Bed bugs are little insects that tend to live on the blood of humans or other animals. They live in your furniture or other areas in your home and then come out at night and bite you to feed on your blood. These bugs do not have wings so they have to rely on other animals and mediums to travel from one place to another.
They can come into your home through your luggage or clothing. They can even reside in infested second hand furniture and then spread in your home. They multiply rapidly thus making it easy for them to spread in your home and other areas in your building if you live in an apartment. The bedbugs do not feed every night thus you do not suspect an infection even when you see a bite mark.
This makes it harder for people to notice an infection soon which in turn gives time to the bed bugs to grow in numbers. The following article gives you the description of bed bugs, their bites, how to identify a bedbug bite and how to prevent bed bug bites.
Bedbug Bites
Bedbugs are an infestation of tiny bugs which can lead to serious infection in humans. Though bedbug bites rarely become fatal they may lead to serious problems if not checked at time. They are reddish brown in colour and almost the size of an apple seed. Hence they are not usually visible to the normal observer.
They lack wings hence they cannot travel great distances at one time however they can multiply really fast. This makes it easier for them to survive for longer periods in a place and then migrate to nearby areas. The Female Bedbugs can lay up to hundreds of eggs over a lifetime and the eggs look like dust as they are very minute in size.
Bed bugs can lead to a serious problem in your home if they are not removed immediately. Bedbug bites can be extremely itchy which can cause frequent bleeding due to scratching. Thus they can become filled with pus and can lead to serious infections.
What Do Bed bug Bites Look Like
Bedbug Bites look like small red spots in various patterns. Usually bedbugs bite continuously thus leaving various patterns. The features of Bed bug Bites are given below.
- Fresh bites appear red and swollen and a dark spot in the middle of each bite. You can mistake them for a hive initially.
- They may be arranged in groups of lines and clusters.
- Bites will mostly be present on areas exposed during the nights such as your face, your arms and feet.
- They will be extremely itchy and will give off a burning sensation.
- They may become fluid filled blisters and can even bleed when scratched.
- They can also become infected with other infections when they are scratched over and over again.
How to Differentiate Bedbug Bites from Other Bites
People can often mistake bed bug bites for other bites and thus prolonging the diagnosis of bedbug bites and infestation. They are small red spots and thus can mimic flea bites or even fresh mosquito bites. The table below can help you identify the differences between a bedbug bite, flea bites and mosquito bites.
| Criteria | Bed bug Bites | Flea Bites | Mosquito Bites |
| Size | Many Big Bites | Many Small Bites | Few Big Bites |
| Area of Location | Usually Abdomen and Upper Body | Usually Ankles or Lower Body | Anywhere on Your Body |
| Pattern | Grouped Together to Form a Zig Zag Pattern or a Line | Grouped Together They May Form a Pattern | There Is No Specific Pattern |
How to Check Your Home For Bedbugs
Bedbugs are usually active at night and they hide during the day in various spots in your home. You will not be able to find the bedbugs themselves but you will be able to find their droppings, their eggs or spots of blood in their residing areas. If you think that there is an infestation of bedbugs in your home then you should check the following areas of your home to find them.
- Walls, Cracks and crevices in your household space.
- Your secondhand furniture
- If you have recently travelled then you should also check your luggage.
- Your bed mattress, bed frames, bed springs and your pillows.
- Your electrical circuits and peeling wallpapers.
- Any ducts and ventilators in your home.
- Check all your furniture if someone has recently visited your home as they could have brought the bedbugs with them.
How To Treat Bedbug Bites At Home
In most cases bedbug bites tend to heal within one and two weeks after their appearance. However if they are not healing on their own then you can try the following methods to treat them at home.
- You can buy an over the counter steroid cream to decrease the inflammation of the bites which will also help you to relieve the pain and itching.
- You can also take an oral antihistamine to relieve the burning sensation of the bug bites.
- You can also apply a cold towel or an ice cube in a towel over the affected area to decrease the inflammation and to relax the affected areas.
- To decrease the itching without any medication, you can also apply a paste of baking soda and water over the affected areas.
- If this does not work then you can go to a doctor and have them prescribe you a stronger antihistamine drug in order to relieve your symptoms.
How To Prevent Bedbug Bites
You can prevent a bedbug infestation in your house by following the steps given below so that you do not suffer from bedbug bites.
- Clean your bedsheets and pillow covers often and change them regularly.
- If your house has been infected with bed bugs then you will have to steam clean your bedsheets and all the linen in your home.
- If you have travelled recently then ensure that you clean your clothing thoroughly before putting it back in its place.
- Ensure that your clothing has not mixed with any other person’s clothing and that it was not shared by anyone.
- Check all your second hand furniture for the signs of bedbug infestation before bringing it in your home.
- Vacuum the surrounding area of your bedside frequently to prevent any growth of the bedbugs.
