Bed Bugs are a nightmare. How do I know? Because we had them. The good news for you is that we also learned how to get rid of them. And not just get rid of them, we learned how to get rid of them on our own without spending our life savings (under $200 in fact), without melting every belonging in our house, and without spraying chemicals that would be harmful to us or our pets.
A study done in 2011 found that 1 in 5 Americans has either had bed bugs or knows someone who has. Pest control companies report that over 90% of their business is dealing with bed bugs. One exterminator I talked to told me he makes the majority of his money off bed bugs. Thankfully, he also gave me some very valuable advice on how to get rid of them.
Table of Contents
First, a little back story on what our bed bug problem looked like:
In August of 2015, we bought a used bunk bed. It was solid wood, no mattress included. Just a wooden bunk bud! Shortly after setting it up, my daughter developed a rash that looked like chickenpox. Tiny, fluid-filled pinkish/red bumps covered her arms, legs, and face. After a solid month of doctor visits and multiple diagnoses, all the doctors were stumped. They had never seen a rash like this last so long, and in such an odd pattern since her torso was fine. Below are a few pictures of her rash.
A few weeks after the rash appeared, I found a bed bug crawling up the wall in her bedroom. My daughter’s mattress was inspected and bed bugs and bed bug markings were found all along the edges. We then realized the only new thing in the room was the bunk bed. Upon closer examination, we found evidence that they had been living in every screw hole of the bunk bed. We had unknowingly brought thousands of bugs into our home.
Since so many bugs bit her at one time it looked like chickenpox!! By the time we found the bed bugs, they had already moved from the bunk bed into her mattress and had time to multiply.
We had noticed blood spots and what looked like tiny scabs on her bedsheets but had thought they were from her scratching her skin. Hindsight is 20/20. We now know those were key indicators of a bed bug problem.
(We later learned from the dermatologist that not all of the bumps in the pictures above were bites. Her body responded to the bites as if it was trying to fight off a virus. The fluid-filled bumps are her body’s reaction, and the dark red bumps are bed bug bites.)
Looking for a solution…
We are a family of 5 plus 2 cats and a dog. Our kids at the time were 4, 2 and just over 1 month old. We knew we couldn’t do most pesticides and the quote for heat treatment was more money than we could ever afford. The effects of heat treatment were also more than we could afford. Heat treatment can also cause everything from your food, to photos, to electronics, to mini blinds to melt in the processes. After hours and hours of research, we felt confident we could take care of the problem ourselves and we did!! It took A LOT of time and work, but we did it.
How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs:
Step One: How big is your bed bug problem?
If you live in a single-family home, bed bugs are horrible but you can do this! If you live in an apartment you may have a totally different issue. Landlords are required to provide a habitable space for you. Living with bed bugs is not considered habitable. If the bugs are in more than just your unit, they will come back even if you kill all of yours. You MUST talk to the landlord and ask that they take care of the problem. If they refuse, you may want to seriously consider breaking your lease- which by law you should be allowed to since your apartment is not habitable. If moving is not an option, continue reading this post but be prepared to treat your apartment monthly…forever.
Step Two: You will need to buy a few things
I made a list of everything you’ll need to buy, you can see it on Amazon here. Go ahead and order everything except for the Diatomaceous Earth and the Powder sprayer (you’ll buy that in an actual store). Have it all shipped to your house as soon as possible.
You will want to buy enough of everything to treat your entire house. Even if the bed bugs are only in one room, there is a good chance they will be (or have already been) transported to other rooms.
Step Three: Diatomaceous Earth
Go to Lowe’s/Home Depot/ hardware store and buy a bag of diatomaceous earth and a powder duster. (I included the diatomaceous earth and duster on the Amazon list so you can see what they look like.) Diatomaceous earth is made of tiny crushed fossils and slices open the bed bugs so they die. It is safe for humans and is labeled as being food grade, but it is a little messy.
Diatomaceous Earth alone will not solve your bed bug problem. It is slow to work BUT it is the only product you can buy in a store to even start solving your problem. This will basically give you something to do while you wait for the real killers to come from Amazon.
When you go to the store, do not let other products claiming to kill bed bugs tempt you. Most bed bugs are resistant to these chemicals. You will not only be wasting your money but could be putting your family and pets in danger of being exposed to unnecessary harmful chemicals.
It is tempting to want to move out of the room BUT the bugs will find you. It is actually best to continue sleeping in the room. They eat about every 5-10 days, and the only way to kill them is to lure them to you. You’ll want to make it so they cross the diatomaceous earth to get to you. Lightly (very lightly! They won’t cross over thick powder) dust the headboard, bed legs and floor around the bed. Pull the bed out from the wall so the only way to get to you is to crawl up the bed legs.
