How to eliminate bed bugs from your house with home remedies
Bed bugs are one of the most annoying insects that we can find. They are not transmitters of diseases, but cause discomfort from stings and allergic reactions. They are known to live between our sheets and mattresses to bite us at night when we are asleep. These insects are so annoying that there are times when we must resort to chemical treatments to eliminate them.
Therefore, in this article we want to show you how to eliminate bed bugs at home with home remedies, which are not so aggressive but are effective. Take note of the methods that have been shown to be the most efficient in killing these insects. Here we go!
Why do they appear and what is their bite like
Bed bugs or Cimex lectularius, are insects that feed on the blood of mammals, just like mosquitoes or ticks. However, this insect groups together in colonies made up of several individuals, so it is more difficult to eliminate them.
They are red or brown insects with a fairly small and flat body, which is why they hide so easily. They feed mainly at night, which is why they usually live in places close to the bed, such as the mattress, the box spring, the headboard or the sheets themselves.
At the very moment of the bite you do not feel anything, however, after a few minutes or even hours, you begin to feel a constant itch and a small pimple similar to that caused by mosquito bites will appear. This can confuse the presence of bed bugs in the home with the latter, so an easy way to identify them is that bed bug bites often appear online.
If you think bed bugs are biting you and need help, try the following home remedies to get rid of these pesky insects.
One of the main problems with bed bugs is that they can be very resistant insects. In fact, even if they feed every ten days, they can live for more than a year in a state of lethargy waiting for a source to feed.
However, it has been shown that these are animals that do not tolerate extreme temperatures very well. Therefore, to eliminate bed bugs in a natural way, we recommend using these methods to eliminate both adult bed bugs and their eggs and young.
1. Use cold
This option is simple as long as it is winter and you live in cold places to drastically lower the temperature of your home. And you must cool the environment enough for a few hours for the bed bugs to die.
In winter, it is as easy as leaving the windows open or taking out all the furniture that you think may be infected, be it the mattress, the mattress, the bedside table, the headboard, the bedding … Also, remember that For this method to be effective, you must ensure that the temperature is so low that it is around 0ºC .
2. Kill bed bugs with heat
At the other extreme, you can do the same as in the previous section, but with heat. If these low temperatures are not reached in your area of residence, or we cannot move the furniture to a place with these characteristics, you can always eliminate bed bugs at home naturally through heat.
To do this, the first thing you should do is wash all the bedding that you think may be infected in the washing machine with water as hot as the appliance allows, but not lower than 50 ºC .
3. With a steamer
To apply heat to the mattress and the rest of the bedroom furniture, the most effective is to do a steam cleaning. To do this, we will need a steamer or a similar machine that emits water vapor at high temperatures to remove dirt and bed bugs .
The high steam temperatures from these machines also eliminate the presence of other insects, not just bed bugs. Make sure the steam penetrates well through all the holes that can serve as hiding places for the bed bugs.
How to prevent bed bugs at home
If you have not yet had bed bugs at home, or you have had them and you know how annoying they are, and you want to avoid their appearance, it is essential that you take into account the following tips that will make it difficult for them to nest in your bedroom:
- Keep an eye on any place where they can hide, especially fabrics, such as sheets, pillows, curtains or rugs .
- Do not leave infected clothing or possible fabrics on the floor, treat them immediately.
- Be especially careful when you sleep outside the home, as they can adhere to you in these places and then take them to your own home.
- Avoid putting the suitcase on the bed when you return from vacation, especially if it is on wheels, as bed bugs could move from the floor to the wheels and, from there, to the bed.
- Change the sheets quite often.
- Keep the bedroom clean and uncluttered to prevent dirt from building up.
- Wash clothes and bedding at high temperatures, especially after traveling or when you’ve been in places where bed bugs may be present.
- Act immediately as soon as you observe bed bug bites or have suspicions of the presence of these insects, this will prevent them from reproducing .
Now that you know how to eliminate bed bugs naturally with these home remedies, you should know that there are also some products to repel and eliminate bed bugs. One of the most effective is creolin, and if you are not able to get rid of them in any way, it will be time to call in pest experts to fix the problem.