Tips to Protect Yourself From Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are insects that live in warm, cozy, and comfortable places. They survive on human blood while they sleep, making it necessary to get rid of them. However, it’s not as simple as you’d think, but ensuring a few practices can eliminate these creepy crawlies for good! Here are some tips to protect yourself from bed bugs.
Wash the Fabrics
If you’ve noticed bed bugs in your bedroom and you’re delaying the process of washing the sheets, you're in for trouble. Bed bugs rely on making bed sheets, comforters, and blankets, a living space. And, if you're not washing them, they'll continue reproducing. Toss these fabrics in a washing machine, use a detergent and hot water. Preferably, dry them in the heat cycle. The heat of the water and dryer will kill the bed bugs immediately. Keep any bedsheets, soft furnishing items, and clothes in vacuum bags. As there is no oxygen present in such bags, it will eventually kill the bed bugs along with their eggs.
Plastic Coating your Mattress
Coating your mattress with a plastic sheet has a double advantage. Bed bugs reproduce by laying eggs. The fabric of the mattress can hold these eggs and aid in their proliferation. Firstly, the plastic surface is quite smooth and does not allow the eggs to stay in place. Moreover, bed bugs can easily hide in the holes of the mattress fabric. A plastic sheet is devoid of such hiding spots and will expose the suckers.
Scents that Keep Bed Bugs Away
Several ingredients can keep bed bugs away because of their smell. Some of these ingredients are:
- Alcohol: This can eliminate bacteria as well as any bed bugs living in the mattress of your bed. Experts have suggested that almost 50 percent of bed bugs can be exterminated by spraying alcohol in a single go. Even if some bed bugs manage to stay alive, the smell of alcohol is so pungent and repulsive for bed bugs that they run for their lives and vacate their habitat. Alcohol also messes with their normal reproductive cycle by hampering them from laying any eggs.
- Lemon: Squeeze some lemons, fill the juice in a spray bottle, spray some on your mattress and bed sheet, and watch it work its wonders. The good thing is, this smell is only repulsive for the pests asmany people are comfortable with it.
- Peppermint and spearmint: The oils of both of these are effective because of their menthol content. This minty smell can drive off the bed bugs and can prove to be quite handy.
- Other scents: Neem oil, blood orange oil, tea tree oil, and cinnamon can also help keep the bed bugs away.
Wearing Bed Bug-Free Clothes
Another way of protecting yourself from the harm of bed bugs is keeping your clothes bed bug-free. You can do this by giving them a spin in the washer for about 30 minutes using boiling water. Then let them dry in the sun, as heat is a potent killer of bed bugs. Then, put these heat-treated clothes in a plastic bag until you decide to wear them. This will effectively remove most if not all of the bed bugs present in or on your clothes.
Deep Clean the Carpets
Another hiding place that bed bugs thrive in- carpets. Chances are that you're cleaning out your mattress only to forget about your bedroom carpets. Sadly, the traditional carpet cleaning method isn't practical when it comes to killing bed bugs. Even your vacuum cleaner may fail at the task. Here's what you can do- use a steamer followed by a high-pressure vacuum cleaner to provide heat that'll kill the bed bugs. And, while you’re at it, why not get rid of the carpet stains that you've missed?
Conclusion
The trick to eliminating bed bugs from your life is ensuring hygiene. After all, prevention is better than cure. But, bed bugs are a common problem, especially in areas with 70-80 degrees temperature. If you do encounter these pesky insects, follow the tips to get rid of them!
