Natural Ways to Get Rid of Bed Bugs
They’re annoying, gross, and as slim as a needle. Bed bugs! They’ll come at you when you least expect them. And despite their name, did you know that they don’t live in beds exclusively? Yikes! These pests can live in carpets, drawers, suitcases, and sofas. You can sometimes get rid of them using chemicals. But do you want to resort to chemicals if you can get rid of them cleanly with some of these natural methods?
The best natural bed bug control solution available to you is heat! Bed bugs cannot survive in temperatures exceeding 122–140 degrees Fahrenheit for very long. Heat doesn’t just kill adults, but it also can destroy their eggs, too.
Preparing For An Extermination
Before extermination, be sure to clean your house, especially the little crevices where bed bugs hide. You should use a vacuum to reduce the number of lurkers first. The next step is to immediately get rid of the vacuum bag in an outdoor trash can. Remove any fish tanks in the room before the treatment and move your furniture away from the center of the room.
Hot Washing Fabrics
You should wash any clothing, sheets, or other fabrics that the bed bugs got to in hot water. Again, the magic numbers are 122–140 degrees Fahrenheit. Be sure that you turn the washer to the hottest possible setting.
Use the Dryer
You should also use a hot dryer to ensure their demise. Is this overkill? Not really. You should know that bed bugs reproduce fast. A single female can lay five eggs a day, and each egg only requires around ten days to hatch. In five weeks, those nymphs mature and become capable of laying eggs, too. In two months, just imagine how many there will be if you let two or three survive. So put your dryer on a high setting and dry the fabrics for at least an hour.
Can I Use a Hair Dryer?
After reading that bed bugs cannot survive extended exposure to high temperatures, you may wonder if you can use a hair dryer to eliminate them. The answer, unfortunately, is “probably not.” While your hair dryer may reach the required temperature to eliminate bed bugs, it also expels air forcefully. So even though it gets warm enough to kill bed bugs, it’s more likely that a hair dryer will just blow them away.
What Else Is Out There?
There are other home solutions that people believe work well, such as salt, baking soda, boric acid, and Thiamine (Vitamin B1). It’s true that with those items, you can get rid of other pests such as ants, slugs, snails, termites, and roaches. However, they don’t work too well with bed bugs. However, you likely won’t need to worry about those items. Heat will be your most effective weapon against bed bug infestations of any size, along with preparedness. Think of bed bugs like the common cold- you can pick them up pretty much anywhere.
Do You Need Heat Treatment?
If you think you have bed bugs or are interested in a home heat sanitation treatment, contact Bed Bug Barbeque, LLC in Lakewood, Ohio! We use heat treatment to eradicate bed bugs and we offer entire home sanitation heat treatments. This safe, effective treatment is completed in less than 12 hours, and Bed Bug Barbeque, LLC offers a 60-day warranty for you to verify for yourself that your bed bugs are fully eradicated. Contact Bed Bug Barbeque, LLC today for a FREE quote at (216) 221-1227 or through our website, and check out our other bed bug informational resources on identification, prevention, and eradication.
