Bed bugs are bloodsuckers.
Bed bugs pierce human skin with elongated beaks through which they extract blood. Bed bug bites are not initially painful and can go unnoticed for hours or days. This allows bed bugs to withdraw human blood for up to 10 minutes with each feeding...One bed bug will usually take more than one bite. Once a bed bug inserts its mouthparts and finds a suitable blood vessel, it will begin feeding. ~ source
image source
While bed bugs like to feed on sleeping humans, they will also suck the blood of dogs, cats, bats, birds, and other creatures.
Bed bugs can be found in almost any place with human activity including homes, schools, offices, public transportation, and hotels. They hide nearly everywhere and spread easily from one place to another in backpacks, suitcases, linens, shoes, clothes, and boxes to be near a food source.
After feeding, they move to secluded places and hide for 5-10 days. During this time in the bed bug life cycle, they do not feed but instead digest their meal, mate, and lay eggs. ~ source
You may notice a bed bug infestation in your home if you wake with flat or raised, red, itchy, potentially blistered bites on your skin. Some people react to the anti-coagulant factor bed bugs insert in their victim for feeding. You may also see blood spots on your sheets, live or dead bugs, molted skins, spots of fecal matter, or tiny eggs (usually found in dark crevices).
While bed bugs may carry disease, they are not observed to pass disease to humans. Nonetheless, who wants to allow blood suckers to eat them up as they sleep then hide in their home to digest, mate, and lay more eggs?
Food grade diatomaceous earth is a natural pesticide to help rid your home of bed bugs!
Because diatomaceous earth (DE) is made of fine particles of super absorbent silica, DE compromises the protective waxy coating on the exoskeleton of insects. The bugs dry up and die, but humans and mammals are unaffected!
Here is a protocol for using food grade DE to kill bed bugs and eliminate infestation in your home:
- Heat Treatment/Steam clean
- Wash All Fabrics
- Vacuum
- Apply Diatomaceous Earth
- Vacuum/Clean Up
- Repeat as needed
1. Heat Treatment/Steam Clean
Bed bugs cannot survive at temperatures over 130 degrees F for more than a few hours. You can use a steam cleaner for linens, carpets, and furniture. Alternatively, if you live in a hot, sunny area, you could wrap mattresses, linens, rugs, and curtains in black plastic and leave the items out in the sun to reach 130 degrees F for many hours.
2. Wash All Fabrics
Wash all fabrics and dry on high heat, or use the steam clean method on them. You want to expose any bugs to high heat for hours to kill them. Once fabrics, pillows, shoes, etc. have been treated, seal them in plastic bags or containers until you're done treating the infestation. You don't want new bed bugs to spread to your linens again!
3. Vacuum
Vacuum THOROUGHLY. Vacuum carpets to remove dead bug carcasses. Vacuum furniture, paying special attention to seams and frames. You might want to consider using an industrial vacuum.
4. Apply Diatomaceous Earth
Bed bugs can travel along electrical conduits and hide in cracks and crevices. Apply DE behind faceplates, along molding and woodwork, behind appliances, along windowsills and door jams, and between carpeting and walls.
Cover furniture, carpet, and mattresses with DE and work it in with your hands or a broom.
Bed bugs will not cross a line of diatomaceous earth, so you can use it to "cordon off" zones in your house that have been treated or are not infested.
5. Vacuum/Clean Up
DE only kills adult bugs, and it only kills those that come in direct contact with it. For this reason, leave DE on as long as possible--weeks if you can.
Obviously, you probably don't want to sleep on a mattress covered in DE, in which case weeks might be unrealistic. This is why the heat step is very important for the mattress as well!
DE is very, very fine, and it is often hard on standard home vacuums with filters. You might consider an industrial or shop vac when it is time to vacuum everything up so you don't risk burning out the motor.
A note about breathing it in: filter grade and pest control grade DE have been associated with respiratory problems upon inhalation. Food grade DE does not come with that risk, but obviously breathing in big clouds of dust can be unpleasant. Even though food grade DE doesn't pose a health risk, you can wear a mask and goggles when you apply it if you want, because it does get into the air!
6. Repeat as needed
Repetition may be necessary, especially if you are unable to leave DE on for many weeks at a time. You also want to break the bed bug life cycle. Simply repeat the protocol as needed!
We are happy to offer Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth on our website by donation towards building a healthier world for ALL!
Food grade DE has a number of uses around the home as well as within the human body! It is one of the easiest and cheapest options we have found for increasing wellness. Here are some of its other uses:
- How to Use Diatomaceous Earth for Healthy Hair, Nails, & Skin
- How to Use Diatomaceous Earth to Rid Your Home, Garden, and Pets of Fleas!
- How to Use Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth to Eliminate Parasites in Humans and Animals
- How to Use Diatomaceous Earth to Deodorize Carpets
www.intothegardenofeden.com
OMG I need to do this now or I won't sleep tonight lol. Nice post, now I know these little critter must die!!!
Hope you keep food grade DE on hand!
Get em!
thanks for the post, I hate bed bugs
You're welcome!
