How to Be a Natural Bed Bug Repellent: What You Need To Know
February 11th, 2010 Posted in Bed Bugs & Fleas
The bed bug is the vampire of the insect world. They creep into your home in the middle of the night when you are fast asleep and unsuspecting.
Bed bugs climb into your bed trying to locate the perfect spot to bite and then drain you of some blood. These critters can become a huge problem in no time. Learn the basics of the bed bug to help you become a natural bed bug repellent.
Want to learn more?
What’s The Bed Bug?
Bed bugs are essentially little vampires. They suck your blood to survive and mostly thrive at night. The bed bug feeds on warm-blooded animals, which includes people.
Bed bugs can live in your bed, bird nests or even bat roosts. They live in these places because they have easy access to unsuspecting hosts. After sucking your blood, the bed bug lays its eggs in your bed. These eggs are about the size of a small poppy seed.
The adult bed bug is approximately 1/4 of an inch. They have a flat oval shaped body. Bed bugs are mostly brown, but come in varieties of light tan to burnt orange.
Why You?
The bed bug was once virtually eliminated, until it recently reemerged in the city that never sleeps and all across the nation. They not only have been found in hotels and nursing homes, but in regular homes and neighborhoods.
They are drawn to you as you sleep because of the carbon dioxide you exhale. Once inside your bedroom, they can feel around with their antennae for the heat your body is expelling. This is all happening while you’re sleeping, so you are a really easy target.
The bed bug’s bite is so small that you don’t feel it while it is happening. However, it will feel really itchy the following day.
How To Be A Natural Bed Bug Repellent
EcoSMART’s Bed Bug productsare proven effective, but the best method of control of the bed bug is prevention. Making you and your family a natural bed bug repellent will go a long way towards removing their influence from your life.
Similar to the power of an organic insecticide, prevention behaviors like cleaning your bed often and washing your clothes often will help to stop the bed bug in its track. Maintaining clean surroundings will help stop the attractiveness of your bedroom to the bed bug and help kill existing bed bugs already in your home.
20 Comments | The First 1,000 to Comment (Starting 12/21/2009) Will Become EcoSMART Product Testers!
By julie olivett on Feb 11, 2010
I have been hearing more & more about the bed bug epidemic & I would like to take precautions to prevent them. I don’t want to have to eliminate them.
I want to use environmentally friendly products that are also cost effective. I would love to test this product.
I have 5 cats & everyone that I know also has some type of pet. We are all looking for safe ways to be pest free!
By Joyce on Feb 16, 2010
I’ve keep telling people that there really are bed bugs, but no one really believes me when I tell them how many there can be. Cleaning our homes, especially our beds, with something environmentally-friendly and non-toxic would be so great!
By Marae on Feb 26, 2010
My step-father travels for his work, and hotel rooms are a nightmare. My mom is currently trying to clean her house and looking for a good product to get rid of them – and help my step-father prevent picking them up in future. But what can you use when you travel on a plane?
By EcoSMART Brian on Mar 2, 2010
Hello Marae,
The best method for dealing with bed bugs, even on airplanes, is by practicing prevention methods.
For instance, tell your stepfather to bring his own blanket and pillow with him on the plane, so he doesn’t have to use the pillow or blankets the airline provides.
Make sure he washes his clothes he wore on the plane after each flight to prevent bringing them back to your bedroom or closet.
Thanks for the question!
By Arnie on Mar 31, 2010
I hate these nasty little blood suckers. I am traumatized, please suggest something natural to get rid of them. Appreciate any help, thanks.
By hj on Apr 1, 2010
I never realized that bed bugs were real and a problem. Now I wonder if I’ve been bitten and didn’t know it??? Scary.
By Amity JohnsonVetere on Apr 27, 2010
I am looking for tick killer…the picture is of a tick, not a bed bug…
By Amity JohnsonVetere on Apr 27, 2010
the picture on the side bar i meant…
By Sharon on May 30, 2010
I have been dealing with bed bugs since April 2010. I have had my unit treated by a professional that uses products safe for the enviroment. However I need to purchase a product for maintenance, will your product help me with staying one step ahead of the bedbugs? And what product should I purchase?
By gary blair on Jun 24, 2010
the boarding house i’m in has an infestation problem of bed bugs. the hired a company that uses a dog to sniff them out. my room was clear but the home won’t spray until they have new plastic covered mattress’s to replace old used mattress’s. My room was cleared by the dog, how do i keep it cleared I do have ecosmart organic insecticide on hand, just bought it .
By Jerry on Jul 15, 2010
I read about heat treatments, which avoid chemicals, but they don’t prevent new infestations. I live in a rowhouse in DC, and we are fighting the rats outdoors and now bed bugs inside. I would like to start with your product – it sounds safer. (Although this plague makes me nostalgic for DDT!)
By Kris on Jul 18, 2010
I’m going to do some preventive work. I feel itchy just reading this =/
By Becky on Aug 25, 2010
My roommate and I have already had a horrible experience with bed bugs in the beginning of this summer. We recently moved into an apartment and did not know of the pests living below us. So, we were unlucky to have them but at the same time lucky to have taken action and getting rid of them. But we just found out that the people below us still have bed bugs and we’re worried that we’ll get them again!
By Jenny on Sep 14, 2010
All of the EcoSMART products which I have been using since May 2010 have worked in and around my house. We live in Florida. Summer all year round means bugs all year round and around my house. Needless to say I have kept them away from coming inside by using EcoSMART. Thank you for producing a product that we do not have to worry about using around our family memebers.
By JoAnn on Sep 22, 2010
Hello, I have had bedbugs in my daughters room with no evidence of them anywhere else in my home and would like to prevent them from traveling elsewhere. Eco Smart sounds like a product that is pretty good. I would like to try it in my fathers house as well which seem to have an abundance of them. I had an exterminator come and spray his place three times and they are still there. Need help with this problem.
By Samuel on Sep 30, 2010
I would like to test this product
By gar y e. Wilson on Nov 28, 2010
Aloha we live her in Hawaii and ther is an epidemik of bed bugs ad ticks ad We wash our dog several times a week with poison that is suppose to kill the bugs ,however we are finding the every where. We would like totest your product and where can we purchase this product here in Hawaii. We are deprate.. ease help us ,Our dog is and indoor dog and is 11 ears old ,nut when we take him for is walk he comes back loadedwith bugs and my husband is now getting bit.
By Donna on Apr 16, 2011
I would love to test your product…as for the last week or so, I have woken up every morning with fresh bites on my body…and do they itch like crazy! Being an eco-friendly, natural product, greatly appeals to me…and is a cost effective alternative to expensive, toxic pest control. I think your research team has definitely come up with a winner! Will it become available for purchase in Australia?
By sue on Aug 10, 2011
Our entire apartment is infested. I have tried Boric acid…didnt help…I tried bug bombs…didnt help….I tried steam…didnt help….tried washing things everyday in hot water…didnt help…I tried diatomacious earth…didnt help…Tried posting on this forum….will it help????
By Ryan Killpatrick on Aug 28, 2011
I just thought bed-bugs was some stupid little phrase to say before going to bed. Or some medieval times plight made into a stupid phrase. But now im all bitten up with no mosquitos in sight. And after all the news warnings I finally checked my mattress for what I hoped was a myth. NO MYTH! They are all over the wall side of my mattress. And now that I’ve seen them, I see them everywhere! NO LIE! My bedroom is quarantined now. I bought something by HOT SHOT that will probably kill me before it kills them! Please let me test your product!