Bed bugs. The name itself is enough to make anyone’s skin crawl. These tiny, hitchhiking pests are notoriously difficult to evict. When you suddenly discover you’re having bed bugs, panic triggers instantly.
You might think of throwing out every belonging out of anxiety. But would it be better to at least try handling the situation smartly?
First comes the home remedies. Some home remedies can genuinely help reduce bed bug activity, particularly in the early stages. However, if you’re dealing with a full-blown infestation, calling in professional pest control is always the smarter, more reliable move.
With the right strategy and a bit of patience, you can take your home back from these tiny monsters. Remember, Bed bugs are resilient, but they aren’t invincible.
Now, let’s dive into 15 home remedies for bed bugs that can actually help you take back your sanctuary before bed bugs take over.
How to Identify Bed Bugs?
Before you start the treatment, you need to be sure of what you’re dealing with. Bed bugs are expert hiders, but they leave behind a specific trail of evidence.
Common signs to identify bed bugs are:
- Small, reddish-brown oval insects about the size of an apple seed.
- Fecal stains: Tiny dark spots on your mattress seams or sheets.
- Translucent “husks” or skins that the bugs shed as they grow.
- Itchy, red welts on your skin, often appearing in a straight line or cluster.
If you’ve spotted these signs, you’re having bed bugs. Now, it’s time to move on to the bed bug removal phase.
15 Home Remedies for Bed Bugs: Proven Methods
While professional pest control treatments can be effective, many people prefer to start with natural and affordable solutions before calling in experts. Several home remedies for bed bugs that may help reduce infestations:
1. High Heat Treatment
Heat is the bed bug’s biggest downfall. Bed bugs crank the temperature above 118°F(48°C) from newly laid eggs to fully grown adults. Remove your bedding, then give it a 30-minute ride in the dryer on the hottest setting.
That sustained blast of heat penetrates deep into the fabric, leaving absolutely nowhere for bed bugs to hide or survive.
This method kills bed bugs at all life stages, including those sneaky eggs. But some limitations cut corners, as DIY heat treatment only works on items that go inside the dryer. For complete eradication, hiring a professional bed bug removal service is often required.
2. Intensive Vacuuming
Use a strong vacuum to wipe out bugs lurking in mattress seams, baseboards, and near carpet borders. For best results, always toss the canister or bag into a sealed outdoor trash bin right away. That way, you stop bugs in their tracks before they can crawl back out.
Target every suspicious spot with laser focus and narrow crevice tools. And after vacuuming, remove the vacuum bag or canister right away and dispose of it in a trash bin.
3. Steam Cleaning
Steamers are unbeatable when it comes to tackling dirt and pests hidden in the tiniest cracks and fabric creases. The super-heated steam blazing at at least 160°F (71°C) doesn’t just cleanse; it annihilates bugs and their eggs instantly upon contact.
The power of steam penetrates deep where vacuums can’t reach. DIY steam cleaning may fail to cover all the bugs lurking around. For larger infestations, professional steam cleaning can ease the reliability.
4. Diatomaceous Earth (DE)
Diatomaceous Earth is essentially walking through a field of microscopic razor blades. When a bed bug crawls through DE, the microscopic sharp particles slice through its waxy exoskeleton. A waxy exoskeleton is the protective shell that keeps bed bugs hydrated. Once the barrier is out, they die within 24-72 hours due to dehydration.
Sprinkle food-grade DE around bed frames and baseboards, but be careful not to inhale the dust. Wear a dust mask during application. Keep pets and children away.
5. Silica Gel
You’ve seen them. Those small packets labeled ‘Do Not Eat’ are often tucked inside shoe boxes, vitamin bottles, beef jerky bags, etc. It’s silica gel, one of the most efficient bed bug killers. This is an incredibly powerful desiccant. It works similarly to Diatomaceous Earth.
Silica gel strips the protective wax coating from their exoskeleton, causing rapid moisture loss and death within 24-48 hours. Apply the crushed powder to cracks, crevices, baseboards, behind furniture, and along bed frame joints.
6. Isopropyl Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol) is the fastest contact killer of bed bugs. Even a pinch of it is enough. Spray it directly on a bed bug, and it works almost instantly. It dissolves bed bugs’ outer cell membranes and causes rapid dehydration and death on the spot.