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FAQs Related to Bedbug Bites
Bedbug Bites look like small red spots in various patterns. They appear red and swollen and a dark spot in the middle of each bite.
You will be able to spot dark brown spots and dust-like eggs in your bed and around your home which indicate a fresh infection of bedbugs.
To treat a bedbug bite at home, you can apply a cold towel or an ice cube in a towel over the affected area to decrease the inflammation and to relax the affected areas.
How can I get rid of bedbugs at home??
Alcohol in a spray bottle will kill most of the ones you spray directly, but you will never find all of them to spray them directly and alcohol is flammable. They live in nests hid in your couches and box springs. You need to try to find all the nests that you can, depending on the size of your infestation you may have many different nests in different areas. Usually wherever you sleep or nap, but I have seen them in books, iPad cases, in the cracks of wooden chairs.. its unreal… the exterminators use a dust called Cimexa, it is expensive,but not too expensive, and it works.. you cannot get it at the store, you have to order it online. The bedbug sprays they have at stores are a waste of money and will kill your pets, and harm your children if they come in contact with it. The Cimexa dust is a very fluffy white powder, kind of like baby powder, wear a mask when applying it, I used an old knee high panty hose i had and sprinkled it in the crevices of my couch and under my mattress,and in crevices of bed posts, in wall creases, anywhere I could put it that I knew my pets and children couldn’t get to, under couches,between couch cushions, then put a blanket over my couch for a while to not disturb the dust or throw it up in the air, everytime I sit down. It will continue to work for years if in areas that are not disturbed. It works by drying out their exoskeleton, it sticks to the ones that walk through the dust and they carry it back to the nest and it kills more. They do not eat anything except blood so anything they have to ingest will not work. The cimexa works!! It will take about a week to see a drastic lessening of numbers if you have a large infestation, i didn’t, but I felt like I did.. and will take a few weeks for them to be gone completely, it is the only thing I have ever found that will kill them completely. I battled them for 6 months before I found the cimexa dust, my husband works out of town and brought them back in his luggage and it was months before we knew we had them, then I tried everything!! It was a living hell nightmare! All the sprays from the superstores, hardware stores, do nothing to the bedbugs, they bathe in it and love it, the only thing i managed to do with the sprays is kill my beloved dog after he stepped in the dried spray and later licked his paw, after it said on the label that it was not toxic to animals or children!! an exterminator on YouTube made a video about the dust because he said he was tired of people gouging other people and charging them 1000s of dollars and not eliminating the problem. So, I’m now paying it forward, you wont need to spend thousands on sprays that dont work, or kill your pet and have that to live with, or worse your child, or pay an exterminator 1000s and him have to come back every few months because what he did just knocked them down so he could keep ripping you off, or have months of sleepless nights. It took me months of research and fighting them everyday and night to find that guy on YouTube that told me what to do to actually kill them for good. We have now been bedbug free in my home for about 6 months. I did not have to throw out my beds or my couches and you wont either. I used a cleaning spray called awesome from the dollar general to clean the outside crevices of my couches where there were brown spots from the bugs and they look like new.
Half Clorox and rubbing alcohol I say 90% (not the green rubbing alcohol) mix in spray bottle together spray this has worked for some people I know that had them.
The best and cheapest way to reduce the problem is rubbing alcohol. If your problem is not to big it will eliminate them. It worked for me in several different places.
Do you just rub the alcohol on the affected areas?
Baking soda is by far the most effective and low cost method that works considerably fast
Pls are you sure?
I am currently suffering from the bedbugs in my house and I have tried many methods and non have work for me so far, and am living in a Muslim country where alcohol is prohibited. I will still try it.
My apartment complex has not I formed me that they have done a building inspection of all units on my floor. I had to go to the doctors 4 times within 2 months. The exterminator company refused to use heat treatment just a no useful spray treatment. They threatened me that I would have to pay for that treatment????. I am 69 yrs old and have physical issues.
Bedbugs are thing that makes life miserable so far I’ve tried every home remedy because I’m on fixed income and I can’t afford the exterminator so I’ve been using peroxide and alcohol together I’ve used baking soda, you single home remedies I tried didn’t work so when I put them all together I bombed I use peroxide and alcohol as a spray and baking soda and they not as bad they disappearing or disappearing and I’m going to continue to use this until they all gone first time in a while I’ve gotten sleep so you can you defogger, alcohol peroxide and baking soda in a spray bottle and if you have enough you can use the baking soda after you spray you will see the difference give yourself 3 days and do it regular counseling doing those three days and you’ll see
Get straight alcohol the red label it’s mostly alcohol !!! Put in spray bottle spray do not put nothing with it
⚠️WARNING/DANGER:
ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL & PEROXIDE MIXED IS NOT SAFE FOR YOU! The combination of alcohol & peroxide is highly toxic & can cause damage to YOUR eyes, lungs, and liver! Combining these products can create what is referred
to as: “peracetic / peroxyacetic acid,” which can be highly corrosive and irritate your eyes, skin, and respiratory tract.
