How to remove bedbugs from an apartment yourself using boric acid

Bed bugs. What else could make your skin breathe so poorly? Contrary to their name, bedbugs can infest more than just beds! They are attracted to dark cracks in human areas. This means that they can be found in many different places throughout the home. Find out how to get bedbugs out of your apartment with your own hands.

When you discover a bedbug, it can be understandably unnerving. These little vampires feed on blood, leaving itchy red bites on their hapless victims. These bites can be potentially dangerous to your health. And let's face it, they're just plain rude!

What is boric acid?

Boric acid is a white powder made from the chemical boron and water. This is what is called an oxygenated acid, and it occurs naturally in some minerals, hot springs, and volcanic waters. It is known to be useful in many home and medical applications.

While it should of course be used with caution, boric acid is much less harsh than some harmful chemicals. We keep this brand in our kitchen cabinet.

Remedy No. 4: kerosene

Kerosene helps remove bedbugs at home because it has a detrimental effect on them. The liquid permeates the chitinous shell of domestic parasites, enters the respiratory system, and prevents the penetration of oxygen. After some time, suffocation sets in.

Kerosene must be used carefully. It is highly flammable. Because of this, it should not be used near electrical appliances or open flames.

There is no need to lubricate mattresses and upholstered furniture with kerosene. It is better to apply it on paper and push it into the baseboards. So that later you can pull it out. Bed bugs will run out to smell the smell, then you can spray them from above.

Boric acid for pests

Among its many household uses, boric acid is an effective and natural pest control solution. Boric acid is mainly known as an extremely effective ant killer. It can be found as a main ingredient in many common insecticides.

It is highly toxic to most pests, causing severe loss of their tough outer shell on contact. It will also kill them if eaten - it destroys their stomach and metabolism.

Also find out: Can you use Listerine as a lice treatment?

Safety rules and precautions

When treating a residential area with boric acid, certain precautions must be taken.

Here are some recommendations:

Avoid direct contact of the poisonous powder with the skin, as this will cause a burn.
Try to minimize possible inhalation of the substance by wearing a special mask.
Prevent children and pets from coming into contact with the chemical.

The best solution is to use protective clothing, a respirator, and thick gloves. After treatment, the room is thoroughly ventilated.

If the substance gets on the mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth), it is necessary to rinse them with plenty of running water.

If the drug gets into the stomach, you need to induce vomiting in the victim, and then consult a specialist. For prevention, after cleansing the stomach, it is recommended to drink activated charcoal.

How to remove bedbugs from an apartment: is boric acid safe for people?

Luckily, boric acid affects the insect body differently than it does the human body! For the human body, the powder is slightly more toxic than table salt (when compared in large doses). The smaller the body, the more toxic boric acid will be.

Although it requires a large lethal dose, this does not mean that boric acid is necessarily safe for humans. Always keep it out of the reach of children and try to avoid inhaling the powder.

Like everyone else, just use common sense when it comes to boric acid. Do not swallow it, do not try to inhale it, and make sure it does not come into contact with broken skin.

Preventing the appearance of bedbugs in the apartment

Preventing bed bugs in your apartment helps protect your home from insects and make the environment more uncomfortable for the bugs you already have.

Once a year, carry out preventative cleaning of the ventilation, cover all air duct openings with a fine mesh that can trap insects.
Apply sealant along the cracks at the joints of window frames and door frames.
Don’t clutter your apartment with unnecessary things, organize organized storage.
Follow basic rules of household hygiene at home, clean more often using household cleaning products for different types of surfaces.
When buying furniture, especially from your own hands, carefully inspect it for the presence of insects and traces of their vital activity, treat it with insecticides in the form of an aerosol or spray for prevention.
Inspect cardboard packaging for goods and books for the presence of insects; you can go over the spines of books with a vacuum cleaner.
Do not wear other people's clothes or hats.
Carefully choose hotels where you are going to spend the night, sort out and rewash all your things after each trip.
If the sanitary situation in any place bothers you, try to leave as quickly as possible.

