When bed bugs come to feed, they would much rather do so on bare skin. If you do find bugs crawling around your skin or hair, take a hot shower with liberal use of soaps and shampoos. Wash your clothes, linens, and towels in hot water, and dry them on high heat settings when possible.
Bed bugs do not like to climb or stay on smooth plastic materials. Placing small items in plastic containers or in sealed heavy-duty plastic bags will prevent bed bugs from infesting the items. In an infested home, placing clutter in plastic containers will make bed bug elimination efforts easier.
Bed bugs hate scents such as lemon scents, cinnamon oil, neem oil, spearmint, and silicone. They will hide from you when you use these smells. This is so that they can easily attack and feed off of you! Even just the threat of these scents will keep them away from your house for good.
Regularly wash and heat-dry your bed sheets, blankets, bedspreads and any clothing that touches the floor. This reduces the number of bed bugs. Bed bugs and their eggs can hide in laundry containers/hampers Remember to clean them when you do the laundry.
Around each bed leg, spread a thick layer of petroleum jelly (e.g. Vaseline®) in a band at least 2 inches wide and about 6 inches off the floor. Bed bugs cannot crawl through this barrier.
If someone tells you that smearing Vaseline all over the frame of your bed will stop bed bugs from crawling up, you need to know that this is not a real solution. While it is true that bed bugs will stick to Vaseline as they crawl up the bed to bite you, they can get at you in other ways.
Pyrethrins are botanical insecticides derived from chrysanthemum flowers. Pyrethroids are synthetic chemical insecticides that act like pyrethrins. Both compounds are lethal to bed bugs and can flush bed bugs out of their hiding places and kill them.
Diatomaceous earth is a great chemical-free option for getting rid of a number of pests, including bed bugs. This natural powder contains properties that can dehydrate bed bugs, absorbing their fat and oil, and killing them dead as a doornail. Spray or sprinkle in infected areas and allow it to sit for at least a week.
Pyrethroid products are often mixed with other types of insecticides; some of these mixtures can be effective against bed bugs. Look for products containing pyrethroids plus piperonyl butoxide, imidicloprid, acetamiprid, or dinetofuran.
Bed bugs are easy to kill using heat. Their thermal death point is reported to be 114-115° F. Putting infested clothing in a hot dryer is an excellent way of killing bed bugs and their eggs. Heat can also be used to kill bed bugs and their eggs in furniture and carpeting.
Prevent bed bugs from moving onto furniture by coating the legs of furniture with petroleum jelly (like Vaseline), or by wrapping the legs with double-sided tape.
Toothpaste: menthol contained in toothpaste is said to be a good anti-itch remedy. Apply a generous amount to the bite to soothe the burning sensation and relieve the itching. Witch Hazel: provides a mild anesthetic effect that helps to calm the itching caused by bites.
Lavender oil is a known insect repellent that effectively destroys all bed bugs and their eggs. It is one of the best natural remedies for these persistent pests as they hate its taste, smell, and aroma.
You might think that dissolving salt and water would help to make it effective against bedbugs. It certainly makes it easier to apply to the places where bed bugs hide, such as seams along the mattress and cracks and crevices in your furniture. However, saltwater doesn't harm bed bugs either!
If there's one thing a bed bug can't stand, it's the smell of Vicks vaporub. Bed bugs are known to hate essential oils, and the strong, menthol scent of vicks makes them sick. Apply Vicks to your hands, feet, neck, and any other exposed area of skin before sleep to prevent bed bugs from biting you.
Human food doesn't appeal to bed bugs, and you'll find that other substances aren't appealing to them either, such as human waste. It's also important to note that blood type doesn't factor into the bed bugs' preferences. Other products such as toiletries, perfumes, and room sprays also don't attract bed bugs.
Bed bugs are generally considered to be nocturnal and prefer to forage for a host and take a blood meal during the night. They also will come out in the daytime or at night when lights are on, in order to take a blood meal, especially if there were no human hosts in the structure for a while and they are hungry.
Apple cider vinegar: Like with insect stings, apple cider vinegar works well as a home remedy for bed bug bites.
Baking soda is said to dehydrate bed bugs. While baking soda may kill off one or two bugs, it's rarely strong enough to get rid of an entire infestation. Still, many people will try to use baking soda to get rid of these parasitic bugs.
Baby powder, which is normally reserved for babies and kids, is an entirely different material that does not have sharp texture that is required for effective bed bug control. Plus, in terms of effectiveness, these pests have been known to evade baby powder on a mattress or carpet by just walking around any traces.
Bed bugs are hard to control, but you can do it! Using insecticides alone to control bed bugs is not the best solution. Cleaning, getting rid of clutter and taking a few other steps are just as important as applying insecticide when you're trying to control bed bugs.
Steam – Bed bugs and their eggs die at 122°F (50°C). The high temperature of steam 212°F (100°C) immediately kills bed bugs. Apply steam slowly to the folds and tufts of mattresses, along with sofa seams, bed frames, and corners or edges where bed bugs may be hiding.
You may not like to hear the answer, but it is better to sleep in the bed where you saw the bed bug. The reason is that if you move and sleep in another room, the bugs in your bed will eventually begin to follow you. Bed bugs have to feed on blood every 4-7 days.