Bed Bugs: Treatment & Tips For Getting Rid Of Them
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Bed bugs are usually brought into the house from the outside, on clothing, baggage, second-hand furniture or in laundry done in an infested home. Social stigma is attached to them more than to any other insect. This is unfair since the most conscientious homemaker may bring them in on his or her clothing after brushing up against someone while shopping or spending an afternoon at the movies.
No Matter How Clean You Keep Your Home--Bed Bugs Can Thrive As Long As They Have A Host To Feed On: You
Once in the house, they will hide all day in the most out-of-the-way place it can find. Its hiding place may be a good distance away from the bed–in wall spaces, floor cracks, behind partitions, in furniture cracks–or it may burrow into the mattress tufts or crawl in among the crevices in the bed frame. Wherever it hides, it has an uncanny instinct for finding its way easily to the bed when the lights are out. They will climb up from the floor, climb walls and drop from ceilings with ease to get at their victims. They are attracted to your body warmth and the carbon dioxide you exhale–sure signs that there’s a live one waiting to be feasted on.
Because of the increased amount of traveling we do today compared to a few decades ago, bed bugs can be a real problem in hotels, buses, airplanes and other areas where groups of people gather together. Buildings that house several people or families at once can also cause infestation problems (apartment buildings, condos, senior citizen homes, etc.) since they can travel between walls with ease.
What They Look Like
Picture Of Bedbug Feeding On A Human Source: Wikipedia.org
Before eating, the bedbug (Cimex lectularius–also known as a chinch, a red-coat or a mahogany flat) is a small one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch, wingless, paper-thin insect, oval in shape and dark brown in color. After becoming engorged, the body thickens and is elongated. The ingested blood changes its color to a dull red. The mouth is constructed in the shape of a beak, which it plunges into the body of its victim, sucking the blood up through it. At the same time a fluid is being secreted to facilitate the eating process. This fluid is extremely irritating to the skin of most human beings and causes swelling, irritation and itching.
Habits
- After eating, which takes from three to five minutes, it returns to its hiding place for several days in order to digest its food.
- In the house, its attack is invariably launched at night, but if the bug has infested public restrooms, theaters, etc., it will bite at any opportunity.
- In a lifespan of six to eight months, given the right climatic conditions, females will lay hundreds of sticky white eggs, the shells of which may be found in habitual hiding places. The eggs hatch in about a week and a half and the young begin to eat nearly at once.
- If no food is available, they can live a long time without it. If, however, it is accustomed to eating regularly, it will die much sooner when provisions are cut off. Extremely cold weather will take away its appetite but lengthen its life considerably.
- One characteristic is its smell, caused by the secretion of an oily liquid from the scent glands. It is usually particularly noticeable around places long used by groups of the bugs for daytime seclusion.
Tip:
When sleeping in an unfamiliar bed (at a hotel for example), pull back the bed sheets and look at the bare mattress–if you see excrement (it will look like rust spots on the mattress), leave the room immediately and find another hotel to stay at.
Getting Rid of Them
You can call in a professional exterminator to fumigate the home and furniture inside, this is preferable since professional exterminators are familiar with the hiding habits of these critters and the chemicals they use are usually very effective. However, if fumigation is out of your budget or you’d like to try a more natural remedy to kill them, food grade Diatomaceous Earth is a safe and harsh-chemical free method.
Diatomaceous Earth is a natural, effective means of pest control (I’ve previously recommended it for fleas and ant control). You can find it in garden centers (make sure to buy the food grade stuff). It’s a soft, chalk-like sedimentary rock that is crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder.
Diatomaceous Earth is easily picked up by the hairy bodies of most insects, whereupon it scratches through their protective wax layers and they also absorb some of this material. The result being that the insects lose water rapidly, dry up and die. Further protection is provided by the powder’s property of repelling many insects. In houses it can be used effectively to prevent the entry of certain insects such as earwigs, ants, and cockroaches, and to control these and others that are present in cupboards containing food, carpets, basements, attics, window ledges, pet areas (for fleas), etc. In all of these examples it is important to place a small amount of the powder in corners, cracks, crevices and other areas where insects might hide.
(Source: Ecological Agriculture Projects, McGill University).
Steps To Take:
- Thoroughly inspect the room that is housing the critters. Seal all cracks and crevices with caulking or dust with Diatomaceous Earth. They can be hiding between walls, underneath floor boards, inside of dressers and underneath drawers or hide in clothing hanging in the closet.
- Apply a layer of Diatomaceous Earth between mattresses, around floor boards and in cracks or crevices that you can’t seal.
- Apply a thick layer of petroleum jelly around each leg of the bed to prevent them from crawling up the legs.
- Empty and clean out the closet and dresser drawers, washing all clothing in hot water and moving them into another room until they all have been killed.
- Wash all bedding and curtains/draperies in hot water.
- Spread Diatomaceous Earth throughout all carpeting and flooring, leaving on for a few days, vacuum up then reapply.
It will take a few weeks before they all will be killed (you have to ensure that the entire life cycle has been halted–no new eggs waiting to hatch, etc.). Keep applying the Diatomaceous Earth and petroleum jelly until all signs of the infestation are gone.
Treatment Of Bites
Try applying one of the following for relief:
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Household ammonia
- Vinegar
- Hot water (as hot as you can stand it without burning skin)
If there is a danger of infection, use iodine as a topical antiseptic to control it.
Source: Some of the information above is from Woman’s Home Companion Household Book (1948)
You say to put peroxcide on your bed bug bites, sure. Well the peroxcide will kill the bed bugs too. I’ve tested this by pouring some peroxcide in a jar then dropping bed bugs into the jar, and watch them die instantly. Maybe your company can do more testing with this therory.