One of the most effective, but resource-intensive preventive measures is to make cosmetic or major repairs to the apartment. The fewer cracks, cracks, crumbling plaster and peeling wallpaper in the house, the fewer places through which bedbugs can enter your home and where they can hide.

How to remove bedbugs from an apartment: the effectiveness of boric acid

Many people try to use boric acid to kill bed bugs, but most industry experts advise against using it. Boric acid is not the most effective solution for bed bugs, and here's why.

How to remove bed bugs from an apartment effectively, the creatures must ingest something to kill them. Boric acid can kill some by damaging their exoskeleton, but it doesn't seem to work in general. Boric acid is not actually an effective bedbug bait like human blood.

The jury is still out on whether boric acid is harmful when it comes into contact with human skin. If you decide to use boric acid, make sure you err on the side of caution. The use of boric acid in areas that come into direct contact with the skin, such as mattresses, is not recommended.

Sprinkling boric acid on all areas of the bed except the mattress can kill some bedbugs, although it is not the best option.

The procedure for processing premises

The procedure for processing a residential premises requires compliance with some subtleties:

The first stage is the detection of nests of bloodsuckers. You should inspect the apartment, not forgetting the secluded places behind the baseboards and on the back walls of the furniture.
Next, you need to place the poison around the entire perimeter of the room. For the chemical to have an effect on bedbugs, direct contact of the parasite with the substance is necessary. This can be achieved by generously sprinkling the nests with acid.

To treat vertical surfaces, highly concentrated boric acid powder can be diluted with a small amount of liquid.

When dried, crystals of the substance will remain, which will also be unsafe for bedbugs and other parasites.

What are bedbugs and how to identify them?

Bedbugs are famous travelers. They can be transmitted through used furniture, clothing, bedding, luggage, theater seats, etc. Despite their small size, they are an incredibly aggressive and dominant pest.

With these characteristics, bedbugs can infest entire buildings. They are reddish-brown in color and have a tiki-like appearance. Like ticks, their size varies depending on how much blood they suck.

What bedbugs are considered true bugs for is that they have a jointed beak and a so-called stylet, which is used to break the skin and find a blood vessel. The bug sucks out enough blood until it is full and then hides to digest the blood.

The best way to tell if you have bedbugs is if you notice unexplained itchy bites that look like red welts in zigzag paths or clusters. When you notice this, determine where they came from by looking in small places that are usually overlooked.

Mechanism of action on bedbugs

Boric acid affects parasites in several directions at once:

In case of contact damage, the death of the insect occurs due to drying of the chitinous cover.
If the bloodsucker eats the poison, the chemical will begin to act from the inside, affecting the digestive tract. Accumulating in the intestines, acid corrodes it and attracts fluid from the internal organs. Subsequently, the tissues die and the insect dies.
The substance affects the nervous system of the parasite. Blocking of nerve impulses and subsequent immobilization lead to the death of the bloodsucker.

Boric acid also affects the ability to reproduce, which significantly reduces the number of individuals in the population.

However, you need to understand that this applies more to cockroaches and ants, since the poison is much less effective on bedbugs.

Why are bedbugs so difficult to eliminate?

To say the least, bedbugs are extremely durable. They can go for a long time without a blood feast. These dry spells surprisingly don't reflect them. They are tolerant of changing conditions and reproduce very quickly.

Although the battle against bedbugs may seem hopeless, they can be beaten. There are many different natural ways to get rid of bed bugs, most of which are better than boric acid. Below are 12 more effective (but still natural) ways to get rid of these unwanted intruders.

Pros and cons of folk remedies

Pros:

Zero or minimal financial costs.
The necessary components are often already on hand.
Some products may be of natural or conditionally natural origin.
High efficiency of indirect, mechanical methods without the use of any special means.

Minuses:

Low effectiveness of funds.
Often – the need to use the products for a long time or constantly.
Intense repellent odor.
Toxicity and danger of compounds that can kill pests.
Local, highly targeted action of mechanical methods.

