bugs exist in your home, because of their size. So, some signs illustrate if you have bed bugs. 

Signs:

• If you wake up with a red spot on your skin that didn't disappear during the day, unlike mosquito bites.

• If there are red stains on your bed or mattress which could be dried blood. 

• If you notice black dots on your mattress and bed as it may be bed bugs' fecal matter. 

Till you get rid of bed bugs you can cover all your body, as they can't go under clothes. 

We have to know that there isn't a relationship between the cleanliness of your home and getting bed bugs. 

How do you get bed bugs in your home? 

People can pick them up when traveling and going to hotels or any place that has bed bugs because they can get into your clothes and luggage. 

You can also bring them home by purchasing used furniture as bed bugs can survive up to one year without feeding. So, you should be careful about this. 

What can you do to avoid getting bed bugs into your home? 

When traveling you should keep the acronym  SLEEP in your mind:

• S refers to a survey for any signs of bed bugs as we mentioned before. 

• L refers to Lift means looking for bed bugs on bed frames, bedding, and box spring. 

• E refers to Elevate: don't put your luggage or clothes neither on bed nor floor. 

• E refers to Examine: examine all your objectives before backing home. 

• P refers to Place: put your clothes for washing or drying on high heat for at least 15 minutes after backing home. 

After infestation by yourself or a professional team and be sure that bed bugs exist in your home, you should think about solving this problem which isn't easy and needs attention and carefulness. 

There are chemical and home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

Chemicals such as pesticides and insecticides are not recommended because of their dangerous effect such as Mothballs, dryer sheets, and rubbing alcohol. 

So, we will talk in this article about home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

Home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently:

As it isn't an easy issue, we prefer to call experts to kill those bed bugs, but we will try by using home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently and safely as such as we can. 

Some home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently which we can use at the beginning: 

1. Vacuum: 

It is your first step in using home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. You must vacuum all objectives which bed bugs can live in such as furniture, walls, bedding, box springs, mattresses, clothes, and papers. 

After vacuuming, don't forget to clean the vacuum bag before bed bugs spread again.

2. Extreme Heat or cold:

• Washable objectives: you must wash them in the hottest water they can. 

• Non-washable items: put them in plastic bags and freeze them in the freezer for at least 24 hours to be sure that all bed bugs and their eggs are dead.

3. Steam cleaning: 

It is used for big objectives like mattresses and furniture. 

4. Diatomaceous Earth:

It is one of the home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. It is natural sand that is very sharp and rough to bed bugs which can split them into pieces.

You can put it on areas where bed bugs live and leave it for 1 to 2 days then vacuum it to remove dead bed bugs and Diatomaceous Earth too.

5. Borax: 

It is one of the most efficient home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. It kills bed bugs by suffocating them.

You can use a sufficient amount and sprinkle on mattresses and leave for at least 24 hours to kill those insects.

If bed bugs won't eat borax, they'll suffer from breathing and also die. 

6. Baking soda:

It isn't an efficient method as we mentioned before, but you can use it as a temporary solution. It dries them out, not kills them. When you put baking soda where they are, they will scare and could escape from home. 

7. peppermint and lavender oil: 

A mixture of lavender and peppermint essential oils could repel bed bugs out of your home. 

8. Vinegar:

It kills bed bugs when concentrated but does not kill larvae. So to be an efficient home remedy, conjugate it with another good method from the list of home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

Summary

In the end, you can use home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. And also you should take some precautions to keep bed bugs away from your home. You should be careful when traveling and going to hotels. Cover your mattresses and box springs. Don't leave papers, magazines or clothes on the floor. Vacuum big objectives like furniture continuously.

By: Dr. Safaa Tarek