Are you waking up to itchy bites on your skin? The ones that tend to take days to go away? They could very well be bed bugs. Now they aren’t to be confused with dust mites. Dust mites are parasitic in nature and extremely small and resemble the arachnid family. You could really only see them under the microscope. Bed bugs are light to reddish brown, oval shaped with no wings and rather flat.
These little bloodsuckers, no more than 5mm in size, tend to come out during the night when you’re catching up on much-needed sleep in your very comfortable bed. You may think you are alone but are you??
Are you waking up to itchy bites on your skin? The ones that tend to take days to go away? They could very well be bed bugs. Now they aren’t to be confused with dust mites. Dust mites are parasitic in nature and extremely small and resemble the arachnid family. You could really only see them under the microscope. Bed bugs are light to reddish brown, oval shaped with no wings and rather flat.
These little bloodsuckers, no more than 5mm in size, tend to come out during the night when you’re catching up on much-needed sleep in your very comfortable bed. You may think you are alone but are you??
Luckily, they do not carry dangerous diseases; however, your skin may have an allergic reaction. Some folks don’t react at all. Regardless, we’re pretty sure no one wants to be sharing their abode with these little critters. So how do we get rid of them?
Well, let’s first try to get to understand them. No, we don’t mean pull up a chair and have a counselling session with a bed bug (although we might assume an empathetic psychologist would have already tried – and failed).
- They are brought in from other infested areas through clothes and luggage.
- They tend to infest furniture, couches, carpets and beds of course.
- The most obvious places are planes and hotels believe it or not.
- They have 5 life nymph stages before becoming an adult.
- They generally don’t live on pets.
- It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for it to become full of blood.
So let’s take a look at how to get rid of these ghastly creatures!
1. Cayenne Pepper – Sprinkle the stuff in hidden and hard to access zones in your house where they could be hiding. Including under your mattress. Generally the most obvious place for them to breed.
2. Mint leaves – Bed bugs hate the smell so rub some on your skin and place some under your mattress and surroundings.
3. Use a tumble dryer – The excessive heat kills the bugs and destroys their eggs in the process. Soft toys, luggage, bedding, toss it all in the dryer if possible. Be sure to wash your bedding in high temperatures too.
4. Vacuum cleaning – As effective as it can be, it’s not entirely the best solution as vacuums cannot clean the hard to reach areas such as against the walls and in the corners. However you can definitely vacuum your couches and mattresses.
How to get rid of the bed bug bites
5. Honey and Cinnamon – This little concoction not only will taste good in your tea, but rubbing it on your bites will reduce swelling, redness and itchiness. This is probably the most effective remedy and leaves your hydrated.
6. Aloe Vera – Very well known for burns and all sorts of skin conditions. This is also effective in quickly reducing the reaction to your skin from the bites. Really good to have in the house.
7. Baking Soda Mask – Make a paste by mixing 2 parts soda and 1 part water. Apply the paste to the affected areas and leave for at least an hour. Rinse with warm water. One could use a spray bottle and spray warm water all over the mattress, then sprinkle the dry contents over mattress and leave for a couple hours. Finish the process with a vacuum.
8. Basil – Either in the form of an essential oil, or the dried leaves. The oil may be easier to apply, by just using cotton wool to dab onto the affected areas.
Alternatively, you could torch your mattress and treat yourself to some therapeutic shopping here at Mattress King. We often have fantastic deals on our best brands which we are sure you would feel justified in purchasing, should you take getting rid of bed bugs to the extreme!