The main and critical drawback of folk remedies in the fight against bedbugs is that they do not allow you to quickly get rid of the entire colony. With their help, you can scare away pests, but you will not be able to control where they will go - it could be the next room or room, where they will safely wait out the attack and soon return again. Using folk remedies you can destroy individual pests, but those that have not been in contact with the poison will still continue to bite. With indirect methods of fighting bedbugs, you can destroy only those bedbugs that you find, the rest can hide anywhere, the effect will be local and the situation with bedbugs as a whole may not change at all.

Carefully!

Bites are one of the main reasons why the destruction of bedbugs should not be delayed for long.
When the colony is large, bites appear in dozens per night; they itch very much, can fester and leave behind scars due to scratching. Do not expect folk remedies to provide a magic wand effect that will quickly solve your insect problem. The diet of bedbugs, consisting only of blood, makes it much more difficult to control them compared to cockroaches, moths, skin beetles and other pests that eat food baits.

How to get bedbugs out of an apartment: 13 ways

Send all bedding before you do anything.

As soon as you suspect you have bedbugs, wash everything that can be washed in the hottest water possible and dry on high heat. The extreme heat will kill any bed bugs on your bedding.

Vacuum and steam cleaning

The mattress, box spring and area around the bed should be thoroughly vacuumed using a wand attachment. Make sure the vacuum bag is located somewhere outside your home. It is also helpful to thoroughly steam clean the mattress and box springs.

Disposal of contaminated furniture

If at all possible, replace any bedbug-bearing items. Although it is expensive and inconvenient, sometimes the eggs are located in places that are almost impossible to reach. In this case, deletion is your best option.

Diatomaceous earth

Diatomaceous earth is a powder that comes from a type of soft and sedimentary rock. If the environment is dry, it is very successful in controlling bedbugs.

The dusty component can get on the bed bugs' exoskeleton, breaking the layer and eventually dehydrating them. They can also pick up diatomaceous earth by passing through it.

When they lick their feet, the silica is so sharp that it damages their insides and leads to death.

Rubbing with alcohol

Using alcohol friction can be effective. Spray it on and around the infested area to kill bed bugs and dry out the eggs. Just remember that alcohol can damage wood that has been varnished. Test a small amount on the wood before spraying/wiping the entire area.

Invest in a protective coating

The sealing of your mattress and box is critical. The mattress cover leaves errors in care or in bed. This will also keep your bed protected even if you don't have any bedding. After all, who knows what your next home might be unknowingly wearing?

Seal all cracks and cracks that bedbugs can get into.

In order to say goodbye to the pest, it is logical to get rid of your home. Find any cracks in the walls or gaps between baseboards and walls and fill them. Although this may seem tedious, it will certainly be worth it once the bedbugs stop appearing.

Essential oils and lavender sachets

Diffusing some essential oils is beneficial for bedbugs, such as tea tree, cedar and oil. These essential oils have the ability to significantly suffocate bedbugs. They block the external openings of the respiratory system, thereby closing everything.

Something that is important to know about this technique, however, is that essential oils are only effective when in direct contact with the little parasites.

Not only are lavender packets beautiful, but the scent of lavender repels bedbugs. Storing some of these sachets would be a win-win.

Pyrethrum

It is a natural extract found in chrysanthemum flowers. Pyrethrum travels through the nervous system of bedbugs, having a toxic effect on them.

bean leaves

This is a popular technique that was first used in Eastern Europe. Leaves are scattered in areas where bedbugs are present. When they step on the leaves, the hooked hairs attached to the leaves pierce them, successfully capturing them.

Legume leaves are very difficult to find. If you can't find any items for sale, you can always plant beans yourself using other methods such as plant sprouts.

Clean and disinfect thoroughly

Poor sanitation is not a direct cause of bedbugs. However, unnecessary places where they can hide are beneficial. Again, wipe everything down with alcohol and/or bleach and scrub!