Beyond that, just the use of isopropyl alcohol alone in a spray bottle may SEEM to be reducing your infestation, while in reality, it simply is MASKING the problem & allowing for the bugs to drive deeper into hiding while they will continue to multiply largely unnoticed & yet still come out at night for the blood meal that is needed for them to continue their life cycle & in turn further make your life miserable & only increase your problem ten fold.
There is a new highly reliable method for elimination of these annoying pests, no matter how significant an infestation may be, with a 100% kill rate over a very small amount of time…. Although i cannot personally attest to it’s true safety… I can tell u that this specific product has already been in use for 30 or more years here in the United States with less than 8 suspected reactions ever reported in the entire world to date… Not even cow’s milk has a track record that clean. It is a form of bioinsecticide that uses a type of fungal infection that is highly contagious between these insects and it’s residual kill rate is 100% even over 2 months after applied for bugs who come into contact with the substance. And once these bugs are exposed they take it back to their homes exposing other bugs deep in their crevices. Once the insect dies it’s carcas is indefinately in an infective state to other insects that happen upon it. Thus eliminating infestations quickly efficiently & effectively! As well as it’s ability to continue protecting ur environment or where ever else it’s applied for no less than 3 months and that is not in any way dependant on not being reexposed! No need to bag all ur belongings as in the past but it’s suggested if possible to clean what u can & vacuum often, if only for sanitary & safety reasons if not for any other purpose. The use
of bio insecticides is nothing new really, it’s simply a new application for it & one that holds the most promise to date & is effective and safe for humans when used for treating commercial and home infestations & protection of property in these cases.
Even with that said, there are many other effective means of eliminating these annoying infestations. They do require a type of attention & hypervigilance that many individuals just cannot seem to commit to for some reason, but financial reasons being the least of them! For even the most weathy, their irradiation requires a lot of effort on the part of homeowners themselves. Cleaning is a must and bagging of ALL clothing and linens which must be kept sealed and seperated, clean from dirty. Dirty washed promptly and then resealed to keep from reinfection until finally fully irradicated. Regardless all of our mattresses & box springs should ALWAYS be sealed in quality (quite affordable) bedbug proof incasements for additional protection from becoming infested & bitten… And this would be regardless of current or prior infestation issues clearly… As a preventative measure & ongoing means of mitigation.
Again i feel it’s necessary to inform those who do NOT already know…. We should never mix any type of chemicals or cleaning products, as what results from this process can end up being deadly & painful & is never safe to do for any reason & while it may eliminate a bug or 2 if your real lucky…. In the meantime it could essentially eliminate YOU as well & then what would be the point of it all? Right? Have a good day people! Best of luck & sincere prayers & good vibes… for all who need it right now!
Ps) IF U DO NOT SUFFER FROM ANY TYPE OF SHELLFISH ALLERGIES (although technically NOT a shellfish product, it has been known to interact and cause serious reactions for those who already suffer from shellfish allergies or anaphalactic shock after comong into contact with shellfish or this unrelated yet somehow similar product & i speak from personal experience unfortunately.)
What seems to be a good product, that gives instant relief from these critters and beinr bitten is Diatomaceous Earth (in your Garden Section usually at any big box store) But one needs to avoid this remedy if-anyone in their home has experienced a shellfish allergy, no matter how slight or seemingly insignificant…. DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF THIS PRODUCT IN THE HOME INTERNALLY OR IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT! Otherwise it CAN be applied by a light dusting; to homes, humans, animals, & even ingested for internal cleaning.
If U or anyone in YOUR household HAS HAD ANY TYPE OF A SHELLFISH ALLERGY & OR REACTION IN THE PAST- PLEASE DO NOT USE AT ALL OR DUST YOUR ENVIRONMENT! NOTE- When applying this fine powder, ⁸be sure to AVOID- mucus membranes, inhaling, & getting near or inside of eyes. Owch!)
DAMATIEOUS EARTH or FULLER’S EARTH is a mixture of Fresh Water Diatomes Crushed into a fine delicate powder & feels smooth to the touch to humans yet is deadly sharp like razors to insects and slices right through their exoskeletons upon contact.
So I need to mix peroxide, alcohol, and baking soda together in a spray bottle and use it everywhere for three days? Or just in my bed? Or is it just peroxide and alcohol in a spray bottle, then scatter baking soda? Not sure I understand. But I need help. I also am living on very tight budget. I got bedbugs helping my neighbor remove carpet and paint her house inside. I didn’t even know she had them until she showed me a picture of them on her phone. I asked what bug is that. Please help. I’m 66 years old. Tight budget living but horrible bugs!