But rubbing alcohol leaves no residual protection. It can only be used as a supporting element while killing bed bugs.
7. Tea Tree Oil
If Nature had a medicine cabinet, tea tree oil would be front and center. It works as an excellent repellent against bed bugs. When it comes into contact with bed bugs, it penetrates their exoskeleton, disrupts their nervous system, and interferes with their ability to breathe through their spiracles. This way it kills bed bugs naturally.
Mix 15-20 drops of pure tea tree oil with 250ml of water in a spray bottle, shake, and use. As the scents fade, reapply the spray every 2-3 days.
8. Peppermint Oil
Bed bugs experience peppermint oil as a full-on sensory assault. The high concentration of menthol and menthone compounds in peppermint oil essentially scrambles the bug’s sensory receptors. It makes treating areas deeply hostile and uninviting territory.
Mix 10-15 drops of pure peppermint essential oil with a few drops of dish soap and a cup of water. To bed bugs, peppermint oil feels intolerable. So when you spray it, they stay away.
9. Lavender and Clove Oil
Lavender and Clove oils are the power couple of the essential oil world that are truly lethal to bed bugs together. Lavender oil contains linalool and linalyl acetate, which disrupts bed bugs’ nervous system and sensory navigation. Clove oil contains eugenol, an active ingredient that kills bed bugs effectively.
Together, these mixtures create something seriously threatening and kill bugs. You can mix 5 drops of peppermint oil to make this mixture more powerful.
10. Double-Sided Tape
Double-sided tapes are traps and living proof of how many bugs tried to enter. Bed bugs crawl up the legs of bed frames. But their journey becomes a one-way trip when there is a double-sided tape trap waiting for them.
Wrap the tape around each leg of your bed frame and make it an island so bed bugs can’t find a route to you. Check every day and replace when it lacks stickiness due to dust and debris.
11. Mattress Encasements
Flip the strategy for a change. Instead of hunting bed bugs down, seal them and let nature do the rest. Bed bugs burrow deep into mattress seams, tufts, and internal layers where no spray powder, or vacuum can realistically reach them. Here comes the necessity of a fitted mattress encasement, which traps existing bed bugs of an infested mattress.
Bed bugs can survive up to 12-18 months without feeding. So keep patience and let them face a slow but certain death.
12. Baking Soda
Baking soda absorbs the moisture from a bed bug’s outer cuticle and dehydrates over time. It kills bed bugs just like the way DE and silica gel do.
Sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda around bed legs, inside closets, along baseboards, and at room entry points. Also, dust it lightly into carpet fibers. Replace it every 3-5 days or immediately after it gets wet or clumped.
13. Interceptor Cups
Bed bug interceptor cups are one of the most satisfying passive traps ever created for pest control. These small, specially engineered plastic dishes exploit bed bugs’ own biology against them.
The cups sit under the bed legs. The outer rim is easy to climb, but the inner walls are too slick for the bugs to escape. The bugs circle, unable to climb out or reach you, and trapped permanently.
14. Bean Leaves
Kidney bean leaves have a surface covered in microscopic hooked hairs called trichomes. The trichomes physically impale and entangle bed bugs by their legs as they walk across the leaf. The hooks catch at their tarsal claws and immobilize them completely within seconds of contact.
Just lay the kidney bean leaves around the bed legs, on the floor, at entry points, etc., and sweep up the leaves along with the bed bugs hopelessly tangled in them.
15. Thyme Rub
Thyme rub works in a completely unique way that no other method on this list does. Thyme drives bed bugs out of their hiding spots and forces them into the open, where you can kill them using other treatments.
Thyme contains thymol, a natural biocide. When bed bugs detect high concentrations of thymol in the air, their survival instinct kicks in, and they flee the area rapidly. That’s where you can catch them red-handed or contact experts.
DIY Bed Bug Removal: Pros and Cons
Choosing the DIY bed bug removal route is a major commitment. While home remedies and self-treatment methods can work in some situations, they also come with challenges. Let’s have a look at its plus sides and downsides:
Pros:
- Often uses natural ingredients.