Heat treatment

Direct heat will kill bedbugs and their eggs after about 30 seconds of direct contact. Many items cannot be placed in washers or dryers, so move them outside (if the weather is hot and the sun is good).

You can also invest in a space heater or two and place them right where the bedbugs are. This may be a good idea, since space heaters will cover a larger area, unlike steamships, which may not be able to reach these narrow areas.

Invest in such natural products

This spray, called EcoRaider, gets great reviews as an effective bedbug killer. It is used and preferred by exterminators and is made from natural and organic ingredients, making it safe to use around children and pets.

Recipes

The classification of independent methods of combating parasites is as follows:

chemical. Production of solutions with a specific aroma.
Mechanical. Getting rid of contaminated furniture, removing insects with a vacuum cleaner, etc.
Thermal. Use of extremely low or high temperatures.
Natural, natural. Preparation of mixtures and infusions from plants that have a strong aroma that repels insects.

Please note: it is not advisable to influence parasites mechanically. A vacuum cleaner will help get rid of some individuals, but will not completely solve the problem.

If it is not possible to use professional chemicals, you should resort to home recipes.

With egg

To combat bedbugs, you can use an egg-boron mixture. To prepare it, you will need to combine raw yolk and 50-70 grams. acid powder. The poison should be placed in a place visible to parasites.

Sometimes bait is made from a boiled egg against bedbugs:

grind or finely chop the yolk. Do the same with boiled potatoes.
Add boron powder (1-2 sachets) to the mixture.
Roll the resulting mass into balls. If the mixture is too thick, you can dilute it with a little water.

Please note: the indicated recipes are most effective in killing cockroaches.

This is due to the fact that bedbugs feed only on human blood, and they simply will not eat the bait located in the corners.

The most likely method of influencing bloodsuckers is contact. To do this, you should use the acid in dry form, using as much as possible all surfaces where bedbugs can run.

Other

You can achieve an enhanced effect from boron powder if you use it in conjunction with other folk methods.

Here are some recipes:

Combine naphthalene (25 g) with turpentine in an empty container, pour in half a glass of kerosene. The resulting solution must be used to treat the surfaces that attract the bloodsuckers, then close the windows and doors tightly. Subsequent thorough ventilation will help get rid of the unpleasant odor and avoid poisoning.
Pour dry wormwood with alcohol (in a ratio of 100 grams per 1 liter), leave for 30 days away from sunlight. Use the resulting infusion to treat your living space; apply weekly.
Combine half a bar of laundry soap and 150 ml of turpentine, dilute the mixture with ammonia (a quarter cup). To carry out the treatment, you must use protective clothing: thick gloves, a mask, goggles.
Mix turpentine ointment (one tube) with a bottle of camphor oil. Use the resulting ointment to treat the bed frame, furniture legs, lower part of the mattress, etc. The mixture is absolutely safe and does not harm people or animals. The main disadvantage of the product is its strong specific odor, so after treatment the room must be thoroughly ventilated for at least a day or two.

Please note: many recipes contain flammable ingredients, so caution should be used.

In addition to periodic baiting of bloodsuckers, it is a good idea to carry out regular preventive maintenance. Vinegar essence is perfect for these purposes. It is used to wipe windows, doors, baseboards and other surfaces where parasites can run.

If you treat the sockets on the walls between apartments, this can protect you from uninvited guests who come from neighboring homes.

Video

How to get rid of bedbugs and cockroaches, personal experience!

Efficiency of the method

Judging by user reviews, this method for combating bloodsuckers does not bring the desired result.

The main reasons that the chemical does not help are as follows:

the need for long-term exposure to bloodsuckers, since in a short period of time they will not have time to be poisoned.
No harmful effect against parasite larvae.
Inconvenient to use. The chemical has to be scattered throughout the room, which entails a certain danger for pets and small children. In addition, with this method of treatment, the apartment looks sloppy, and it becomes difficult to use pieces of furniture.

Since boric acid itself is ineffective, it is advisable to resort to its help only as an additional measure.

It is still better to fight bedbugs with specialized insecticides.