Nice post @gerdenofeden thank you for sharing
You're welcome!
Woke up with rashes around my body this morning might be the bedbugs man
Hope you get some DE to take care of that!
Bed Bugs are very annoying animal.. we also faces problem with them earlier at our home.. but now we annihilated them.. in your country is bed bugs are very big problem sir..? I think that they live only our country..
Bed bugs are pretty common throughout the US, especially in big cities. It's notoriously a difficult problem to deal with as they spread so easily.
Thank you. Very well researched article. It's also advisable to be VERY CAREFUL when you go to hotels. Make sure to check the seams of the bed, for black spots ( the excrement left by bed bugs). Most of the times it can be easily seen against the mattress seams. For some reason the bugs also like to feed in three close spots. It's called (no kidding) breakfast, lunch and dinner. Contrary to popular belief bed bugs are NOT caused by a lack of cleanliness. They can spread quickly no matter how clean you are.
Correct, bed bugs are attracted to heat and CO2 among other things rather than specifically dirty conditions. It is advisable to repair any holes in the home that bugs may be getting into.
It is much easier to avoid a hotel with obvious infestation than it is to treat a bed bug problem once you've brought it home, so those are great tips for looking out for bed bugs, @stonesteem!
What a great many uses DE has. Kinda like ACV. Good to keep on hand. Thanks for sharing.
Indeed, we think DE is a total staple for a number of reasons!
Great post, upvoted and followed! We have some diatomaceous earth here somewhere but I can't find it -- we need it in the garden. I think I'll order some, thanks!
Just ordered this one: https://www.amazon.com/Harris-Diatomaceous-Earth-Powder-Duster/dp/B01N39V5SU/ref=sr_1_7?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1499657600&sr=1-7&keywords=diatomaceous+earth
You can order a bag from us--we will trade SBD or USD, plus the funds are used to feed, clothe, house, and educate more people.
http://www.intothegardenofeden.com/store/p769/Food_Grade_Diatomaceous_Earth.html
Thanks! I ordered the other one because it also came with a "duster" sprayer device, which I don't have.
thanks for sharing
My father has bedbugs right now. I am totally going to pitch this idea to him. Thanks for the info @gardenofeden !
Yea this is the most effective and cheap natural way to do it!
This is great information I want to thank you for sharing Upvote for upvote @mannyfig1956
Nasty little vermin!
thanks to information.
very helpful
Creeped out, wish I didn't open this post lol
yes i have heard this DE is very useful for human health as well and had a friend adding it to smoothies
Thanks ........ I hate this bed bug
I hate bed bugs :( . Very nice post
Thanks for sharing!
hi, I live in Myanmar Country.
Please.follow and vote me.
This is fantastic!You are the second person to talk about bedbugs and I think now, I have to try the diatomaceous earth on the dog's bed. Great info.
Seks bedbugs! They give me the creeps... Hope to never have an infestation.
Yea pretty nasty even worse than lice!
Yeah.. However lice are pretty nasty too!
Eeeeeekkkk
Thanks for spreading the knowledge my friend!
Thanks - I will not sleep tonight - scared the bed bugs will bite hahaha.
Thanks for sharing. I remember when I was living in Guyana, bed bugs were the norm. There was very little knowledge on how to prevent them as well.
Had a very terrible experience with bed bugs....initially ,i tried using insecticides to kill them...it didnt take long for me to realise that tgey really immune to it ...i then had to key-in my predicament to find a lasting solution to this problem. I had to do a general clean up , had to comcealed some of my belongings in polythene and dump it, then sprayed the entire room with DDT, then i on my air condition and left it for 9 hours....that was how i was saved....
Bed bugs are SOOO nasty. Diatomaceous earth is SOOO natural and effective!
This is a very sustainable and helpful post!
Hope lots read it!
Thanks for this tip. I have used DE for fleas, but did not know it could be used for bed bugs as well. Hopefully I'll never have to use it for them. I had a bad experience one time staying somewhere that was infested with them. They freak me out almost as much as ticks.
Thank you a billion times for your post. I discovered DE last year and I swear by it.
I also recommend DE to all I can reach, in my battle against any and all "toxic chemicals" be it on people, animals or plants!
NB: No more flees, bedbugs or wood scorpions in our house this year. When we were faced up with the invasion, I did puff up all around with DE powder, the beddings, the carpets, all the crevaces I could find in the house, as well as the outside perimeter of the house.
This year? No bugs to report :) The DE I purposely left in the crevaces (and not vaccumed) is still working.
ewww. i hate bed bugs.
Man this is great post, I was just browsing in your blog and its really interesting and useful. I never heard about DE in my life, I don't know how hard it is to find it in my country, but defiantly will try to. This is a good example of a great blog, congrats man you are doing grate.
Btw, I'm a graphic designer, I see you have a logo and a banner with a message. I can do a logo and a banner for you if you want, its free, you don't need to pay for it, and if you like it is yours to keep, I just feel like I want to help and aport with my knowledge in a way im good at it, so if you are ok, just let me know.