Cleaning your bedding, vacuuming, and protecting your mattress with a cover are important steps to take to prevent bedbug bites. If you're not able to avoid bites or have trouble controlling bedbugs, it may be time to hire a qualified pest control professional.
Bug Bites While Sleeping
There are three likely sources for bug bites at night — spiders, mosquitos or bed bugs. Spiders and mosquitos usually find their way into your home — and into your bedroom — during the warmer months.
Bed bugs are traveling pests whose bite causes itching and discomfort. Take steps to prevent bed bugs from getting comfortable in your home by encasing your mattress in a protective cover and washing your clothing with hot, soapy water immediately when returning from vacation.
Essential oils. While essential oils like tea tree, lavender, and peppermint are popularly recommended for DIY bed bug treatments due to their strong scents and supposed insect-repellent properties, there is not much scientific evidence to support their effectiveness in eradicating bed bug infestations.
Bed bugs are sensitive to strong smells and certain scents can help keep them away. Essential oils like lavender, tea tree and peppermint are popular choices. These oils not only smell good but also act as natural repellents.
Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone. EPA's helpful search tool can help you find the product that best suits your needs. Always follow product instructions.
These sneaky creatures will feast on exposed areas of your skin, but they can't bite through fabric. Lower your risk of getting bedbug bites by wearing long-sleeved pajamas with pants while sleeping. But be mindful that bedbugs can find their way to your skin under loose clothing.
No scientific evidence suggests that VapoRub (Vicks VapoRub) can keep bed bugs away.
Rubbing Alcohol
Bed bugs are hard to deal with, but you can repel them by using rubbing alcohol. They hate the smell of alcohol and using it is an effective solution to your problem. The rubbing alcohol can dry out bed bugs bodies, which can eventually lead to their death.
Fleas. Fleas are often mistaken for bedbugs due to their similar small, ovular shape and brownish coloring. However, fleas tend to feed on animal blood versus human blood. Another helpful distinction is that bedbugs are usually larger than fleas.
Other factors such as blood type and breathing patterns also seem to play a role. Type O blood appears to attract the pests. So does breathing heavily — such as after a workout — which exudes more carbon dioxide around you, which attracts mosquitoes.
Clothing to wear at work
Choose pants without cuffs and shoes that are smooth with no trim that bed bugs can hide under. Hang your coat or jacket on a wire hanger and hang it from a shower curtain rod. Make sure it doesn't touch anything else.
You're more likely to be bitten by any type of bug at night, as this is when you pose the least threat to them. Your unconscious body can't swat them away, so you should take precautions to keep your skin safe and bite free.
Mosquitoes are turned off by several natural scents, including citronella, peppermint, cedar, catnip, patchouli, lemongrass, lavender and more. You can add some of these plants to your landscaping to fend them off.
Lavender Oil
The smell of lavender is highly potent to bed bugs, and they also hate its taste, so they won't want to stick around (or bite you) if you and your bed smell like lavender.
Although it sounds like a grim choice, it is best to continue sleeping in the infested area using the population reduction methods described above, until the bed bugs are eliminated.
This includes ingredients that are known to repel mosquitoes, such as eucalyptus oil, camphor oil, and menthol (found in peppermint and other mint plants). However, some of the inactive ingredients in Vicks®, such as thymol oil and turpentine oil, have also shown effectiveness in repelling pesky mosquitoes.
Pyrethrum extract is both a repellent and an insecticide.
This natural solution has been around for decades. Pyrethrum powder is effective on cold-blooded animals, and therefore on many insects such as bedbugs. It attacks their nervous system, paralysing them immediately.
taking Vitamin B1 and Vitamin B12 supplements. eating garlic or yeast extracts, or applying them to your skin. using bath oils and skin softeners.
In 2009, EPA and CDC collaborated on a joint statement to highlight the public health impacts of bed bugs . Myth: Bed bugs won't come out if the room is brightly lit. Reality: While bed bugs prefer darkness, keeping the light on at night won't deter these pests from biting you.