- Convenient and easy to proceed.
- Helpful for early-stage infestations.
- Allows you to control the treatment process.
- Many DIY methods use common household items.
- Useful as a preventive measure after professional extermination.
Cons:
- Not effective for severe infestations.
- Bed bugs can hide in difficult-to-reach areas where you can’t reach using DIY methods.
- Requires repeated treatments and ongoing monitoring.
- Infestations may return if not treated properly.
- DIY treatments can be time-consuming and exhausting.
- Incorrect use of chemicals may pose health risks.
- Eggs are often difficult to destroy without professional equipment.
- Delayed professional treatment due to DIY can allow the infestation to spread further.
- The impact of natural ingredients vanishes quickly.
- DIY methods can’t guarantee bed bug elimination.
- Only professionals are allowed to use commercial-grade chemicals. They’re not available at local stores.
Where to Buy Home Remedies for Bed Bugs?
Most of these items are probably already in your kitchen or medicine cabinet, but some might need sourcing.
Here’s where you can buy the essential remedies:
- High Street Retailers: Shops such as B & Q, Homebase, Holland & Barrett, and similar stores are perfect for picking up heavy-duty steamers, clear silicone sealants, double-sided tapes, 100% pure essential oils, bed bug-proof mattress and pillow encasements, and surgical spirit.
- Online Marketplaces: Websites like Amazon and eBay are your go-to spots for things like food-grade Diatomaceous Earth, interceptor cups, silica gel dust, and more.
- Local Gardening Stores: These are great spots for organic ingredients or essential oils. Plus, they often stock natural insecticides.
- Hire Shops: If you prefer not to purchase, you can rent a commercial-grade dry steam cleaner from local hire shops.
- Supermarkets: Stock up on large boxes of baking soda and heavy-duty vacuum bags here.
In Summary
Fighting bed bugs is a marathon, not a sprint. While these 15 home remedies for bed bugs are powerful tools, they work best when used in combination with a professional treatment. For a DIY bed bug removal, consistency can be your best weapon. But don’t solely stick to it.
While DIY methods can be useful in the early stages of an infestation, it’s crucial to recognize when to escalate your approach. Do not wait too long and allow bed bugs to spread further by relying solely on DIY efforts.
Call in professional pest controllers like E.D. Pest Control if you sense the presence of bed bugs. Because when you’re able to sense them, the infestation has grown beyond imagination.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About DIY Remedies For Bed Bugs
1. What can 100% kill bed bugs?
Sustained high heat is the only method proven to be 100% effective. Exposing your belongings or mattress to 120°F (48°C) for enough time will wipe out every bug and egg.
2. Can bed bugs live in your hair on your head?
Nope. They’re not like lice. Bed bugs prefer to bite and then hide away in dark corners. They might crawl on your scalp to feed, but won’t settle in your hair.
3. What can I spray on my mattress to kill bed bugs?
Try a mix of water with essential oils like tea tree or peppermint, or use rubbing alcohol for quick contact kills. For a lasting solution, dust with Diatomaceous Earth and then encase the mattress.
4. What kills bed bugs immediately naturally?
Steam is the fastest natural killer. It pierces through surfaces with heat and moisture to instantly kill bugs without chemicals.
5. Can bed bugs live in pillows?
Yes, they love the seams and zippers of pillows. Washing your pillows on high heat and using bed-bug-proof pillow protectors is essential.
6. What brings bedbugs out of hiding?
They are attracted to the carbon dioxide we exhale and our body heat. This is why they usually wait until you are asleep to emerge and bite.
7. Can you sleep on bed after spraying bed bug spray?
Yes, as long as the spray is natural or alcohol-based. Wait until it dries, and keep the room ventilated. Always check safety labels when using chemicals.
8. Can bed bugs survive the washing machine?
Washing alone might not cut it, but putting pillows and bedding in the dryer on high heat kills them all. The dryer is a sure-fire way to finish off any remaining bugs.
9. Are bed bugs caused by poor hygiene?
Absolutely not. This is a common myth. But bed bugs aren’t interested in dirt or crumbs. You can find them in luxury hotels or in pristine homes. They’re travelers, not dirty dwellers.