How Do I Kill Bedbugs?
So, you’ve discovered that you have an infestation of bedbugs. That is definitely one of the most unpleasant surprises ever. You might have found them in your home, but the most common places to find them are in University dorms and in hotels, motels or hostels.
Bedbugs are notorious hitchhikers though, so if your high school student goes and spends a “college experience” in the dormitory of the local university that is infested, he or she may very well bring them home. The same holds true of your children going on sleepovers or even hanging out in the home of a friend. In fact, if you live in a multi-family dwelling, they can move from unit to unit along the wires or water pipes, just like cockroaches do. The good news is that they are not known to carry any human pathogens from one person to another or from pets to humans, so you won’t get deathly ill from them. But, the little sores they leave can become infected and the itching can be downright uncomfortable and annoying. Calamine lotion, Campho-Phenique® or other similar solutions may help, but that still leaves the problem of getting rid of the bedbugs.
Your first line of defense, if you can afford it, should be a professional exterminator. They can utilize a fogging type of insecticide that will get into every nook, crack and cranny that a bedbug might choose as its daytime hideaway, though a combination of dusts, sprays and aerosols may be the best option for your particular infestation. Their solutions will also take care of the eggs that have been laid and will be approved for use on bedding, which is the most difficult place to get rid of them. A thorough inspection of your home should be accomplished and the exterminator should be able to show you the signs of bedbugs and be able to point out to you some live adults. It’s important that you recognize the bugs and know what it looks like if you start to see an infestation again.
If you are unable to afford an exterminator and think that your infestation may be confined to only one small area, like a single bedroom, you can try a number of “home remedies” that have been proven to work, to one degree or another:
- Vacuuming & Cleaning—This will work in the short term, but it’s important to realize that cleaning up will NOT get rid of bedbugs completely. They are not attracted to dirty houses and they are such experts at hiding under baseboards, in the tiniest cracks and nail holes and even behind artwork hung on the wall that no amount of cleaning will get rid of them. Their eggs are hardly even visible, resembling the smallest bits of dust when on a dark surface. Dismantling furniture, scrubbing the undersides and the interior of every drawer, pulling baseboards off the walls and using caulk to seal up every single minute access or hiding spot will probably not be enough to find every single bedbug and eradicate them.
- Steam Cleaning—Extreme heat, anything above 120°F, will kill bedbugs and their eggs, but you must steam clean every single surface. Most steamers will exceed this temperature, but you may want to get a commercial steamer so as to be able to run it for long periods of time and to be able to thoroughly steam all possible accessible areas. There is also a “dry steam” option that has a much lower risk of mold which can be a problem when using wet steam on fabrics, carpeting and carpets. You will also have to be absolutely sure that you have applied steam to every single crack and crevice. If the head of the steamer cannot reach far enough into these areas, the heat may dissipate before it reaches the little suckers and then all your work will have been for nothing. Leave one egg, one nymph or one adult female and you will soon have the same problem that you worked so hard to eliminate.
- Diatomaceous Earth—Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is one of the few really effective “all natural home remedies” for killing bedbugs. Consisting of very fine fossil dust, it has really jagged edges that are lethal to the exoskeleton of many insects, to include bedbugs. Fleas and ticks are also on this list, so using DE will not only work on bedbugs, but will rid your home of other biting insects as well. DE can even be used outside of your house in the yard and is completely safe for your family and pets. The jagged edges that kill the bugs are so tiny as to be completely safe when coming into contact with your own, your children’s or pet’s skin. You can sprinkle DE around the floor under and near your bed and along the baseboards. You should also sprinkle it over your mattress, topping it with a mattress cover, and between mattresses and inside the box springs if you can do so. Putting it in all of these places will pretty much guarantee that the bedbugs will cross it and will therefore be rendered deader than a doornail. When treating, make sure to wash your bed linens in hot water to get rid of any “bug signs” and eggs that may have been laid. The hatching nymphs will have one thing on their mind—their first blood feast on your nice warm body. One word of caution—only use Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. There is another form that is often used in swimming pool filters and is not as safe for your family and pets, especially if inhaled. You also might want to wear one of those simple paper masks to avoid inhaling the Food Grade DE; it is quite fine and easily inhaled and though it won’t harm you, it doesn’t taste that great. Then, after a couple of weeks, vacuum the evidence completely away. If you vacuum in between, reapply the DE so as to make sure to kill those hatching nymphs. Eggs hatch in 10 days so a 2-week treatment should work very well.
Some of the things that are pretty much a total waste of your time will be:
- Leaving stuff out in the heat or in the cold. As stated above, it would have to be over 120°F for an extended period and it would have to be below zero for a week or two in order to freeze them out. That also will do nothing for the little buggers hiding behind baseboards, in nail holes, behind artwork, in electrical outlets or in any other number of interior spaces.
- Mattress Covers or encasements, which completely zip around your mattress, will eventually kill the ones trapped inside, but keep in mind that they can live up to 18 months without feeding. As long as they can’t get out and you don’t mind knowing that they’re in there, it’s a good solution for your mattress. It will, however, do absolutely nothing for the ones that are hiding elsewhere.
- Lavender oil is a complete waste of your time and money. Though touted as a solution, there is no evidence that it works at all.
- Bleach will also not work. It is toxic when inhaled; it irritates your skin and can damage just about any surface it comes in contact with.
So, the informed agree; short of a professional exterminator, which can be quite costly and may have to treat more than one time, Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth will do the absolute best job. You can even buy a small quantity and take it with you when traveling or include it in your son’s or daughter’s college dorm furnishings.
