Follow these home remedies for bed bugs with vinegar to eliminate pesky insects with a cheap and home-friendly ingredient. Keep reading to know more!
Bed Bugs are minuscule nocturnal arthropods that feast on humans and animals’ blood to complete their lifecycle. As they have 5-9 mm-sized flattened bodies, bed bugs can easily sneak into the holes, cracks, fissures, and other potential hiding spots. Once they infest a house, their population shoots because a female bed bug can lay up to 200-250 eggs in her lifespan that hatches within 6-10 days. Their bite doesn’t spread any disease but can cause red, inflamed, and itchy skin. That’s why it’s important to get rid of these insects quickly, and this can be easily done by using some home remedies for bed bugs with vinegar listed below.
How Do Bed Bugs Appear Out of Nowhere?
As bed bugs are popular hitchhikers, they can hitch a ride in your baggage, purses, backpacks, and garments whenever you visit bed bugs-infested places or sit on infected furniture. They can go from one place to another quickly using a human or animal as a transportation host and begins the infestation.
How to Find Out Bed Bugs Infestation?
If you found a bed bug, there could be a lot of them hiding somewhere in the house as their population snowballs rapidly. That’s why it’s vital to identify bed bugs infestation in the early stage as soon as possible for cheap and effective treatment. Notice the below signs to know whether bed bugs are living along with you in your house or not.
- Spots of dried blood on clothes and bedsheets.
- Tiny specks of bed bugs poop on the loose wallpaper, paneling, beddings, linens, electrical sockets, books, closets, and kitchen cabinets.
- Presence of eggshells, dead bodies of bed bugs, and shed skin of nymphs.
- Sighting of live bed bugs.
- Red and swollen bites appeared in lines or groups on the skin.
Home Remedies for Bed Bugs With Vinegar
Besides being a popular pantry staple, vinegar is an effective and cheap home remedy to kill troublesome blood-sucking bed bugs. Although, only opt for white vinegar as other types of vinegar can spoil your personal belongings. To eliminate bed bugs once and for all, use the below vinegar spray.
Supplies
- White Vinegar
- Empty Spray Bottle
Directions
- Load a spray bottle with full-strength white vinegar.
- Next, toss all your bed bugs-infested stuff outside and coat them with vinegar.
- After that, rinse the washable items in a washer and place the non-launderable stuff under the sunlight for a couple of hours.
- Also, don’t forget to drench every hole, crack, and gap of your home along with the edges of your bedding and furniture, seams of mattresses, and other infested areas with the vinegar solution.
- Repeat this hack daily for up to a week to notice positive results.
How Is Vinegar Effective Against Bed Bugs?
Vinegar eliminates bed bugs by disrupting their nervous system, all thanks to its mild acidic properties. However, one major downside of this remedy is that it only kills bed bugs on contact and has no effect on eggs.
Other Potent Remedies to Eliminate Bed Bugs
As vinegar is a contact killer, tackling bed bugs with vinegar isn’t convenient, that’s why try the below potent remedies.
- Launder Everything- Cleaning your launderable stuff is the first line of defense and the cheapest one against bed bugs. For this, wash all the tubbable items in the washing machine for half an hour. Next, dry them in the dryer for 15-20 minutes and you’re done.
- Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE)- This study proves that when bed bugs come into contact with DE, their exoskeletons get dehydrated, and they die eventually. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth over the holes, cracks, and other potential sneaking places of bed bugs. If you have kids and pets, avoid this hack.
Important Precautionary Measures
- Before executing any of the above remedies, wear hand gloves, goggles, and a good quality face mask.
- If you’re allergic to vinegar or facing a severe bed bugs infestation, drop this remedy right away.
- Guide your pets and kids to stay far away from the treated area.
Tips to Avoid Bed Bugs Infestation?
Besides eliminating bed bugs from your property, follow the below measures to avoid their infestation in the first place.
- Discard heaps of clutter from your residence.
- Vacuum every nook and cranny of your house, especially mattresses, box springs, and closets 2-3 times a day.
- Don’t forget to thoroughly examine new and used furniture to spot bed bugs infestation.
- Repair or replace broken windows and doors screens.
- Cover all the holes, gaps, and cracks of your home with silicone caulk to inhibit their entrance.
- If you wash your clothes in a shared laundry facility, keep them in airtight zipper bags.
- Install door sweeps to block bed bug movements in other rooms.
- Wash the washable items in the washer and keep the non-washable stuff under direct sunlight for 4-5 hours.
- Be vigilant from the blood-sucking parasites while visiting public places.
- If you stay in hotels more often, always put your suitcase on a stand rather than on the floor or bed. After returning to your home, wash and dry your clothes properly.
Final Thoughts
Bed bugs are the most difficult annoying pests to deal with. But you can do it quite easily with the above vinegar remedy. However, this method is for mild infestation and not for severe ones. Besides fighting bed bugs, vinegar has other numerous garden uses as well. Let us know your suggestions and queries regarding vinegar and bed bugs in the comment section below.