How will a food grade substance such as Diatomaceous Earth going to kill a bed bug when all they “eat” is blood?
What is the chance of a bed bug rubbing against diatomaceous earth more then just a minuscule spec? I imagine you would not just need a “dusting”. What amount would be required on the bed bug to effect it in any way and be enough to not be immediately wiped or pulled right off by the bug crawling elsewhere? Has this been tested? Please advise
Ok so the things with the diatomaceous earth is that it does not need to be inhaled or eaten. with the bed bug having an oily skin, the “dust” adheares to the residue, like if you put a little bit of oil residue on a plate and then dust it with floer, same thing. its like if you take sand between your fingers and rub them real hard. our skin has grown accustom to rough surfaces and such. but with the bed bugs, as the only thing they touch most of the time are soft surfaces, the diatomaceaous earth cuts into their skin.
Hope that helps
I want to get ride of bed bugs, but I have pets. My apartment is old and I was told that there was no type of infestation in my apartment. After a few months later I found myself always waking up after something bite me. Later I found black things on my bed and saw there was a bug next to it. I found out that it was a bedbug. I called my landlord and told him about the bedbug and all he saod was to get rid of the bed, I did what he said hoping to get rid of them. Now I found the same signs of bedbug living on my bed again. I not happy because they came back and I want to get ride of them myself now, but I am afraid of harming my dogs. What should I do for getting rid of bedbugs permitly and not harmful to my dogs and make sure they do not come back. Please respond back.
the diotomacious earth is chemical free and is not harmful to animals, and really does work, I got rid of bed bugs with it, and it was very easy, and cheap.
We used the diotomacious powder for bedbugs, and it DOES work! I have 4 cats and two dogs. We powdered the animals also as a remedy for fleas as well, it worked and we haven’t had them since. BTW, our pets never got ill or harmed in any way from it. My dog just rolled around as if I put flea powder on him. But, don’t waste your money on other products, they don’t work! Use the diotomacious powder, it really does work!
I think my husband an I have them, we are the the cleanest people ever, but I get bit and he doesn’t…..is that why they come after me now?
6/28/12
I bought a new bed and bedding in Feb. 2012. I have lived in this apartment 7 months prior to that. A new owner took over the apartment complex in April 2012 and began spraying a white powder around my baseboards etc. I have had several sores (bites), in the past two months so I saw my Dr. and he said “Do you have bedbugs?” I told him I have seen a spider and a ladybug. I found them under my box-springs. How/Why, I have NO clue. Not been elsewhere or persons staying here. I killed them & the eggs and sprayed with bleach. Note: I have only slept in that bed 10-12 times. No $ to hire exterminator. Is the spraying a probable reason I have them, and are they responsible to fix it????
I noticed a few bed bugs. So I began researching household products to kill them. And have experienced that vinegar and ammonia will kill on contact. I put a live bug in a pill bottle and dropped a little ammonia in the bottle. The bug died Instantly. Same with ammonia. So I went room by room cleaning vacumming applying diatomaceous earth and topping the room off with a mildly heavy spray of straight. On everything in the room. Have done this for the last two weeks. I check every couple days. Will continue to check and treat until I see no more signs of bedbugs.
Made a few errors in previous comment. Sorry. I put vinegar on a bed bug a d it died instantly as well as when I used ammonia. I used the ammonia straight I did not dilute with water. So make sure the room is ventilated. Open windows use fans. And a mask. Good luck.
My step daughter was living with us brought them home From her boyfriends. You want to get rid Of the blood suckers.. Go buy a handheld steamer. It will cost you a hundred bucks but save your sanity. I mean steam every nook and creavice, and repeat once a week. You will notice immidiate relief and after a month Of treatment they are completely gone. The one I bought was the Shark. I did this because.I have.a child and pets. This has become my favorite cleaning tool.
Steamers are great! I have an H20 handheld pressure steamer, because regular steamers sometimes miss deep crevices. I used it before and it helped (along with other methods like dryer, catch basins with vinegar and vaseline stoppers. It’s been years now and my home is bed bug free.
The couple of times I bought used furniture,before bringing it home – I loaded the steamer with full-strength bleach (absolutely need a good gas mask though!). You must leave it to ventilate for 1 hour after because gaseous chlorine is very dense and thick, and will linger. Afterwards spray twice with regular water steam and wipe dry.
Alcohol (70% and over) will also work fine, and is great for those who have pets or children in that it leaves no residue (but yes, you absolutely need a gas mask too, at time of treatment).
Bleach steamer method works well on cockroaches, too, just make sure you open all the windows, use a FULL FACE gas mask and evacuate all food items and cooking utensils.
Does anyone know if DE works on mites? I am having a hard time figuring out if I have bedbugs or mites…. But something is there! Also, can I dust my clothes directly and wear them before washing? I live in an apartment building without laundry so it makes it all a hit more difficult….. Thanks!
Pls! Dont allow your pets to roll over in diatomaceous earth! Even though the food-grade is not harmful, if inhaled can cause damage to lungs to you & pets. In eyes can cause severe irritation. Use with caution & avoid creating a big cloud. Dust with a paint brush in crevices and for floors sweep with broom.
where can diotomacious powder earth be bought. I live in Canada and am unsure whether to go to hardware store, drug store or health food store. thanks for any idea’s, gas is out rageous here
just wanted to know if the whole house should be done all at once or can you do one room one day and the next one the next day?