In our most recent blog, we discussed many ways you’re making life easier on bed bugs, and unfortunately, there are a few ways to change your life to avoid bed bug bites. After all, you can’t stop expressing carbon dioxide when you sleep, which is one of the most common ways they locate you. You can’t lower your body temperature enough to make them miss you; more (or less) clothing (or hair) concentrates the bites in a smaller area. And while they might not like green sheets as much as they like black ones, they’re still going to walk across them to make a meal of your blood.

As it turns out, avoiding bed bug bites isn’t something you should worry about. What you should be concerned about is complete bed bug eradication. After all, if they’re not around, they won’t bite you. But people are always looking for the easy way out, like those you’ll find below (when it turns out that the easy way out is our eco-friendly, plant-based bed bug-killing spray).

 

4. Your Sleep Schedule

We know that bed bugs come out at night because they tend to be nocturnal critters. What if you slept during the day and avoided your bed at night? Would that work?

Well, first of all, that's a significant change to make in your life to avoid bed bug bites. Even if you get a night job, it doesn't alter the fact that the bed bugs are still there and can live for a year without a meal. That's right, A WHOLE YEAR!

More importantly, it just won't work. At most, you're inconveniencing the little bloodsuckers a little by making them get a job that doesn't jive with their preferred sleep schedule. Animals do what they need to survive, and if that means waking up at a different time, it's really not going to bother them much. The solution is to find the best bed bug treatment and eliminate them.

In a similar vein, it's not going to help to change...

 

3. Your Room Lighting

Again, because bed bugs are nocturnal, maybe keeping the light on will help fool them into thinking that it's constantly daytime. Sorry. The only difference that will make is that you'll get a worse night's sleep and raise your electricity bill. The bed bugs will come out.

 

2. Your Cleanliness

We wrote an entire article on why bed bugs are just as likely to be found in the homes of wealthy people who can afford professional cleaning services as someone who’s working two jobs and doesn’t have the time to clean. (In fact, in that article, we posted that those who are well-off might be more susceptible.) How you clean your home might determine how many roaches or ants you invite in, but that doesn’t matter when it comes to bed bugs. Bed bugs aren’t looking for crumbs; they’re looking for blood...and everyone has blood!

One way cleanliness can help is by vacuuming up bed bugs in the carpet. If you’re a consummate cleaner, you will most likely vacuum up some bed bugs in the carpet whenever you get out of the house. And if you take the vacuum nozzle to your couches, you’ll also grab some that way.

However, there are two catches to this. First, you must change the bag or empty the canister directly into your outdoor trash bin every time you vacuum. Otherwise, the bed bugs can crawl out and return to where the heat and carbon dioxide accumulate (your sleeping body). 

Second, the fact is that you’re not going to get every bed bug, no matter how much you vacuum. You may prevent some bites, but a vacuum won’t touch many others. That’s why it’s a good idea to hit them with bed bug spray, traps, and a steamer that can get into places that vacuums can’t. This Super Pack of bed bug treatments is the most well-rounded way to eliminate them. 

Is a vacuum part of the solution? Yes, but it can’t be the only step taken.

 

1. Your Spare Bedroom

You have bed bugs in your bedroom—bummer. If they won’t leave, should you? You have a spare bedroom, and you’re sick of being bitten at night and itching the next day. Why not move over there for a while so that the bed bugs will starve?

Well, it would take them a year to starve. But don’t worry about those bed bugs; they’re going to follow you. 

No, they can’t fly. They can’t even jump. But they can crawl wicked-fast! They can crawl upwards of 5 feet a minute. If you get up in the middle of the night and head to the room down the hall, they can easily be back on you in under half an hour.

“Close the door,” you might think. It’s a good thought because that will block your heat and the carbon dioxide you produce. Bed bugs can crawl through the carpet and eventually find their way under the door to reach you.

What if the spare bedroom is on another floor? After a few nights without food, they will search for food. They can crawl around baseboards and through walls, up and down carpeted stairs, and...well, like all horror movie monsters, they will find you. By moving, you’re simply contaminating more of your house.

It comes down to this: if you have bed bugs, avoiding the bites isn’t the answer. Trying to get away from them isn’t going to work, messing with their sleep schedule isn’t going to work, and changing your sleep schedule isn’t the answer. The solution is to kill them with an eco-friendly, plant-based bed bug treatment. 

 

Our natural, plant-based Bed Bug Patrol Killer Spray provides an all-natural solution to infestations of bed bugs, as well as fleas, spiders, and other common indoor bugs. Our 100% natural solution is made in the USA. It relies on the power of natural ingredients like citric acid, clove oil, and peppermint oil to naturally deter these bugs from living in your furnishings and upholstery. Just spray our solution on affected surfaces twice per day, and it will get to work on exterminating your bed bugs and preventing their return. To keep you safe from bed bugs on your travels, arm yourself with our Bed Bug Blasting Travel Spray, which comes in a handy, TSA-approved travel-size bottle for your convenience.