Natural Bed Bug Repellent

Have you ever noticed tiny red dots on your skin when you wake up in the morning? Have you crackled an 'ouch' suddenly in the middle of the night, and woken up to find vermilion dots on your bed sheet? Don't worry. It is not the name of an obnoxious, difficult-to-pronounce disease that I am about to reveal. Well, if your answer is a yes to the above two questions, you are being troubled by bed bugs. They are such faithful blood suckers, that they would manage to travel far and wide for an alfresco feast on your blood. You can find them virtually anywhere - from cabinets to couches, behind the wardrobe, beneath loose wall paper, hidden in crown molds, or waiting patiently and intently for you to lay yourself on the mattress so that their daily feasting ceremony could begin. There are a number of misconceptions that surround the breeding grounds of bedbugs. There are some who are of the view that bed bugs are attracted to grime, dirt, and filth. However, the story is all together very different. Bed bugs, on the contrary, have a brigade that is constantly in search of warm-blooded victims. After all, their daily bread and butter depends on us! So, when you notice bed bugs in the cleanest of hotels and homes, don't panic and deem the spaces dirty and filthy. All they require is a quick clean-up with chemical or natural bed bug repellents.

Bed bugs are nocturnal who seep out of their hiding, preferably at night. If you want to find the bed bug infestation areas, you must check and inspect all the furniture that abounds in your house. I am sure, by now you know how difficult they are to spot, as they have mastered their hiding wizardry.

How to Find out if Bed Bugs Snack on You

When you wake up with itchy-red dots with a light red ring surrounding them, it is an indication for you to understand that they have finally feasted on you. Another sign that you may notice before being bitten and a sign of bedbug breeding, other than a wheal on your body, are the tiny dots of blood featuring on your bed sheets. The wounds that they manage to inflict on us, bleed a little. Bedbugs are of the opinion of making the surroundings inhabited by humans, their feeding-cum-excreta stations. Our luxuriant mattresses become virtual, and perpetual pooping grounds for them. They leave behind an impression of darker dots on the sheets. Bites should be washed with soap and water. If the itching is severe, some relief may be achieved by dabbing the bites with calamine lotion on the affected skin.

Repellents to Ward off Bedbugs

Getting rid of bed bugs is extremely difficult. For your information, bedbugs are known to outlive temperatures exceeding 100 degrees F, and can survive in tundra-like conditions. Additionally, they are known to live without eating for up to one year. But here are some remedies you could use.

• Using black walnut can make a lot of difference, as this could serve to be a natural insecticide to kill the bedbugs.
• A number of natural cures have been used to treat bed bug problems. You could use herbal remedies and try to include spraying lavender, thyme, tea tree, or eucalyptus on bed linens, clothes and in other locations of the house.
• The food-grade diatomaceous earth could be used as a natural bedbug repellent and decrease the number of insects invading your periphery.
• Boric acid powder, when spread across places where bed bugs choose to frequent, feed, and hide, could be a great bargain to save you from those red roots that spring on your skin. This natural cure should never come in direct contact with a mattress or box spring.
• To eliminate bed bugs from mattresses, some pest control professionals prefer to use steam. As it brings about limited effectiveness, this method has been effective when bed bugs have not spread far and wide into the depths of the mattress.
• Some people have purchased small steam cleaners to treat their bedding.
• Hang bed sheets or any linen affected by bedbugs in the sun. This kills the attached bed bugs in the extreme heat of the sun.
• Insecticides that contain natural pyrethrins serve as a temporary natural cure, Using this remedy can make the bedbugs ineffective for a short period.

Natural bedbug repellents could be of great help if you want to eradicate their existence, at least from your house. With the treatment that they are met with, you could only hope, they do not plan another feast at your 'bloody' expense! (Pardon my french!)