For the kids’ beds, we used a tissue to “paint” a line all the way around the outside edge of the mattress and used a sleeping bag in the middle. This way they had to cross the line of powder to get to them. I do not recommend this for every situation. Our kids were small enough that they could stay in the middle of the bed and not come in contact with the powder.
I recommend vacuuming up the dust and reapplying every few days.
Step Four: Kill the bed bugs in the Bedding & Clothes
Take everything that can go in a dryer out of the room (1 load at a time) and put it on high heat for at least 30 minutes. The bed bugs will die when exposed to heat for the amount of time. Think about all the beddings, all your clothes, stuffed animals, etc.
Anything you won’t NEED for a few weeks place in trash bags tied shut with a tight rubber band. The amount of bedding you use should be limited until you are free of bed bugs. I recommend either a sleeping bag or just a fitted sheet and blanket.
If you do not have a dryer in your house, use trash bags to bag everything up and head to a laundry mat. You do not need to wash this stuff. Just dry on high for at least 30 minutes.
If you can, store your everyday clothes elsewhere too. You may want to pick out your clothes for the week, run them all through the dryer, and keep them in a hamper in another part of the house. Put your clothes in the dryer for 30 minutes each morning before getting dressed. You do not want to share bedbugs with others!!
You will need to dry all bedding every day.
Step Five: Protect your mattress and pillows from bed bugs
Once your mattress protectors and pillow protectors arrive from Amazon, put them on the beds, and leave them there for at least a year.
You may be tempted to get rid of the mattress, bed, and everything else in the room but REALLY think through how you will dispose of them. That last thing you need is spreading bed bugs even more throughout your house or into your vehicle. You also do not want your mattress or furniture to accidentally end up in the home of someone else.
The image below shows what to look for in your mattresses. I have almost no pictures of my own during this time. I was honestly too distressed, and didn’t want any record of it! The picture below is taken from the site https://www.badbedbugs.com
Step Six: Cimexa
Cimexa is a more effective version of diatomaceous earth, but you can only find it online. Once you have cimexa use it in the same way as the DE in step 3. You can read more about Cimexa here.
Step Seven: Temprid
If you have bed bugs in places other than just one mattress, like in the furniture or other rooms you will want to consider using the pesticide Temprid. An exterminator told us this is the chemical he uses to kill bed bugs.
After TONS of research, we decided Temprid was safe enough to use around our newborn and our pets as long as they did not come in contact with it until all the spray is dry. One application lasts 30 days, and we sprayed it on the baseboards, around the bed, and on the bed frame. We also sprayed the outside edge and doorway of every room in our house just in case they had spread and we didn’t know.
Temprid had been linked to the death of honeybees, so please only use this spay inside your home.
Step Eight: Do Your Research on Bed Bugs
Spend your free time reading all about the little bugs. Learning about their habits really helped us. For example- Knowing they only bite every 5-10 days, and that it can sometimes take 10 days for a bite to show up really helped us track our progress.
If you have found this website through Google, you are probably already doing some research on these bugs. I’ll save you some time and share my favorite sites. I spent a slightly unhealthy amount of time reading about these bugs. I’m pretty sure I read EVERY article and browsed EVERY website on bed bugs. Here are 2 websites that were the most helpful:
1) https://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/bed-bugs.htm
Step Nine: Don’t Slack Off
You HAVE to keep up the dusting for a minimum of 10 days so that every bug has had a chance to walk over the dust. Don’t be discouraged if you still see bites. Remember that it may take 10 days for a bite mark to appear on the skin. Random Fact- When you push on a bed bug bite it will stay pink, unlike most other bug bites which will turn white for a brief moment.
We dusted and dried bed sheets and clothes every day for a month. Then we did weekly checks of the bed for another 2 months. We still spray the house almost monthly (4 years later!) with Temprid simply because we never want to go through this again.
2 Responses
WOW! Thank you for posting this. I have had an itchy rash that started on my hands and is now on my arms past my elbows and also starting on the back of my neck and shoulders. I think it is because I have been unable to find the olive oil bath soap (I have used for 40 years!) for almost a year. I just found it today, but will look for bed bug signs just in case.
BTW, Carrie, I learned from those British farm shows (Victorian Farm) that bed bugs don’t just live in mattresses — British Victorians scrubbed their iron/wood beds often.
If only I had known they could live elsewhere 4 years ago! We are definitely much more cautious about used furniture now- in fact it took me almost a year before I could even walk into a store selling used furniture!!!