Natural Remedy Tips for Bedbugs

Using Natural Bedbug Spray for Mattresses and other Bedbug Removal Tips

By: R. Renee Bembry

Discovering your home is infested with bedbugs could be akin to realizing you have rats or roaches. Ironically, you may be better off having to deal with rats or roaches, as horrible as this may sound, because rats and roaches aren’t likely to prey on you night after night drinking your blood while you sleep; and rats and roaches may be easier than bedbugs to eradicate.

Bedbugs are small and flat and can fit in very tiny hiding places. Getting rid of bedbugs using any old insecticide could be harmful to you, your family, your pets, and to visitors in your home. Finding natural remedies for ridding bedbugs can be a bit exhausting. For this reason, the following natural remedy tips for bedbug riddance have been compiled to help you on your way.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 1

The easiest and most natural remedy available to rid bed bugs is simply to encase your mattress and your box spring in bedbug proof mattress and box spring covers. Good covers should prevent bedbugs from getting in or out of the mattress or the box spring. It should be noted that these materials might alter the feel of your bed when you sleep; but these measures are merely temporary.

In addition to encasing your mattress, it may be a good idea to actually sleep on the infested bed. Sleeping on the bed is actually an essential part of ridding your home of bedbugs. The reason for sleeping on a bed when treating it is simply that bedbugs come out at night and follow their senses to carbon dioxide and heat human bodies emit during sleep. Thus, no body may mean bedbugs will refrain from coming out or even worse move to another room where warm bodies are available. Encouraging the varmints to stay in the room already known to be infested may affect the timeliness and precision of their elimination as detailed in this article.

For anyone that thinks they will just toss out the mattress because spending money on a new mattress is non problematic, hold that thought! Purchasing a new mattress may not be all necessary to eliminate a bedbug infestation. The fact is, and odds are, you will only remove a portion of the little irritating scoundrels.

People are often fooled by the name “bedbugs” and think they only reside in/affect beds. The word bedbugs, however, is a misnomer. The fact is, in addition to bedbugs infesting cracks and crevices of your bed mattress and frame, they may also be found in your bedside tables, your dressers, bureaus and any other furniture in the room the varmints decide to inhabit.

Chances are, you won’t want to get rid of all furniture in the room. In addition, bedbugs also hide in closets, between wall and floor molding, in carpeting, walls and many other areas the tiny critters can slither. Acquiring bedbugs rarely spurs humans to get rid of all their furniture or throwing away entire rooms – or an entire home. Thus, destroying the bedbugs themselves is usually the best measure to take.

So cover the mattress and box spring with good bedbug proof covers. You can cover the pillows too. While doing so, remember you do “not” necessarily need to treat the mattress or box spring prior to covering them. A good encasement will prevent bedbugs that may be in the mattress set from getting out. The bugs will die over time – but you’ll have to leave the items covered for eight months to a year. This is because bedbugs have been known to live for as many as eight months in dormant states. The extra four months are intended to provide a certainty period – if you will. Pillows, of course, may easily be thrown in washers and washed on gentle cycles. Once replaced on beds, however, pillows are once again subject to infection. This is the reason covering them with a bedbug proof pillow encasement is suggested.

In addition to covering mattress set and pillows, all bed linen should be washed two or three times weekly when infestation treatment is in process. More if bugs are still biting you during treatment period. When transporting linen to the laundry, round each item into a ball and examine it completely before moving it through the home in order to make certain bedbugs are NOT falling from the items as you walk from the room.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 2

Prior to covering your mattress, box spring and pillows, remove them from the bed in order to provide full access for examining your bed frame. Inspect the frame top to bottom side to side, underneath slats, between cracks. Turn the frame over so you can get a better view of the underside. If it is difficult to see between cracks or places where boards are screwed together, use a good flashlight to give yourself a better view.

If you find bedbugs or bedbug eggs in your bed frame, a natural remedy to rid these bedbugs could be to take the frame outdoors and jet spray it with the hose. Problem is this is a part of your bed and if you miss some of the critters or their eggs you will not sufficiently eradicate the pesky problem. Therefore, even if you choose to hose down your bed frame you should still spray the frame with bedbug killer. What’s more is that bedbugs could fall from the frame as you transport it through the house. In addition, hosing bedbugs will not likely kill them, but will leave them to crawl back into the house!

Some natural sprays called pyrethrins, and made with ingredients from the chrysanthemum plant, have been proven effective in eliminating bedbugs. Pyrethrins paralyze bedbugs by altering their nerves. Ultimately, the bugs die because they cannot get to food sources. Pyrethroids, which are derivatives of pyrethrins, are more effective at ridding bedbugs in areas prone to sunlight. Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids are used in agricultural products, mosquito control products, and products aimed at removing pests from household pets. The use of Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids has risen over the years following the decline of organophosphate pesticide usage.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 3

Use Benzalkonium-chloride rather than Pyrethrin and Pyrethroid products. Although Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids are less harmful than organophosphate pesticides they tend to replace, an even safer natural remedy for bedbug removal is Benzalkonium-chloride. Whereas Benzalkonium-chloride is an allergen and allergens can cause allergic reactions, Benzalkonium-chloride products are marketed to be safer than Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids because they don’t have the potential to cause urban runoff in the same manner as Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids. Additionally, bedbug killers containing Benzalkonium-chloride may rid bedbugs faster than Pyrethrins and Pyrethroids because Benzalkonium-chloride is manufactured to cause near instant death.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 4

When you choose to treat your mattress and box spring prior to encasing them, treating mattresses with bedbug killer dust can help kill bedbugs faster. Natural bedbug killing dust is safe for pets and humans.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 5

Another natural bedbug killing remedy is heated steam. Heated steam is sprayed from special made steamers made for the purpose of eradicating bedbugs. These steamers run on electricity and are easy to operate.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 6

Two-sided tape can be used to trap bedbugs as they crawl toward their prey. Tape may not be a highly effective remedy, however, it can be used in conjunction with other devices to keep sleepers safe.

Natural Remedy Bedbug Removal Tip Number 7

Vacuuming. That’s right! Simple vacuuming is not only all natural but it’s easy and nearly costless. When vacuuming bedbugs be sure to empty the bags close them tightly and seal them in extra bags bedbugs won’t be able to penetrate prior to trash pickup day. Toss the sealed vacuum bags in the trash bin as soon as you finish vacuuming. Using bag less vacuums to rid bedbugs may not be as good an idea as using vacuums with bags. Bag less vacuums may provide opportunities for bedbugs to escape because they are not contained in the same fashion as with bagged vacuums. If you opt to use bag less vacuuming, however, immediately empty the dirt catcher into a plastic bag, seal the bag, toss the bag in the trash bin and then thoroughly wash the dirt catcher. Spraying the catcher may also be a good idea in case you miss a bugger or an egg or two.

Now that you have your natural tips for bedbug removal – get rid of those bugs and if you’ve been bitten try not to scratch too much – or at least not too hard.